Green Guard

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Green Guard
Зелена Гвардія
Active1942–1943
Disbanded1945
Country Ukraine
TypePartisan detachment
Garrison/HQKyiv
Nickname(s)Green Army
EngagementsEastern Front of World War II
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Osip Tsebriy [uk]

The Green Guard (Ukrainian: Зелена Гвардія) was an anarchist guerrilla unit in occupied Ukraine during World War II.

History[edit]

The Green Guard was formed in 1942 in the Kyiv Oblast, then part of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine, by the former Makhnovist Osip Tsebriy [uk],[1][2] who had returned from exile in France, on the other end of Nazi-occupied Europe.[3] Tsebriy tried to revive the tradition of the Makhnovschina among the Ukrainian peasants.[2] The partisans fought against the troops of Nazi Germany, as well as those of the Soviet Union, and Ukrainian nationalists.[2] In the winter of 1943, the Green Guard was crushed by anti-partisan German troops.[2][3] Tsebriy went into hiding with the local peasants for several months, but in the end was captured. Unrecognized, he was imprisoned in a concentration camp in Nazi Germany, from where he was freed by the western Allies in 1945.[2][3]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Damier, Vadim (2009-09-28). Anarcho-syndicalism in the 20th Century. Retrieved 2022-06-07 – via The Anarchist Library. We have knowledge about at least one attempt at organizing armed struggle undertaken by anarchists in Ukraine. A former participant in the Makhnovist movement, Osip Tsebry, returned to the country illegally in 1942 and organized a partisan detachment in the Kiev region. In the tradition of its predecessors, it acted against both Germany and the USSR, until it was defeated by German forces in 1943.
  2. ^ a b c d e Damier, Vadim (November 1998). "Fate of the Makhnovist". Прямое действие. Translated by Riltok. Confederation of Revolutionary Anarcho-Syndicalists. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  3. ^ a b c A. Dubovik; Y. Kravets; A. Belash (eds.). "ЦЕБРИЙ Осип Васильевич". Makhno.ru. ИМЕННОЙ УКАЗАТЕЛЬ (in Russian). Retrieved 12 May 2021.

Further reading[edit]