In Ukraine, January 29 is the Day of Remembrance of the Heroes of Krut. This is the date when Ukrainians honor the memory of Kyiv students who fell victims of an unequal battle against the Bolshevik army near the village of Kruty, Chernihiv region. 2018 marks exactly 100 years since that battle.
Complete information about the battle near Kruty has not been established. Thus, the exact number of participants in the battle on both sides remains unclear. According to various sources, the participants in the tragic event were from 300 to 600 high school students, students and cadets and from 3 to 6 thousand Bolshevik troops.
The event was preceded by the adoption by the Ukrainian Central Rada of the IV Universal (late January 1917), which proclaimed the independence of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR). The UPR hoped for federal relations with Russia. But the Bolsheviks who came to power put forward conditions for the UPR, according to which the secession of Ukraine was possible only if it interfered in its internal affairs. The Bolsheviks received a refusal, after which their troops began to attack Ukraine.
A year later, the Bolsheviks took control of the Kharkov, Ekaterinoslav and Poltava provinces and launched an offensive against Kyiv.
On January 29, 1918, on a railway platform near the village of Kruty and the village of Pamyatnoye, the Bolshevik army of Mikhail Muravyov entered into battle with students, schoolchildren and 20 officers. At that time, the Ukrainians had about 16 machine guns and one cannon at their disposal.
According to the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, the first Ukrainian youth school named after. B. Khmelnitsky. Student volunteers and volunteers from units of the local Free Cossacks from Nizhyn also went there.
After many hours of fighting, the Ukrainians retreated in an orderly manner from the Kruty station to their trains. At this moment, about 30 young people from the reserve were captured and were shot by the Bolsheviks the next day.
Participants in the battle of Kruty. Photo: kruty.org.ua
In total, from 70 to 100 people who fought on the Ukrainian side died in the battle.
The battle provided an opportunity to delay the Bolsheviks near Kiev for several days and time to sign the Brest-Litovsk Peace.
The Day of Remembrance of Heroes of Krut is celebrated at the official level after a presidential decree issued on January 15, 2007.
On January 29 at 12.00 in Kyiv at the Lukyanovsky cemetery there will be a celebration of the memory of Vladimir Naumovich and Vladimir Shulgin, who died in the battle near Kruty, and the laying of flowers at the grave of Ukrainian poets Alexander Oles and Oleg Kandyba (Olzhych).
At the Arsenal plant at 18:30 there will be a reconstruction of the events of the battle, and then a torchlight march from Arsenal Square to Askold’s Grave dedicated to the heroes of Krut.
As Apostrophe reported, .
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Losses of the parties
Klimko A. “Battle of Kruty”
As for the number of deaths on the defending side, in addition to Grushevsky’s “three hundred Spartans”, different figures were given. Thus, Doroshenko gives a name list of the dead 11 students, although he says that several of them died earlier, in addition, 27 prisoners were shot - as revenge for the death of 300 Red Army soldiers. In 1958, in Munich and New York, the publishing house “Ways of Youth” published the results of S. Zbarazhsky’s 40-year study “Cool. The 40th anniversary of the great rank was 29 June 1918 - 29 September 1958.” The list names 18 people. who are buried in Kyiv at Askold’s grave. Although the retreating UPR troops brought 27 killed in that battle to Kyiv.
The losses of the attackers have varied estimates, but researchers have not found any documentary sources confirming any of the versions.
Contemporary assessments
This is how the former chairman of the General Secretariat of the Central Rada of the UPR Dmitry Doroshenko described these events:
When Bolshevik echelons moved towards Kyiv from Bakhmach and Chernigov, the government could not send a single military unit to fight back. Then they hastily assembled a detachment of high school students and high school students and threw them - literally to the slaughter - towards the well-armed and numerous forces of the Bolsheviks. The unfortunate youth was taken to the Kruty station and dropped off here at the “position”. While the young men (most of whom had never held a gun in their hands) fearlessly opposed the advancing Bolshevik detachments, their superiors, a group of officers, remained on the train and organized a drinking party in the carriages; The Bolsheviks easily defeated the youth detachment and drove it to the station. Seeing the danger, those on the train hastened to give the signal for departure, not having a minute left to take those fleeing with them... The path to Kyiv was now completely open.
Doroshenko. War and revolution in Ukraine
Funeral of fallen defenders
In March 1918, after the Central Rada returned to Kyiv, relatives and friends raised the question of reburial of the dead. The story quickly became known to the general public, as well as the subject of political disputes within the UPR. The opposition used the battle near Kruty as a pretext to criticize the Central Rada and its administrative and military failure. It was then that information about “hundreds of dead,” which were never documented, was first made public.
