Battle of Kruty

January 29, 2008 -- From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Battle of Kruty Part of Ukrainian-Soviet War (1917-1921) Scheme of the Battle of Kruty.

The Battle of Kruty (Ukrainian: Bytva pid Krutamy) was a battle which took place on January 29, 1918, near Kruty, a small railway connection about 130 kilometres northeast of Kyiv, Ukraine, which was at the time the Nizhyn Vvyizd, Chernihiv Governorate.

As Bolshevik forces of about 4,000 men, commanded by Mikhail Muraviev, advanced toward Kyiv, a small Ukrainian People's Republic unit of 500 schoolboys (some sources give a figure of 300), commanded by Captain Ahapiy Honcharenko, was hastily organized and sent to the front. The small unit consisted mainly of the Student Battalion (Kurin) of Sich Riflemen, a unit of the Khmelnytsky Cadet School, and a Haidamaka detachment. About half of the 500 men were killed during the battle, lasting up to 5 hours.

Eleven of the students were re-buried at Askold's Grave in the centre of Kyiv after the return of the Tsentralna Rada to the capital in March of 1918. At the funeral the then President of the Ukrainian People's Republic, Mykhailo Hrushevsky called every one of the 500 schoolboys who fought in the battle heroes. In addition, poet Pavlo Tychyna dedicated a poem to the heroic death of the schoolboys.

After the fall of the Ukrainian People's Republic the bodies of the students were moved to the Lukyanivske Cemetery in Kyiv. Throughout the years, the true story of the battle was hidden from view by the Soviet Government. Only recently, a monument was set up to commemorate the 80 years' anniversary of the Battle of Kruty at Askold's Grave, and a commemorative hryvnia coin was minted. Eight years later in 2006, a Kruty Heroes Monument was erected on the cite of the historic battle held as a symbol of patriotic self-sacrifice and is remembered each year on or around January 29.