Chortkiv offensive

Chortkiv offensive
Part of Polish-Ukrainian War
Date 7 June - 28 June 1919 Location Eastern Galicia Result Tactical Polish victory
Belligerents
West Ukrainian National Republic	Second Polish Republic
Commanders and leaders
Oleksander Hrekov	Józef Haller
Strength
19,000	20,000+

The Chortkiv offensive (Ukrainian: Чортківська офензива) (7-28 June 1919), sometimes also referred to as the June Offensive, was a surprise military operation by the Ukrainian Galician Army (UHA) in the Polish-Ukrainian War for Eastern Galicia.

The disputed territory was claimed by the nascent Ukrainian state, the Western Ukrainian People's Republic, and the recently re-established Poland that laid claim on entire Galicia, including its largely Ukrainian populated eastern part.

While the initial success of this desperate attack of the underarmed Ukrainian force was its finest hour in the war,^[1] in the end the offensive was successfully repelled by the numerically superior Allied-equipped Polish force that pushed the Ukrainians back. Eventually, the interwar future of entire Galicia was decided at the Allied Council of Foreign Ministers that on 18 June 1919 gave Poland a carte blanche to conduct the operations all the way to the Zbruch River.^[2][3]

The goals

The goal of the Chortkiv offensive was to push the Polish army back to the Zolota Lypa River in order to give the Ukrainian forces more space for maneuver in the war for the disputed territory.^[2]

The offensive

On 8 June the 19,000 strong UHA took the city of Chortkiv, forcing the Poles to retreat to the Holohory–Peremyshliany–Bukachivtsi line. Under the command of Oleksander Hrekov, the Ukrainians came close to Lviv, the main city of the province, which was their greatest success.^[2]

The Ukrainian forces also gained victories at Yazlovets (10 June), Buchach (11 June), Pidhaitsi, Nyzhniv and Ternopil (14 June) and Berezhany (21 June).^[2][4]

Polish counterattack

As the UHA suffered from a lack of ammunition, on 28 June a larger Allied-equipped Polish force broke through the Ukrainian lines at Yanchyn and forced the UHA to retreat to the Zbruch River.^[2][4] Eventually the Ukrainians were forced back toward the Dnipro Valley then controlled by the Ukrainian People's Republic, another nascent Ukrainian state that was fighting for its survival.^[4]

Aftermath

Though the UHA initially scored several victories, the Chortkiv offensive could not really be considered as a success for the Ukrainian forces that lacked both men, ammunition and external support compared to the Polish army.^[2] However, the offensive did manage to halt the Polish operations and it showed the value of the UHA as a military force.^[3] The UHA itself was largely preserved and later allied with other forces in the hostilities that lasted in Ukraine for another year.^[4]

Notes

1. ^ Subtelny
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Kubiyovych
3. ^ ^{a b} Encyclopedia of Ukraine
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Pidkova

References

• Chortkiv offensive at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine
• Subtelny, Orest (2000). Ukraine: A History. University of Toronto Press. pp. 370. ISBN 0-8020-8390-0. 
• Kubiyovych, Volodymyr, Kuzelia, Zenon. Entsyklopediya Ukrainoznavstva (Encyclopedia of Ukrainian studies), 3 volumes (1994). Kiev. ISBN 5-7702-0554-7 (Ukrainian)
• Ihor Pidkova (editor), Roman Shust (editor), "Dovidnyk z istorii Ukrainy", 3 Volumes, "(t. 3), Kiev, 1993-1999, ISBN 5-7707-5190-8 (t. 1), ISBN 5-7707-8552-7 (t. 2), ISBN 966-504-237-8 (t. 3). Article: Чортківський наступ 1919 (Ukrainian)