We want to strengthen the respect of the kingdom and the Ukrainian government in response to the terrible tragedy that occurred in Art. Turn around when the Bolsheviks are approaching Kiev. In Kruty, the flower of Ukrainian school youth has perished. A few hundred of the brightest intelligentsia - young people - enthusiasts of the Ukrainian national idea perished. Such an expenditure would be important for a cultural nation; for our people it is endless. The fault in this tragedy is the entire system of stupidity, our entire system, which, after the lackluster social legislation, after the perpetual administration, found itself abandoned by the people and the army, and in such a hopeless situation they decided to die. There will be hundreds of school-age youth left behind by the well-established Bolshevik army. Having hastily disposed of these victims of ordinary frivolity, without any military preparation, they were sent to Kruti...
In turn, the UPR government used these events to raise patriotic sentiments. Thus, at a meeting of the Malaya Rada, the head of the UPR, Mikhail Grushevsky, proposed to honor the memory of those killed at Kruty and rebury them at Askold’s grave in Kyiv. A crowded funeral took place on March 19, 1918. Their relatives, students, high school students, soldiers, clergy, a choir led by A. Koshits, and many Kiev residents gathered for the funeral service. Mikhail Grushevsky addressed the meeting with a plaintive and solemn speech:
From this tree, if their houses are transported in front of the Central Rada, the Ukrainian statehood was forged through fate, from the pediment of this house there is a Russian eagle, a bad sign of Russian power over Ukraine, a symbol of captivity, in which she lived for two one hundred and sixty years old. Apparently, the power of his soul was not given for free, apparently, it could not pass without sacrifices, and it was necessary to buy blood. And blood was shed by these young heroes, whom we respect.
According to the press of that time, 17 coffins were lowered into the mass grave at the Askoldov cemetery.
Assessments of events at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries
According to Doctor of Historical Sciences Valery Soldatenko, who assesses the events taking place in Ukraine since 2005:
In modern Ukraine, it has become a custom at the end of January of each year to draw public attention to an episode that happened at the height of the revolutionary turning point - the battle of Kruty. It would seem that after almost nine decades it is possible to reliably recreate the picture of what actually happened, and, in the end, to impartially and balancedly qualify both the episode itself and the much broader problem that it (this episode) illuminates extremely clearly .
However, the battle at Kruty obviously belongs to those phenomena around which the truth of life, its stunning transformation for the sake of politics and the opportunistic use of a complexly formulated palliative were initially tied into a tight knot...
... Having acquired a certain inertial self-sufficiency, in Ukrainian historiography the event near Kruty received exaggerated assessments, became overgrown with myths, began to be equated with the famous feat of the Spartans at Thermopylae, and all 300 young men, of which 250 students and high school students, increasingly began to be called dead. In the absence of other striking examples of the manifestation of national self-awareness and sacrifice, this event is increasingly being addressed through educational activities, especially among young people.
Memorial
Memorial to the Heroes of Krut- a memorial complex dedicated to the battle of Kruty. It includes a monument, a symbolic burial mound, a chapel, a lake in the shape of a cross, as well as a museum exhibition located in ancient railway carriages. The memorial is located near the village of Pamyatnoye, Borznyansky district, Chernihiv region.
Since the early 1990s, Ukrainian authorities have been considering plans to erect a large monument in Kruty, in addition to the existing small memorial at Askold's Grave in Kyiv. However, it was only in 2000 that the architect Vladimir Pavlenko began designing the monument. On August 25, 2006, the “Memorial of the Heroes of Kruty” at the Kruty railway station was officially opened by the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko. The author of the memorial, Anatoly Gaidamaka, presented the monument as a mound 7 meters high, on which a 10-meter red column was installed. The red column symbolizes the similar columns of the Kyiv Imperial University of St. Vladimir, where most of the dead students studied. A chapel was built near the foot of the mound, and an artificial lake in the shape of a cross was created next to the monument.
In 2008, the memorial was supplemented with seven railway carriages and an open military train flatcar. The installed carriages are similar to those used by the participants in the battle when they went to the front. Inside the carriages there is a mini-museum with weapons from the Civil War, as well as soldiers' household items, front-line photographs, archival documents and the like.
In mid-January 1918, in the building of the Pedagogical Museum, where the Central Rada met and the newly created Ukrainian People's University began to work, a meeting of students was held, “at which the question of the present situation in Ukraine was discussed. The assembled students, numbering over 2000 souls, admitted that "The offensive of the Bolsheviks put the Ukrainian People's Republic in a difficult situation. In view of this, the students recognized it as necessary that all students of the Ukrainian People's University, without exception, volunteer to join the Sichev Riflemen kuren within the next three days," wrote the newspaper "Kievlyanin" on January 19, 1918.
However, students were in no hurry to join the “student kuren”. In the few days following the meeting, only about a hundred people were included in the lists. Mostly front-line trench soldiers who entered universities without passing exams by special decree of the head of the CR, Mikhail Grushevsky. Their average age was about 20 years.
The “student hundred” created on their basis can hardly be called cannon fodder. Quite a combat-ready military unit. The youngest were the gymnasium students of the 2nd Ukrainian Cyril and Methodius Gymnasium. These are really 16-year-old boys whom Goncharenko tried to place in the safest part of the battle. However, this did not save them from a tragic fate.
