CONFRONTATION OF THE UPA (UKRAINIAN INSURGENT ARMY) WITH THE SOVIET PARTISANS AND THE POLES IN KAMIN-KASHYRSKYI DISTRICT (1943–1944)

Abstract

The article analyzes sources of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army's struggle against the Soviet partisans and Polish units on the territory of Kamin-Kashyrskyi district of the Volyn region during the Nazi occupation. The archival sources traced the formation of the Soviet partisan movement and the Polish nationalist underground, as well as the causes and course of the confrontation. A special place in the article is given to the Ukrainian-Polish confrontation. The author analyzes the national composition of the Soviet partisan movement and the Polish population's participation in it. The main directions of the Ukrainian-Polish conflict are distinguished: the Poles' fight against the UPA as part of the German police and the Soviet partisan movement. The study identified relations between Ukrainians and Poles when the district's inhabitants were a part of the Polish state and at the beginning of World War II. The most large-scale military operations of the UPA soldiers with the Soviet partisans and the Polish units, the strategy, and tactics of their implementation have been outlined and systematized. An attempt has been made to classify military operations by chronological and problematic approach. The conclusions about the scale of military operations and their importance are made. The article focuses on the ideological confrontation between the UPA, the Soviet partisans, and the Polish underground formations, implementation of the ideological struggle methods. The article will be useful for a wide scientific community interested in the local history of the Ukrainian national liberation movement. Keywords: Ukrainian National Liberation Movement, Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Polish units, the Soviet partisans, the Ukrainian-Polish confrontation, Kamin-Kashyrskyi area, German-Nazi occupation, military operation