The Soviet Counterinsurgency in the Western Borderlands, by Alexander Statiev. 2010. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York
Crushing the UPA in the Former Kresy: Soviet Tactics and Polish Involvement
The author is a Russian historian currently at the University of Waterloo in Canada. In this review, I focus on Soviet crushing the UPA in the southeast portion of the Soviet-annexed Kresy immediately after WWII.
CRUSHING THE UPA: POLES IN THE UPA-DESTROYING BATTALIONS
Because the Soviets lacked the personnel to single-handedly suppress the UPA, they formed militias largely consisting of locals. These were called the istrebitel’nye batal’ony [Istriebitielne Bataliony], informally called strebki. The remaining Kresy Poles got their chance to get a measure of revenge on the UPA for its earlier genocide of the Poles. Statiev comments, “Many were driven to destruction battalions by guerrilla terror…those striving to avenge relatives killed by guerrillas; and ethnic minorities targeted by the nationalists. Most Poles disliked the Soviet regime, but they enlisted en masse. Some moved straight from the AK to the destruction battalions, viewing them as their only protection amid a hostile majority. In Drohobych Province, Poles made up 40 percent of the destruction battalions’ personnel. The UPA feared the Polish militia more than the police.” (p. 218). For a Polish view of Poles in the strebki, see:
https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/ukrainian-upa-genocide-of-poles-komanski/
THE SOVIET CAMPAIGN OF CRUSHING THE UPA
The Soviet strategy of successfully crushing the UPA relied primarily on creating a large network of informants that would expose UPA personnel and UPA resources. (pp. 233-238). In 1945-1946 alone, 28,969 UPA hideouts were uncovered in the so-called Western Ukraine. (p. 232). In 1945, Soviet and Soviet-allied forces killed 45,956 UPA members and the number of UPA killed in 1946 was 10,862. Another 21,350 were amnestied. (p. 117). Some 114,400 western Ukrainians were deported in 1944-1947, though not only for known or suspected support of the UPA, but also for such things as resisting collectivization. (p. 178).
THE MAGNITUDE OF THE ZYDOKOMUNA IN PRE-WWII POLAND AND LITHUANIA
On another subject, author Statiev comments, “…Jews were grossly overrepresented among the Communists. In the West Ukrainian city of Lutsk in 1933, every member of the party was Jewish and Jews constituted 35 percent of the Lithuanian Communist party.” (p. 41).