2. Why were the Kruty chosen as the location for the battle?
From hopelessness. First, Averky Goncharenko's units arrived in Bakhmach, a major railway junction, 220 kilometers northeast of Kyiv. They were received with open hostility.
A month ago, in December 1917, the first armed conflict between the Bolsheviks and the UPR troops took place here. Then the units controlled by Kiev did not allow several regiments of Berzin and Vatsetis to pass, moving south with a plan to hit the White Cossacks of the Don in the rear. The first shots were fired and the first blood was shed.
The residents of Bakhmach did not want history to repeat itself. In addition, railway workers played a decisive role in the city, among whom the ideas of Bolshevism were very popular.
Goncharenko decided to return. It was decided to deploy positions in the Nezhin area, 150 kilometers from Kyiv. But even here they were disappointed.
The Ukrainianized regiment of Taras Shevchenko was based in Nizhyn. They also chose whether to support the Central Rada or go over to the side of the Reds (which they eventually did). Goncharenko’s support was harshly refused, and he again had to change his place; he turned to the village of Kruty, already 130 kilometers from the capital (18 km east of Nizhyn).
As a result, the chosen positions turned out to be far from ideal for defense. The flat field and steppe provided the enemy with ideal opportunities for maneuver, which Muravyov would eventually take advantage of.
3. What was decided strategically on the battlefield?
The Central Rada showed that it also has combat-ready units. Strategically, the battle near Kruty did not solve anything, and could not solve anything. Kyiv was already surrounded.
“In the hands of the Bolsheviks are all the railway lines leading to Kiev from the east, north and west. This situation has been achieved by them since the capture of the stations Pyatikhatka, Verkhovtsevo, Koristovka, Gomel, Kalinkovichi and Luninets. At the moment, the Bolsheviks are trying to take possession of the stations Sarny, Korosten, Bakhmach and Znamenka, after which Ukraine will be completely cut off from the rest of the state,” the Kievlyanin newspaper wrote on January 22, 1918.
It is believed that the “krutyans” stopped the advance of Muravyov’s troops for four days, and thereby contributed to the safe evacuation of the state structures of the Central Rada from Kyiv to Zhitomir (from where, by the way, they were “asked” to leave by the local city council, then there were Sarny and Korosten).
I think this is an exaggeration. Indeed, the very next day after the battle near Kruty, the Bolsheviks, not daring to launch a direct attack, began to shell Kyiv with artillery from Darnitsa. It was senseless and merciless, as much was done in those years. That is, even if Goncharenko’s warriors had been able to stop the Ants, it would have been just an illogical episode of that war.
4. How many students actually participated in the battle?
300 students killed on the battlefield is a myth. In total, the day before, 119 fighters of the student kuren of the Sichev Riflemen landed, consisting of front-line students enrolled in universities without exams on the personal instructions of Mikhail Grushevsky, and students of two senior classes of the 2nd Ukrainian Gymnasium named after. Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood.
The unit was commanded by centurion Alexander Omelchenko, a student at the Ukrainian People's University. At one time, in 1913, he founded the Ukrainian student community, volunteered for the front and rose to the rank of staff captain. Omelchenko was wounded at the very beginning of the battle and died while being transported to Kyiv.
Besides him, in the hundred there was also a deputy of the Central Rada, 24-year-old Vladimir Shulgin (the younger brother of the first Minister of Foreign Affairs of the UPR, Alexander Shulgin). It was he who at that time headed the Ukrainian student community of Kyiv.
Among the three recognizable faces of the kuren there was one more person - the younger brother of defense commander Averky Goncharenko, a third-year medical student.
All three died. And this was the flower of the students of that time, perhaps that is also why such close attention was focused on the battle of Kruty.
5. Why is there such a difference in the number of victims?
Exaggerating the number of deaths in the battle near Kruty, oddly enough, was beneficial to everyone. Bolshevik Muravyov because he lost about 300 soldiers killed. Stupidity in general.
The Reds, having landed at the station, lined up in columns in the usual field order, not even in a chain, and moved towards the Ukrainian troops. The meeting with machine gun fire was unexpected for them. This has never happened before. How to explain such losses to Peter?
According to Muravyov’s report, it turned out that he won the real battle, defeating the advanced units of the CR led by Petlyura himself (who was not even close here).
Averky Goncharenko’s report also contained inflated data; he reported 280 dead cadets and students (half of his detachment!). It is possible that Goncharenko did this on purpose - dismissing his subordinates and ordering them to return to Kyiv on their own. It was unsafe to return as an organized detachment; you could meet a larger unit sympathizing with the Bolsheviks.
In fact, 11 people died in the battle, 33 people were captured, six wounded were sent to Kharkov and subsequently released, the Bolsheviks shot 27 people - the guys who took the first battle of the Ukrainian People's Republic.
By the way
Two captains
The opposing sides were commanded by two captains of the Russian Imperial Army - Averky Goncharenko ("UNR") and Mikhail Muravyov ("Red Guard") - both officers of the Russian Imperial Army (Muravyov was promoted to lieutenant colonel already under the Provisional Government). The first is more of a prudent tactician, the second is a cruel adventurer.
