The special groups of the NKVD for fighting against

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

s (''russian: Специальные группы НКВД по борьбе с националистами'')The special groups of the NKVD are in the fight with nationalists, Ch. 4. The great obfuscated war - 2. /
Спецгруппы НКВД в борьбе с националистами - Гл.4
Великая оболганная война-2, were units set up by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

to combat national liberation movements, mainly in territories annexed by the USSR before the German-Soviet war due to the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , long_name = Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H27337, Moskau, Stalin und Ribbentrop im Kreml.jpg , image_width = 200 , caption = Stalin and Ribbentrop shaking ...

, in particular they fought against the

OUN Oun or OUN may refer to People * Ahmed Oun (born '1946), Libyan major general * Ek Yi Oun (1910–2013), Cambodian politician * Kham-Oun I (1885–1915), Lao queen consort * Õun, an Estonian surname; notable people with this surname * Oun Kham (18 ...

and UPA in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

(mostly Western), the Forest Brothers, in the

Baltic states The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

and against the

Belarusian Black Cats Belarusian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Belarus * Belarusians, people from Belarus, or of Belarusian descent * A citizen of Belarus, see Demographics of Belarus * Belarusian language * Belarusian culture * Belarusian cuisine * Byel ...

.Belarusian Black Cats. Ukrainian magazine "Personnel Plus", Issue 43, 1 November 2011 /
Білоруські «чорні коти» / Персонал Плюс - №43 (448) 26 жовтня - 1 листопада 2011 року
/ref> They were also known as the ''Agent-Combat Groups (ABG)'', ''legend groups'', ''false UPA detachments'' and the ''

NKVD units dressed as UPA fighters During the Soviet struggle to establish control over Western Ukraine, NKVD units dressed as UPA fighters committed atrocities in order to demoralize the civilian population, and to turn the people against nationalist groups. Some of the NKVD uni ...

''. After the NKVD reorganisation in 1946, the special groups kept on operating under the management of its successors, both the Ministry of Internal Affairs) (MVD) and Ministry of State Security (NKGB) of the Soviet Union. The special groups of the NKVD were operating in the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

for ten years, since 1944 up to 1953.The Insurgent Army: Tactics of the struggle. MILITARY LITERATURE - Military Thought. S.N. Tkachenko /
ВОЕННАЯ ЛИТЕРАТУРА - Военная мысль. Ткаченко С.Н. Повстанческая армия: тактика борьбы
/ref> During that time, thousands of people were captured, arrested and killed by them.Vampires and werewolves in official documents. The Way of Victory. 2 October 1993. // Білас. Упирі та перевертні в офіційних документах - Шлях перемоги. — 1993. 2 жовтня.The agent-combat special groups of the NKVD-MVD-NKDB-MDB. 2008. I. Antoniuk /
Антонюк Я. - Агентурно-бойові спецгрупи НКВС-МВС-НКДБ-МДБ (2008)
/ref>

Prelude

Shortly before the Soviet-German war, significant territorial changes occurred on the Western Ukrainian ethnic lands. In March 1939 Carpatho-Ukraine declared its independence from

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

but it was almost immediately occupied by

the Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

East Galicia Eastern Galicia ( uk, Східна Галичина, Skhidna Galychyna, pl, Galicja Wschodnia, german: Ostgalizien) is a geographical region in Western Ukraine (present day oblasts of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil), having also essential ...

and Western Volyn were annexed by the USSR from Poland in October 1939, then the Soviet Union

annexed Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

Northern

Bukovina Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also other languages. is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both).Klaus Peter BergerT ...

and

Bessarabia Bessarabia (; Gagauz: ''Besarabiya''; Romanian: ''Basarabia''; Ukrainian: ''Бессара́бія'') is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Be ...

from the

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania ( ro, Regatul României) was a constitutional monarchy that existed in Romania from 13 March ( O.S.) / 25 March 1881 with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian ...

in July 1940, due to the

. In 1944 the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

moving to the west reconquered the territory of

Western Ukraine Western Ukraine or West Ukraine ( uk, Західна Україна, Zakhidna Ukraina or , ) is the territory of Ukraine linked to the former Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, which was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austria ...

that was occupied by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and its

allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

in 1941. The Soviet authorities faced considerable opposition from the local population during the restoration of the Soviet regime in these territories. At that time, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and the conspiratorial network of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) were operating actively in Western Ukraine. In March 1944, in response to the situation, the NKVD Operational Headquarters was set up in

Rivne Rivne (; uk, Рівне ),) also known as Rovno (Russian: Ровно; Polish: Równe; Yiddish: ראָוונע), is a city in western Ukraine. The city is the administrative center of Rivne Oblast (province), as well as the surrounding Rivne Raio ...

to combat the Ukrainian national liberation movement.THE FIGHT OF THE COMMUNIST REGIME AGAINST THE UKRAINIAN LIBERATION MOVEMENT 1940s-1950s. Journal of the Lviv Academy of Commerce, I.G. Pater /
БОРОТЬБА КОМУНІСТИЧНОГО РЕЖИМУ З УКРАЇНСЬКИМ ВИЗВОЛЬНИМ РУХОМ (40-ві–50-ті РОКИ XX СТ.), Вісник Львівської комерційної академії, Патер І.Г.
, Initially in the 1944-1945 years the

Soviet leadership The political system of the Soviet Union took place in a Federalism, federal One-party state, single-party Soviet republic (system of government), soviet socialist republic framework which was characterized by the superior role of the Communist P ...

underestimated the scale of the liberation movement in Ukraine and mistakenly thought that they would have been able to cope easily with the rebels by the date of some Soviet public holiday, mainly using

military operation A military operation is the coordinated military actions of a state, or a non-state actor, in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state or actor's favor. Operations may ...

s.The use of special means by the Soviet punitive-repressive bodies in the fight against the underground in the Drohobych district of

(1945 – 1952), Scientific Bulletin of

Lesya Ukrainka East European National University Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University is a Ukrainian university in Lutsk, named after Lesya Ukrainka. Mail address: Prosp. Voli 13, Lutsk, 43025, Ukraine History The history of this university began in 1940 with the founding of the Luts ...

V.I. Ilnytsky /
Використання радянськими карально-репресивними органами спецзасобів у боротьбі проти підпілля в Дрогобицькій окрузі ОУН (1945 – 1952), В. І. Ільницький, УДК 94(477)“1945/1952”
However soon they made sure of the futility of such an approach. UPA subunits tried to act using

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or Irregular military, irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, Raid (military), raids ...

, avoiding open battles with overwhelming enemy forces. Since the second half of 1945, on the instructions of the UPA command, large units of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army began to be reorganized into well-united and armed smaller ones, that were deployed in forests. In addition, the extensive secret underground networks were created in rural areas, each had 10-15 people, and was called "boyivka (''боївка'')" - a militant group. A war after war, Y.I. Shapoval, Military History Magazine, #5-6 2002 /
Війна після війни
, професор, доктор історичних наук Юрій Шаповал, журнал «Воєнна історія» #5-6 за 2002 рік. As the result, the Soviet punitive-repressive authorities resorted to the extensive use of special tools.

Notes

{{Reflist NKVD Ukrainian Insurgent Army Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists KGB Russian special forces operations False flag operations

Prelude

See also

Notes