Hnat Stefaniv was a colonel of the Ukrainian Galician Army

Ukrainian Galician Army

Ukrainian Galician Army , was the Ukrainian military of the West Ukrainian National Republic during and after the Polish-Ukrainian War. -Military equipment:...

 and the army of the UNR. Born in the village of Topoivtsi near Horodenka

Horodenka

Horodenka is a city located in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, in western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Horodenka Raion .The current estimated population is around 9,800 .-History:...

 (the village is now in Ternopil oblast

Ternopil Oblast

Ternopil Oblast is an oblast' of Ukraine. Its administrative center is Ternopil, through which flows the Seret River, a tributary of the Dnister.-Geography:...

) Stefaniv rose to the rank of major in the Austro-Hungarian

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...

 army. In the November retreat of 1918 he was the organizor and commendant of the Zolochiv

Zolochiv

Zolochiv is a town located in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Zolochiv Raion ....

 area in the Western Ukrainian National Republic. From November 9 to December 10. In 1918 he was elevated to the rank of colonel and commanded the Ukrainian Army i Lviv

Lviv

Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...

. Under his leadership the Ukrainian forces fought the Polish forces in Lviv, but after the arrival of reinforcement were forced to leave the city November 22. Later he joined the army of the UNR where he commanded the Hutsul regiment, the additional brigade of the rifleman's division and the commander of the cavalry in the First Winter campaign

First Winter Campaign

The First Winter Campaign was a campaign between the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic and bolshevik forces in Ukraine during the Ukrainian-Soviet War...

. In 1920 he became the commander in exile of the Ukrainian armies. In 1920 he went over with a group under General Anton Kraus to Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

 and there headed the diplomatic mission of the WUKR in Uzhhorod

Uzhhorod

Uzhhorod or Uzhgorod is a city located in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary. It is the administrative center of the Zakarpattia Oblast , as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Uzhhorodskyi Raion within the oblast...

. Until 1939 he lived in Transcarpathia

Carpathian Ruthenia

Carpathian Ruthenia is a region in Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast , with smaller parts in easternmost Slovakia , Poland's Lemkovyna and Romanian Maramureş.It is...

, then in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, and Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

(from 1944) where he died.