Goncharenko in the future will become one of the commanders of the SS division "Galicia" and will live to a ripe old age, dying in 1980 in the USA.
After the battle near Krutami, Muravyov will burst into Kyiv, shoot there several thousand officers, generals, and simply “bourgeois” who came to hand, and within six months he will die himself. This will happen in Simbirsk, during an attempt to arrest him by a special detachment of the Cheka.
However, according to one version, no one was going to detain him. Latvian riflemen were sent specifically to kill the obstinate and unpredictable commander. The words of Felix Dzerzhinsky after Muravyov’s campaign in Ukraine sounded like a sentence: “The worst enemy could not have brought us as much harm as he (Muravyov) brought with his nightmarish reprisals, executions, and giving soldiers the right to plunder cities and villages.” It seems that the senseless massacre near Kruty was also meant.
This skirmish is described here quite impartially http://fraza.kiev.ua/zametki/21.12.06/32124.html 78.85.213.202 22:10, February 3, 2009 (UTC) bear
Added a brief description of the canonical Ukrainian version. To some, terms like “Muscovite-Bolshevik hordes” may seem non-neutral, but modern Ukrainian history operates with precisely such terms. This version may be senile (like the entire 140,000-year-old Ukrainian “history”), but the reader has the right to know it too. For balance, I added criticism of this version.
By the way, “3 Modern Assessment” and “4 Contemporary Assessments” are essentially correct, but both of these sections look strange side by side :) Can you rephrase this? --78.85.128.167 13:40, February 6, 2009 (UTC)bear
You meant the canonical-diaspora version - yes there. Since 2005, the Institute of National Memory has been working on the topic “forming a fair, centuries-old history for the united Ukrainian nation” - and this is not quite history - this is “ideology” --Jo0doe 15:14, February 6, 2009 (UTC) A political scientist is not a historian, journalists are not AI either , you need to find something AI on this issue or delete Jo0doe 15:17, February 6, 2009 (UTC) Vajra is quite well versed in history, he has a lot of articles on the history of Ukraine. The official version is compiled both according to articles and links from the Ukrainian version of the article. Here, for example, is the “Handbook of the History of Ukraine” http://history.franko.lviv.ua/IIk_6.htm Almost a complete set of insanity. There are bayonet attacks, “singing of the anthem”, and German “liberators”. To be honest, I don’t understand what AI can be from the insanity that is now being passed off as history in Ukraine. Every time you come across modern Ukrainian history, you come across a conscious falsification. Here is another link from the Ukrainian version of the article www.kruty.org.ua/2008-10-05-22-43-33/145-2008-11-01-22-31-38.html In general, there is no history in Ukraine now - only ideology. 78.85.128.167 16:17, February 6, 2009 (UTC)medved This is not the “official version” - this is the version of franko.lviv.ua - who else would sing the anthem if not a Galician - in Ukrainian there is no concept of “off-history” - so what needs to be corrected like version popular in publications of the North American Ukrainian diaspora(links to Subtelny, Magochi, “their” “History of Ukraine”) since 2005 has become widespread in official .... Jo0doe 16:46, February 6, 2009 (UTC) Edit. “The version of the diaspora, after the Orange Revolution, received the status of official history.” Something like this. 78.85.128.167 16:52, February 6, 2009 (UTC) bear why on earth is the authority of an AI determined by the country of publication? Why are periodicals cited as AI in the description of the course of events? Give at least a few versions, and not great-power chauvinistic propaganda. and these people also criticize their opponents for their non-subjective views. what did it say about the log and the straw? 89.209.10.50 09:38, March 13, 2010 (UTC)
A number of proposals [edit code]
And I have a number of proposals - 1) rename the Skirmish near Kruty (based on the size of the event) 2) give a broader description 3) And when this “army” of Muravyov was “Bolshevik” - it seems he himself was not one Jo0doe 19:56 , February 5, 2009 (UTC)
It’s probably worth going to the library to get a newspaper from that time - where the history will be more interesting - where there was no battle - and the students ended up with anarchist sailors in a snowstorm, that the heroic Petliura, along with an equally heroic detachment of Sichov archers, escaped somewhere as far away as Zhmerinka. And how they then watered the kerovniks - how to divide the money - there is a lot of it - and how to fight - so the students Jo0doe 20:08, February 5, 2009 (UTC)
- Interesting quote
On January 5, 1918, that is, on the day of the surrender of Poltava, at a meeting of junior students at the Kyiv University of St. Vladimir and the newly created Ukrainian People's University, convened by initiative of Galician students, It was decided to start creating a student kuren of the Sichovyi Streltsy. “Under the threat of boycott and exclusion from the Ukrainian student family, all Ukrainian students must begin to form.” In addition to students, the kuren included students from two senior classes of the 2nd Ukrainian named after. Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood Gymnasium. In total, about 200 people signed up (the second hundred later took part in the battles in Kyiv, that is, they did not leave the city). The military authorities appointed foreman (centurion) Omelchenko, who by that time was enrolled as a student at the Ukrainian People's University, as commander.
