| Conflict: | Battle of Ulhówek and Rzeczyca |
| Place: | Ulhówek and Rzeczyca, Tomaszów County, Lublin Voivodeship |
| Date: | 1–2 June 1944 |
| Partof: | the Massacres of the Poles in the Volhynia and Galicia during the Polish–Ukrainian ethnic conflict in the World War II |
| Result: | Ulhówek: Ukrainian victory Rzeczyca: Polish victory |
| Combatant1: | Home Army Peasant Battalions |
| Combatant2: | Ukrainian Insurgent Army Kusch Units of the Ukrainian Self–Defense Third Reich 14th Grenadier Division of the Waffen–SS “Galicia” |
| Commander1: | Zenon Jachymek |
| Commander2: | Oleksiy Hromadyuk Myroslav Onyshkevych Dmytro Kazvan |
| Casualties1: | 71 killed 100 wounded |
| Strength1: | 3,000 men |
| Strength2: | Unknown |
| Casualties2: | Heavy |
| Casualties3: | 93 Ukrainian civilians were murdered[1] |
| Units2: | Northern Operational Group
|
| Units1: | Operational Group “Łódź”
|
The Battle of Ulhówek and Rzeczyca (Polish: Bitwy pod Ulhówkiem i Rzeczycą, Ukrainian: Бої під Ульгувіком і Жечицею; 1–2 June 1944) was fought between the Military Inspectorate “Piotrków Trybunalski” and Military District “Tomaszów Mazowiecki” in the Operational Group “Łódź” of the Home Army and Peasant Battalions under the command of Zenon Jachymek against the 3rd Operational Group “Turiv” in the Northern Operational Group 6th Operational Group “Syan” in the Western Operational Group of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Kusch Units of the Ukrainian Self–Defense, Third Reich and 14th Grenadier Division of the Waffen–SS “Galicia” under the command of Oleksiy Hromadyuk, Myroslav Onyshkevych and Dmytro Kazvan in the outskirts of the villages of Ulhówek and Rzeczyca in the Tomaszów County of the Lublin Voivodeship.[2]
In 1943, Polish partisans fearing that the Ukrainian Insurgent Army's terror would spread into the Lublin Voivodeship started attacking local Ukrainian activists, however these were not mass crimes, but executions carried out on designated individuals.[3] In response Ukrainian police units started pacification of Polish villages and Polish partisans started pacification of Ukrainian villages turning into a Vicious circle. The conflict in 1943 in the region lead to the execution of 456 Ukrainians, 286 of whom were, in Bozyk's words, 'nationally aware peasants'. The remaining group included Orthodox priests, Ukrainian national activists and officers of the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police.[4]
In March 1944 the Home Army and Peasant Battalions led by Zenon Jachymek and Stanisław Basaj started the largest anti-Ukrainian action of the Polish Underground State named the Hrubieszów revolution,[5] the result of the event was the killing of approximately 2,000 Ukrainians.[6]
In April of the same year the UPA started a major offensive against Polish partisans however the first offensive on the 5th of April failed,[7] and the offensive on the first day of Easter had an Inconclusive outcome.[8] Due to the failed offensives only sporadic attacks took place until the 15h of May when the UPA organized an offensive in the area of Nabrozh, Telatyn and Zulice. Telatyn changed hands several times. Fearing encirclement, the Polish troops had to withdraw across the Huczwa River from Nabróża.[9] On May 21 the UPA tried to attack Narol however the attack failed and UPA soldiers had to go back to their positions.[10]
On 1 June 1944, Polish units began preparing for an attack on the approximately fifty-kilometre-long Tyszowce - Łaszczów - Jarczów section. Its aim was to pre-empt the actions of the UPA units. The main strike was to be directed at Ulhówek and Rzeczyca, which were key points in the UPA's positions.[11] Nine groupings were formed:[12]
In total, the Home Army forces mobilised for this action amounted to 3,000 men. The entire offensive was commanded by Captain Zenon Jachymek "Wiktor".[13]
