Fedir Shchus
Encyclopedia
Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine
The Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine , popularly called Makhnovshchina, less correctly Makhnovchina, and also known as the Black Army, was an anarchist army formed largely of Ukrainian and Crimean peasants and workers under the command of the famous anarchist Nestor Makhno during the...
of Nestor Makhno
Nestor Makhno
Nestor Ivanovych Makhno or simply Daddy Makhno was a Ukrainian anarcho-communist guerrilla leader turned army commander who led an independent anarchist army in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War....
. Originally separate and independent of Makhno, Shchus eventually swore his loyalty to Makhno and became one of his ablest officers. He was formerly a sailor at Russian battleship Ioann Zlatoust
Russian battleship Ioann Zlatoust
Ioann Zlatoust was an pre-dreadnought battleship of the Imperial Russian Navy's Black Sea Fleet. She was built before World War I and her completion was greatly delayed by changes made to reflect the lessons of the Russo-Japanese War of 1905...
, and was wounded and confined to crutches.
According to the Ukrainian historian Pavlo Hai-Nyzhnyk
Pavlo Hai-Nyzhnyk
Pavlo Hai-Nyzhnyk , Soviet Union) is a Ukrainian historian, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Senior Research Scientist at I.F.Kuras Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Academician of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences . Ukrainian poet.-Early life and...
Shchus until late 1918 acted independently against the occupational forces, mostly from Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
until his formation was destroyed by the Hetman's "State Guard" (Derzhavna Varta), after which he hid near the Dibrovka village woods. On September 26, 1918 he united with the Makhno's units.
As a commander, Shchus proposed that the RIAU should retreat and hide to recover their losses after being defeated by Austro-Hungarian troops, local landowners and German colonists near the village of Dibrovka, although Makhno overruled this and counter-attacked the village.
He had many disagreements with Makhno and Shchus acted as a semi-independent commander, who used terror against the German colonists in the Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. Because of this constant use of terror, Makhno arrested Shchus and promised to shoot him, but Shchus could resist the power of Makhno in the region, and Makhno's power and influence rested not on military strength alone. Shchus swore his loyalty to Makhno and promised not to repeat the murders.
He perished in a fight with the 8th Division of Red Cossacks (Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
) in June, 1921 near or in Nedryhayliv
Nedryhayliv
Nedryhayliv is a small town situated on the Sula River in the Sumy Oblast of northeastern Ukraine. Its small town population of approximately 6,000 earned it the classification of urban-type settlement and it serves as the administrative center of the Nedryhaylivskyi Raion , housing the raion's...
, Poltava Governorate
Poltava Governorate
The Poltava Governorate or Government of Poltava was a guberniya in the historical Left-bank Ukraine region of the Russian Empire, which was officially created in 1802 from the disbanded Malorossiya Governorate which was split between the Chernigov Governorate and Poltava Governorate with an...
(today - Sumy Oblast
Sumy Oblast
Sumy Oblast is an oblast in the northeastern part of Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Sumy.Other important cities within the oblast include Konotop, Okhtyrka, Romny, and Shostka....
).
/14192_%D0%A9%D1%83%D1%81%D1%8C_%D0%A4%D0%B5%D0%B4%D1%96%D1%80_(1918_%D1%80.).jpg){kind=link}