Due to the lack of information about the battle, its events became overgrown with myths, exaggerated assessments and distortions of facts in the interpretation of various political forces and ideologists.
Does anyone have any objections to some inaccuracies?--Diogen15 10:13, January 30, 2014 (UTC)
- I see no reason for change. Specifically, I am perplexed by the attempts to remove the definition of “Soviet troops.” What caused this desire? HOBOPOCC 10:51, January 30, 2014 (UTC)
- Well, personally, I looked at the preamble again and see only one flaw - the last and penultimate sentences are not very nicely coordinated. I see no reason to change anything in the wording, and Diogen15 did not outline these reasons. Can we rephrase it like this:
With the exception of replacing the term "battle" with "battle" it is almost the same as what I initially proposed. Why in paragraphs and so on? I explained. Initially, there was such a formulation: “although the battle had no impact... the events were overgrown with myths,” there is no direct connection between these statements, a general battle can become myths. + attributing special significance to an event in Ukraine, according to the old definition, seems to directly follow from mythologization and exaggeration, which again has no direct connection: myths due to the lack of accurate information, the significance of the feat due to national solidarity. Thank you for your mediation. --Diogen15 19:31, January 31, 2014 (UTC)
- What is this “Due to a lack of information...”? I'm against. And I don’t see any point in “dividing into paragraphs.” The introduction is not so cumbersome that the unfortunate three sentences that make it up should be divided into paragraphs. I'm against. HOBOPOCC 19:44, January 31, 2014 (UTC)
- Dear intermediary, I ask you to evaluate the personal attacks and other violations of VP:EP (). During those times, you personally created for me for something like this forever the “image of a chronic offender”) HOBOPOCC 10:40, February 1, 2014 (UTC)
- It’s clear that this is at least a day’s rest. And your image is not forever, but for a long time. But then you yourself were to blame... The communist NOVOROSSS was funny, no less than the anti-Ukrainian element Spectrum and the fighter for Orthodox values Helsing. --wanderer 10:56, February 1, 2014 (UTC)
controversial inappropriate statement in the preamble[edit code]
- Statement in the preamble " this battle did not affect the subsequent military campaign", as follows from AI (" One of the current successors who will transfer the meaning of the battle near Kruty to the military ... plan, ...") and the text of the article is debatable.
- Statement " events have become overgrown with myths, exaggerated assessments and distortions of facts" is insignificant for the preamble and inappropriate in it.
Since a statement of the form “Although (controversial statement 1), then (inappropriate statement 2)” is both controversial and inappropriate, I propose to move it from the preamble to the section “Assessments of events at the turn of the 20th-21st centuries”, and reformulate it there in accordance with AI .
- Yuriy Dzyadyk (o c) 06:33, 17 August 2016 (UTC).
- No. Read what the introduction to the article is, please. HOBOPOCC (obs) 07:11, 17 August 2016 (UTC)
- Do you mean these essays? In this case, the rules apply, primarily VP: AI and VP: NPC. - Yuriy Dzyadyk (o c) 10:55, 17 August 2016 (UTC).
- Why do you call certain statements in the article “both controversial and inappropriate”? Is your opinion (of the anonymous Wikipedia editor) shared by any of the recognized experts in the GVR? Give quotes and links to such AIs, please. HOBOPOCC (obs) 11:15, 17 August 2016 (UTC)
- I will repeat Wulfson’s answer (to your question): it’s not interesting, such questions will remain unanswered in the future. A quote from AI is given in the request. In modern historical science, the battle of Kruty refers to the history of Ukraine, and not to the GVR in Russia. There have been hundreds of more significant battles in the history of Russia, but this one is completely inconspicuous compared to others. - Yuriy Dzyadyk (o c) 21:32, 17 August 2016 (UTC).
The battle near Kruty is a separate page of Ukrainian history, written in bloody ink. The heroic feat of young men who did not have any special military training, who stood up to defend their Motherland. The events of January 29, 1918, which took place at the Kruty railway station (Kharkov region) 130 km from Kyiv, became overgrown with myths and began to stand out against the background of other military conflicts of that time.
Historians are still breaking their spears, providing their version of the battle. AiF.ua decided to highlight the most striking event moments according to press reports of that time. Our main source was the collection published by the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory - “Beat the Krutami in National Memory”. It contains documents and testimony from contemporaries about the armed clash between Soviet troops and a detachment of cadets from the youth school named after. B. Khmelnitsky and the first hundred of the Student Kuren.
It is worth noting that AiF.ua has retained the style, spelling and punctuation of newspaper materials. Notes written in Ukrainian were translated (they tried as much as possible not to change the syllable and style of writing).
January 19
"Kievlanin" about the formationkuren of the Sich Riflemen:“On the third day, a general meeting of students of the Kyiv Ukrainian People's University was held, at which the issue of the current situation in Ukraine was discussed. The assembled students, numbering over 2,000 souls, recognized that the Bolshevik offensive had put the Ukrainian People's Republic in a difficult situation. In view of this, the students recognized it necessary that all students of the Ukrainian People's University, without exception, volunteer in the Sich Riflemen's camp within the next three days. As for students currently living outside of Kyiv, the enrollment period has been extended until January 14 (January 27 - ed.)."
