Plan of General V. Kurmanovych and Otaman F. Loner on the Transition of the Galician Army to the Carpathians in April 1919

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In the article, the author investigates the views of the leadership of the WR UPR on the military operation of the possible transition of the Galician and UPR Armies to the Carpathian foothills in April 1919, which was developed by the Chief of Staff of the Galician Army Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Kurmanovych and Otaman Ferdinand Loner. This issue was the subject of discussion of the leadership of both armies at the meeting in Zdolbuniv on April 11, 1919.The author concludes that the withdrawal of two Ukrainian armies across the Zbruch would have positively influenced the course of military events, as this would have led to a war between Poland and Bolshevik Russia, which would have ultimately increased the chances of Ukrainians to create their own state. At that time, the Red Army had plans for a military breakthrough across Galicia to connect with the communist Hungary. The transition of the Ukrainian armies to the foothills of the Carpathians could give Galician and Dnieper refugees a chance to restore their combat capabilities over time. After all, this area created natural barriers in the Dniester region before the prevailing Polish Army. Also, Ukrainians would have cut off the front line with Poland.However, Colonel Viktor Kurmanovych and Otaman Ferdinand Loner in their military plan did not take into account the facts that it would be difficult to provide a longterm food supply for more than 40,000 Ukrainian soldiers in a small territory in the foothills of the Carpathians. Also, the possible low level of mobilization of new recruits was not considered.By their reluctance to unite two armies in Galicia or in the Dnieper Ukraine and give away their territories for the sake of others, the leadership of the WR UPR and the UPR, actually took on themselves the main blow of the Bolshevik invasion in 1919 and defended Europe from it. However, because of this unwillingness Ukrainians had lost all their land.In June 1919, the plan of the Galician Army campaign in the foothills of the Carpathians, developed by Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Kurmanovych and Otaman Ferdinand Loner, was actively implemented during the Chortkiv offensive. It was also considered on the eve of the WR UPR Government transition across the Zbruch, as well as during the Polish-Ukrainian War in 1920. This confirms the effectiveness of the plan.