STRUGGLE FOR PROVISIONS BETWEEN SOVIET PARTISANS AND UKRAINIAN INSURGENTS IN 1943 – 1944 IN VOLYN REGION

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Abstract

Summary. The aim of the research – on the basis of the source base and the historiographic work to highlight the reasons the struggle process for provisions between the Soviet partisans and Ukrainian insurgents in 1943 – 1944 in Volyn region. The principles of a scientific objectivity and historicism are the methodological basis of the study. The scientific novelty of the obtained results is determined by the fact that for the first time in a domestic and foreign historiography the struggle for provisions between the Soviet partisans and the Ukrainian insurgents in Volyn during the specified period has been analyzed, as well as the unpublished archival documents and the materials have been introduced into the scientific circulation. Conclusions. The struggle for the provisions between the Soviet partisans and the units of the Ukrainian Insurgents Army was the result of their confrontation aggravation over the range of influence. The unsettled rear support of the Soviet partisans pushed them into carrying out the preplanned «provisions» («food») operations of the peaceful and armed character, a forced alienation of food from the population, loyal to the Ukrainian nationalists. Acting this way, the Soviet partisans tried to deprive the latter of their food supplies and level off the Ukrainian insurgents' main advantage in Volyn region – the support from a part of the local residents, who became the members of Ukrainian Insurgents Army (UPA), and to cause the significant economic losses to the insurgent rear. An effective way of depriving the UPA and the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) underground of the provisions and property was the requisition of their food warehouses. The Soviet Union partisans had a significant distribution of the provisions in this way since the end of 1943, and especially in the first half of 1944, when the number of the partisan associations increased in connection with the approaching of the front in Volyn. Under such conditions, the Ukrainian nationalist underground lowered its activity, and the insurgents divisions, in order to avoid losses, crashed into the smaller groups. Thus, the local population turned out to be the hostage of the situation, having fallen under the pressure of both «the forest armies», since both the Soviet partisans and the members of UPA put their back and food on it. The replenishment of the food stocks by the hostile forces often turned into the military operations.