From the Disarmament of the Home Army in the Lublin region to Operation "West": the Extermination of the Polish and Ukrainian Underground by Units of the Soviet 64th Division of the Internal Troops in 1944–1948
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/uhj2020.03.054Keywords:
64th Division of the NKVD Internal Troops, Home Army (Armia Krajowa), Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), repressions, forced eviction, Operation, Stalinization of PolandAbstract
The purpose of the study is to present the combat operations of the 64th Division of the NKVD Internal Troops, formed in the fall of 1944 and placed at the disposal of a Soviet instructor at the Polish Ministry of Public Security. The main task of this unit was to eliminate Polish anti-communist partisanship. In the fight against it, the division’s units achieved many successes – in 1945 it was the most effective anti-guerrilla formation, without the help of which the Polish Communists would not have been able to retain their power. The unit suffered one of the few defeats in May 1946, during a joint attack by Polish partisans and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) to Hrubieszów. The division was redeployed from Poland in March 1947, after the rigged elections to the Sejm, when there was no longer any threat to communist rule in the country. Transferred to the west of the UkrSSR before its disbandment in May 1948, she was responsible for the security of the Drohobych region, liquidating UIA (UPA) units and taking part in repressive actions against the local population. In the autumn of 1947, during Operation "West" ("Zapad"), the soldiers of the division ensured the deportation of almost 15 000 people from the Drohobych region into the USSR.
The research methodology is based on a critical analysis of archival sources. Historical-comparative and micro-historical approaches with the use of political science methods are used.
Scientific novelty. New historical sources have been put into circulation, and hitherto unknown episodes in the history of Stalin’s repressive apparatus have been covered, because in previous studies specialists have focused only on the "Polish part" of the 64th Division’s actions. The Soviet authorities exterminated the Polish and Ukrainian resistance movements with similar determination and brutality.
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