January 22
"Kyivian" about the positions of the Bolsheviks and their number:“From the information received in Kyiv yesterday, the following picture emerges of the Bolshevik operations directed against Ukraine and, first of all, against Kyiv.
The Bolsheviks are in the hands of all the railway lines leading to Kyiv from the east, north and west. This situation has been achieved by them since the capture of Pyatikhatka, Verkhovtsevo, Koristovka, Gomel, Kalinkovichi and Luninets stations.
At the moment, the Bolsheviks are seeking to seize the stations of Sarny, Korosten, Bakhmach and Znamenka, after which Ukraine will be completely cut off from the rest of the state.
Apparently, the Bolsheviks have significant forces at their disposal, for reports are coming from everywhere about the advance of a number of echelons, with machine guns and artillery.”
January 24
“Vsnik UPR” about the Bolsheviks’ attack on Kyiv:“In Smolny, with the signature of Muravyov, the following telegram was received from Bakhmach (a city in the Chernigov region - ed.): “After a 2-day battle, Yegorov’s revolutionary army, with the help of the second army, defeated the counter-revolutionary troops of the Rada, led by Petliura, at the Kruty station. The Petrograd Red Guard and the Moscow Guard withstood the entire battle on their own shoulders.
During the battle, Petliura's troops launched a train with unarmed soldiers from the front towards the advancing revolutionary troops and opened artillery fire on the unfortunates. The Council's troops consisted of cadets, officers and students, who, in addition to committing atrocities against soldiers returning from the front, raped a merciful sister who caught them during the battle.
I'm going to Kyiv. The peasants joyfully and enthusiastically greet the revolutionary troops.”
The 25th of January
“Nova Rada” on the unification of students:“The terrible hour has come for our Motherland. Like black rooks, the Russian-Bolshevik (which has nothing in common with ideological Bolshevism) predatory horde has settled in our Ukraine, which almost every day seizes new lands from us, and Ukraine, cut off from everywhere, may end up in a very difficult situation.
Photo documents about the battle near Krutami Photo: Screenshot of the electronic version of the UINP collection “The Battle of Krutami in National Memory”
At this time, the Ukrainian faction of the center of the University of St. Vladimir calls on Ukrainian students of all universities to immediately come to the aid of their land and people, unanimously standing under the flag of fighters for the freedom of Ukraine against the invaders who want to strangle everything that we have gained through long, hard, heroic labor . We must stop at all costs the campaign that could lead Ukraine to terrible ruin and lasting decline. Let every Ukrainian student remember that at this time it is criminal to be indifferent. It is necessary to abandon science and everyday work for a while and, as one friendly force, as has been the case since the beginning of the revolution, stand up to defend the rights of the Ukrainian people.
Let us, comrades, be sincere and attentive! Let us then leave the rudder of science and bravely go to the rudder of victory! Because who else, if not us, should take it on?”
January 26
“Nova Rada” about the equipment of the Sich kuren:“The Committee of Galician students of the Ukrainian People’s University draws attention once again to the fact that everyone must fit into the Sichovy Kuren.” Anyone who does not join “Kuren” in the near future will be subject to a boycott after the resolution of the general meeting.”
January 29
"Robitnycha Gazeta" about registration in the kuren:“From the organization of the student kuren committee of the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen. We remind and urge once again our comrades to immediately join the kuren. Comrades who have registered should quickly appear at the Konstantinovskaya school, st. Moskovskaya, 1. Otherwise, they will be considered not included in the kuren with all the ensuing consequences.”
Photo documents about the battle near Krutami Photo: Screenshot of the electronic version of the UINP collection “The Battle of Krutami in National Memory”
18th of Febuary
“Nova Rada” about the search for missing people:“Announcement of the Sokolovsky family about the search for their son Andrei, who went missing in action near Kruty. Parents ask to report to the address - Kyiv, Fundukleevskaya, 61-1 in detail everything that is known about their son Andrei Sokolovsky, a student of the 6th grade. The second Ukrainian gymnasium, which died without a trace in the battle at Kruty station on January 16th. g. and ask, if he is alive, to help him in any way possible. Expenses will be refunded."
February 23
“Nova Rada” about the initiative to rebury the bodies of the dead:“Meeting of relatives of students and schoolchildren who died near Kruty to discuss the issue of reburial of bodies. A group of relatives appeals to all parents and relatives of students, middle schoolers and others who were part of the Sich student kuren and who died in battle and were shot after the battle near Krut on January 16th. g., and proposes to present a general request for the excavation of graves in order to transport their bodies from Krut, and also to bury them in Kyiv. To discuss this issue, they ask to gather on March 8 this year, Friday at 6:00 pm at Fundukleevskaya, 61-1. Go there for information."
