The 3rd Ukrainian Soviet Army is in the chaos of self-destruction (May 1919)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the events in the south-west of Ukraine related to the uprising of chieftain N. Grigoriev. Considering the peculiarities of the Russian aggression in Ukraine in 1919, it should be noted that Russian colonialism, using deceptive propaganda, managed to attract a significant part of the inhabitants of Ukraine to the three red armies of the Soviet Ukrainian Front. However, in May 1919, units of the 3^rd Army of this front rebelled against the colonial policy of the ‘red’ government. In the South of Ukraine, Ataman N. Grigoriev managed to raise not only his 6th division of the 3rd Army, but also parts of the 5^th division, the Soviet garrisons of Mykolaiv, Kherson, and Ochakiv to revolt, an unsuccessful attempt at a military uprising was recorded in Odesa. It can be said that in the middle of May 1919, the 3^rd Army of the Ukrainian Front found itself in a state of destruction and chaos, from which it never came out until its liquidation in June 1919. The uprising of Ataman N. Grigoriev destroyed the rear of the Red Army not gave it the opportunity to carry out the planned ‘campaign to Europe’ (capture of Romania), making it unable to resist the attack of parts of the UNR army and the ‘white’ army. The uprising showed the strength of Ukrainian resistance to the ‘red’ dictatorship and led to a general crisis of power institutions, at the same time the rebels revealed their flaws: anti-Semitism that reached the level of pogroms, indiscipline of units, chaotic military strategic planning.