Battle of Khyriv

Battle of Khyriv
Part of Polish–Ukrainian War
Polish volunteers in front of the Jesuit School in Chyrów
Date December 5 — 16, 1918 Location Khyriv, West Ukraine Result Polish Victory
Belligerents
Poland	West Ukrainian People's Republic
Commanders and leaders
Lieutenant Dudziński Zygmunt Zieliński	Antin Kravs
Units involved
Polish Military Organisation	Ukrainian Galician Army

The Battle of Khyriv was a battle of the Polish–Ukrainian War that took place on December 5 to December 16, 1918 between the Polish Military Organisation and the Ukrainian Galician Army.

Biography

The city of Khyriv was important in capturing Przemyśl, so both sides tried to gain control over it. From the first days of November, a Polish armored train operated on the section of the Zagorzh-Ustriki and Dolishni-Krostsenko-Khyriv railway lines. After the loss of Przemyśl, Khyriv was the main railway station of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic on the Hungarian-Galician railway, from which it was possible to control the Przemyśl-Zagorz railway. On November 25, Polish troops under the command of Lieutenant Dudzinsky with 2 artillery batteries moved to Nyzhankovychi, Ukrainian forces retreated outside Khyriv. After the capture on November 26 by the Polish battle group of Major Vaclav Vechorek Rava-Ruska, as well as the railway junction Khyriv south of Lviv, the situation of the UGA has become much more complicated. The Polish team immediately gained a significant strategic position from Khirov and Rava-Ruska with the Poles threatening both wings of the front. For the Polish side, the capture of Khyrov made it possible to supply the Przemyśl-Lviv railway, while at the same time eliminating the possibility of a Ukrainian counterattack on Przemyśl.

Ukrainian forces launched an offensive through Skelivka and Horodovychi on Posada Khyrivska and Khyriv. The battle captured Posada, after a short but fierce battle, by storming the station and the city of Khyriv on December 5 , despite the fact that its number was twice smaller than the Polish forces.

Khirov was captured by a group of Colonel Antin Kravs, 2 Sambir armored trains are used. In the Battle of Khyriv, an enemy shell exploded in the boiler of an armored steamer, killing the fireman; he was buried in Sambor with military honors. Polish forces withdrew from Khirov to Staryava and Dobromil . A night offensive is organized, and in the late evening Dobromil is occupied, at the end of the day Nove Misto. In the morning, a hundred lieutenants Anton Tarnavsky joined the Ukrainian forces in Dobromyl.

Two days later, an order for a further attack on Nyzhankovychi and Przemyśl; a hundred lieutenants of Tarnavsky and a hundred of four Kapenis marched on Nyzhankovychi, and a centurion Osyp Stanimir with a hundred of four Caravans crossed the village of Gorokhivtsi through Giysko and Syrakiztsi, besieged the Gorokhiv fort and occupied it. The armor of the four Sadlich acted in the direction of Ustryk , its garrison blew up the railway bridge. The Berezhnytsky's four-man armored train supported the Riflemen's attack on Przemyśl. The Polish command concentrated the overwhelming forces there, including armored trains. In the evening, the Caravan couple occupied Fort Opten in Pikulychy , 2 kilometers from Przemyśl. The garrison under the curtain of night flowed from Nyzhankovych to Przemyśl.

On December 8, Kravs received reinforcements - a rifle hut (400 bayonets), he attacked the enemy in the direction of Przemyśl and on December 9 was 1 km from this key city for Poles.

At the beginning of December, General Zygmunt Zelinsky became the head of the Przemyśl Military District; almost immediately receives an order to counterattack on Khirov and Sambir.

On December 11, a Polish counterattack took place near Grokhovtsi (Gorokhivtsi) and Germanovtsi. , the Ukrainian counterattack from Fridropol in the direction of Darovytsia was repulsed by the Poles, the Ukrainian forces withdrew from Fridropol to the south and south-east. On December 13, the Polish 2nd Rifle Regiment of Lieutenant Matzenauer fought in Pidharovo near Khyriv.

On December 13, Kravs received an order from the Initial Team, which surprised him. This order, he wrote in his memoirs, "forbade the initiation of any offensive on Przemyśl." He was forced to stop the operation, under pressure from the enemy to retreat to previous positions, but then did not let the Poles. In this area, Kravs formed a powerful group "Khirov", which reliably held the front. Kravs considered the decision of the NCCA to be wrong, as he was convinced that a successful strike by the main forces on Przemyśl would force the Poles to leave Lviv.

On December 15, 1918, a battle took place near Nyzhankovychi between Ukrainian and Polish armored trains, which proved unsuccessful for the archers, and the train retreated to Khirov. The damage was so significant that the hostage was forced to leave it, the armored train reached the hands of the enemy. After fighting on the outskirts of Khyriv, the Poles recaptured the city on December 16.

Bibliography

• UGA Armored Trains
• Combatant News
• Сокальщина. Book of Memory of Ukraine
• Wojna 1918–1919
• Walki o Przemyśl