March 8
“Fighting” about the funeral of dead students:“Funeral of the killed Cossacks. On March 6, at 10 o’clock, a memorial service was held on Sofievskaya Square for the foreman and Cossacks of the 1st Haidamaks detachment, killed in battles with the Bolsheviks.
All the Haidamak kurens with guns, as well as other Ukrainian units that live in Kyiv, gathered in the square. Many private people came to pay their last farewell.
The mood is tense - everyone is standing with their heads down and, probably, in their hearts they are worried about what happened.
Photo documents about the battle near Krutami Photo: Screenshot of the electronic version of the UINP collection “The Battle of Krutami in National Memory”
Seven oak coffins, laid on guns and covered with flowers, moved to Askold’s grave to the ringing of bells and a funeral march, followed by Cossacks, relatives of the killed and many more people.”
10th of March
“Kyiv Mysl” about the meeting of the Small Rada:“As already reported, near Bakhmach, many Ukrainian high school boys and students tragically died in battles with the Bolsheviks... The dead were buried near the Kruty station.
G. Grushevsky (Mikhail Grushevsky was called hetman, so they wrote G. Grushevsky - ed.): “The parents of these young men filed a petition with the Rada so that the bodies of the dead were transported to Kyiv for burial at Askold’s grave, in the common cemetery. I suggest that I be happy to speak out so that the funeral is accepted at the state expense and takes place with due honors.”
The proposal is adopted unanimously. The Rada honored the memory of the young men who died near Bakhmach by standing up.”
March 13
“Nova Rada” on the identification of bodies:“The Committee for Arranging the Funeral of Sich Viktor Students invites parents and relatives today, March 13th, to go recognize those killed at the Kruty station. A notice about when and where the train will be will be posted on the door of the Central Rada after 3 o’clock in the afternoon.”
March 15th
“Nova Rada” about donation for burial:“The Committee of the All-Ukrainian Paramedic and Midwifery Union, having discussed on March 12 this year. g. the question of the funeral of fellow students of the Ukrainian People's University, decided: to take an active part in the funeral and open a subscription for donations in honor of the memory of our glorious defenders of the freedom of Ukraine...”
March 16
Nova Rada published a letter from a reader:“...Such a loss for a cultural nation would be difficult; For our people this loss is immeasurable. The whole system of senselessness is to blame for this tragedy, our entire government, which, after brilliant social legislation, after six months of administration, found itself abandoned by the people and the army, and in such a hopeless situation decided to defend itself against the well-armed Bolshevik army with several hundred school youth. Having hastily armed these victims of government frivolity, without any military training they were sent to Kruty under the command of Captain T. and a staff that consisted of two brothers B...”
March 19
"Kyiv Mysl" publishes a list of those killed:“Today, March 19, the funeral of 28 Cossack students of the Sich kuren who died at the village will take place. Cool. Among the dead, students of the University of St. Vladimir:
Photo documents about the battle near Krutami Photo: Screenshot of the electronic version of the UINP collection “The Battle of Krutami in National Memory”
- Vladimir Shulgin,
- Bozhko-Bozhinsky,
- Popovich Alexander,
- Andriev,
- Dmitrenko;
students of the Ukrainian People's University:
- Isidor Kurik,
- Alexander Sherstyuk,
- Emelchenko (centurion of the kuren)
- Vorozhenko-Kolonchuk,
- Golovoshchuk,
- Chizhov,
- Kirik;
gymnasium students of the Ukrainian gymnasium:
- Andrey Sokolovsky,
- M. Gankevich,
- Evgeny Ternavsky,
- Pipsky and Gnatkevich.
The Presidium of the central representative body of university students decided to encourage students to take part in the funeral. The bodies of the victims will arrive at the passenger station, from where at 2 o’clock the funeral procession will head past the Vladimir Cathedral to Askold’s grave.”
20th of March
“Kyiv Mysl” about the meeting of the Small Rada on March 19:"G. Grushevsky invites the Rada to interrupt the meeting and take part in the solemn funeral of the Ukrainian youth who died near the station. Cool. The meeting is adjourned. Members of Radi are marching towards the funeral procession.”
Photo documents about the battle near Krutami Photo: Screenshot of the electronic version of the UINP collection “The Battle of Krutami in National Memory”
20th of March
“On the Pose of New Ukraine” publishes a speech by Mykhailo Grushevsky about the heroism of those killed:“Speech by M. Grushevsky near the Central Rada at the funeral of the Sich members of the student kuren. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori! It is sweet and good to die for the fatherland, says the Latin poet, whose poetry was the school book of those whom we now bury. Sweet and good! They remembered this - and did not miss the rare opportunity that the current majestic wave of the revival of our state and the protection of the liberties and rights of the working people gave them. They stood up for their Motherland, and had the good fortune to die in this holy struggle...”
20th of March
“Nova Rada” publishes a letter from doctor Sergei Kolomiytsev about a donation for the monument:“...Adding to this one hundred rubles, I now urge the persecuted Ukrainian intelligentsia to put a cross on the grave of their sons, which would testify to their sincere love for the Motherland, not in word, but in deed, about the headlessness of the current arbiters of the destinies of Ukraine in the most important times its existence, and about the merciless brutality of our eternal oppressors from the north."
