Activity of Zapillia and Etap Commands of the WR UPR Armed Forces from June 1919 to December 1919

Abstract

In the scientific article, the author examines the activities of Zapillia and Etap Commands – central bodies of executive power and military management of Western region of the Ukrainian People’s Republic (WR UPR). After military defeats at the front in the spring of 1919, on June 9, 1919, the State Secretariat and the Ukrainian National Council endowed Yevhen Petrushevych with the powers of the dictator. Consequently, the WR UPR Government was liquidated, and the powers of the State Secretariat for Military Affairs (SSMA) were transferred to Zapillia Command. The Chief Command of the Galician Army retained the command of the troops at the front. Like SSMA, Zapillia Command distributed its authority to the rear territory, which varied according to the battle line. The priority task of the newly formed military authority was to provide the army with all necessities and to organize mobilization. Zapilla Command had a ramified structure. It consisted of three divisions, the activities of which covered almost all military life in the rear. In accordance with the Order of General-in-Chief Oleksandr Hrekov of June 25, 1919, Zapillia Command had to consist of 24 sergeants-major, 4 officers, 22 subsurgeants-major, 33 soldiers, and 27 secretaries. General Hrekov positively estimated the activities of Zapillia Command, but believed that it did not fully meet the needs of the front.After the WR UPR armed forces crossed the Zbruch River in mid-July 1919, the powers of Zapillia Command were transferred to the Etap Command. However, due to the poor financial support of the army, which had been assigned to the Government of the Ukrainian People’s Republic (UPR), and improper communication with the local population, it was even more difficult for the Etap Command to perform its functions in the Dnipro region than for Zapillia Command. Therefore, the Etap Command decided to expand its range of activities; in particular, to engage in cultural and educational work among the local population of the Dnipro region. With the massive spread of typhus among the Galician military in the autumn of 1919, the Etap Command engaged in the organization of hospitals as well as in the social protection of the military. The history of this military body ended in early 1920 when the armed forces of the Western region of UPR entered into the Red Army.