20th of March
“The Way” about the funeral of murdered students:“I’m standing over the fresh grave of young men and quietly sad. The first flowers of spring and the tender lovers of the greenhouses, placed by a loving hand, had already frozen, became as if made of oiled paper and drooped down helplessly. I'm looking through the inscriptions on the ribbons of the wreaths...
To the sons of Ukraine - fighters for its will.
For the honor and freedom of Ukraine, those who gave their lives near Kruty.
Photo documents about the battle near Krutami Photo: Screenshot of the electronic version of the UINP collection “The Battle of Krutami in National Memory”
And many other inscriptions.
Even more sadness emanates from these words, truthful and stereotyped...”
April 28
“Nova Rada” about the publication of a book of memoirs:“Parents Committee at the Ukrainian. Kirillo-Metodievskaya gymnasium, fulfilling the resolution of the general meeting of parents of April 14 this year. g.. about worthy respect for the memory of the young students of the gymnasium - killed near Kruty, by publishing a book dedicated to their memory, now begins his task. Wishing in the aforementioned book to provide detailed information about the last days of their lives, about their heroic death, as well as in general about this unforgettably tragic historical moment in the life of our region, the editorial committee of the parent committee appeals to everyone who took part in the events near Kruty, especially to the relatives of the deceased comrades of the high school students, with a sincere request to send their memories of these events, as well as about the entire preparatory period before the battle. Wanting to also present in the book biographical information about the fallen heroic youths, the editorial commission asks their relatives and generally people who knew them to send information about their lives, as well as photographic cards.”
12 May
"People's Rada" publishes an announcement about the memorial service:“On Monday, May 13, at Askold’s grave there will be a funeral service for the Cossacks of the student kuren who were killed on Kruty. They ask parents and friends to arrive at 12 o’clock.”
26 of May
“Nova Rada” about perpetuating the memory of the heroes of Krut:“...All the young forces of the people, led by Ukrainian youth: schoolchildren and university students, stood up to defend the national idea, culture and law.
Photo documents about the battle near Krutami Photo: Screenshot of the electronic version of the UINP collection “The Battle of Krutami in National Memory”
In the battles of Kruty and Bakhmach, many of these young heroes died, paying the price of blood for the freedom of their native land.
It is the sacred duty of a grateful Motherland not to forget these heroes. It is necessary that the memory of them remains forever in Ukraine. For this purpose, it would be best to create a monument to him on one of the squares in Kyiv...”
the 9th of June
“Nova Rada” about the case regarding the monument to the heroes of Krut:“Regarding the report submitted by the Department of Dancing Arts to the Minister of Education on the need to create a monument in one of the squares in Kiev to the fighters for the independence of Ukraine, who were the first to fall in Kiev, Bakhmach and near Kruty, the Minister of Education proposed to the chairman of the department, prof. Pavlutsky to develop a charter according to which a special commission should be organized that will carry out work on the creation of the monument. When the charter is written and the commission is elected, then the city minister will submit this matter for approval to the Council of Ministers.
Five hundred rubles have already been donated to the Department of Dance Arts for the formation of the fund. G. Kovalenko (gr. Getmants), 10% from the sale of his brochure “To the terrible days in Kyiv.”
July 10
“Nova Rada” about the petition for Askold’s grave:“We are asked to note that the Ukrainian mass grave of the archers who were killed near Kruty was completely abandoned. Wreaths lie on the ground, protected from moisture; rust is taken...
The inscriptions on the ribbons fade. It would be desirable for the Ukrainian public to appeal to the head of Askold’s grave, as well as to Archbishop Demetrius of Uman, so that they would provide a place for holding (until the chapel is built) wreaths on the graves.”
July 27
“Nova Rada” about the memorial service at Askold’s grave:“The memorial service for the students who died near Kruty and the high school students from the Sich student kuren should take place on July 30th. Art. With. at Askold's grave at 5 p.m. They ask all sympathizers to come.”
Photo documents about the battle near Krutami Photo: Screenshot of the electronic version of the UINP collection “The Battle of Krutami in National Memory”
September 7
“People on the Right” about the monument to the heroes of Krut:“In the matter of the monument to the fighters for the independence of Ukraine.
In response to the proposal made by the Chief Administrator of Arts and National Culture to Mr. Hetman about the creation in one of the Kiev squares of a monument to the fighters who were the first to fall in the fight against the Bolsheviks in Kiev, near Bakhmach and Kruty, Mr. Hetman reacted favorably to this idea and proposed creating a special commission for this purpose, after which a nationwide collection of money for the specified purpose will be announced.
Pan Hetman stated that in order to honor the memory of the first fighters for the independence of the Ukrainian state, the Ukrainian government can provide appropriate financial assistance when circumstances require it.
The General Directorate of Arts and National Culture still has 849 rubles of collected money at its disposal.”