On 1 June 1944, the individual groups took up a starting posture for an attack, the units of the 1st Group left the Tyszowiec Forest for the designated positions with the task of securing the Polish offensive near Ulhówek from the north. On the morning of 2 June the grouping started to develop for the attack from Dabrowa forest in order to drive out the UPA soldiers. Lieutenant "Ryszard"'s "Wiklina" company was to tie up the UPA garrison in Stara Wieś with a part of its forces, while "Grom" company was in reserve.Its platoon was to capture the strategically important road Mircze-Stara Wieś-Telatyn-Ulhówek, in order to prevent the enemy from receiving reinforcements from the Mircze region. The unit's attempt to capture Dąbrowa failed because the "Kozak" unit unexpectedly encountered a 12-man SS "Galizien" sub-unit training in the forest, which was completely destroyed. The attack by "Czarny" and "Kozak" on Dąbrowa collapsed under the hurricane fire of a strong Wehrmacht front unit that had previously occupied Dąbrowa. During the heavy fighting with the attacking enemy, "Kozak" and "Czarny" suffered heavy wounds. With the help of the "Czarny" and "Kozak" squads came the company of Lt. Konopy, "Czaruś". The battle, which lasted more than two hours, was inconclusive. The fighting at Dąbrowa was paid with the loss of 4 killed and 3 wounded.[14]
The grouping of the II sergeant senior A. Dżygało, "Korczak", while marching to their starting positions in the Zulice forest, accidentally encountered in the area of Zulice a Ukrainian unit providing cover for the Ukrainian Insurgent Army's grouping in Telatin. As a result of the unexpected shelling of the "Korczak" unit, nurse Stefania Gajewska, "Rosa", was killed. The third company of the lieutenant, "Muryna" insuring the action of Korczak's troops, after a short battle, drove back the Ukrainian unit to Telatyn and moved to capture Posadów, Rzeplin and the surrounding forests. The 2nd Group was quickly recognised by the enemy, which had a detrimental effect on the course and conduct of the entire action; moreover, "Korczak" halted the march of his units to the starting positions and moved to the Żulice forest. The "Muryna" company occupied the village of Posadów and continued the fight with the Ukrainians for the hill near Rzeplin. At this time, the horse reconnaissance of the Korczyński cavalry group, in the strength of 96 Uhlans, attacked Rokitno, which, after some support from "Muryna"'s soldiers, was captured.
A part of the "Korczak" detachment, stationed idly in the forest, moved at about 9.30 a.m. to support the remaining forces of the 2nd Platoon. From 11 p.m. the "Reneta" assault group of Lieutenant Fr. Bednarski was engaged in the battle. The 3rd group of rtm. Tadeusz Niedziałkowski, "Tomasz", with whom the commander of the group, Cpt. "Wiktor", was located, captured Podlody and took Żerniki. However, the sounds of the battle could not be heard from the Steniatyn Forest.
At this time, Lt. "Reneta" renewed the attack with his 4th grouping from the west on Rzeczyca. The Ukrainian command directed more and more troops to Rzeczyca to reinforce the defence. The attack of Lieutenant "Reneta" collapsed under heavy Ukrainian fire. To the relief of the retreating Reneta's units came Capt. T. Niedziałkowski, "Tomasz", who, aware of the situation on the battlefield, left Bela's company and with part of his forces struck in the direction of "Ulhówka. A joint strike by Lt. Cpl. "Reneta" and Cpl. T. "Tomasz" on Rzeczyca failed and Sgt. Korczak" continued to stand idle in the Zulica forest instead of striking Ulhówek from the west.
The "Waręż" unit, under the command of Józef Kozak, captured the Dębina manor, but unsuccessfully tried to launch an attack from the direction of the meadows on Rzeczyca in order to help the "Reneta" grouping entangled in the battle. Lieutenant "Czaplinski"'s 4th grouping, without encountering any resistance in the villages of Lubcze, Szlatyn and Hubinek, moved towards Rzeczyca to support the embattled units. Also, Group VII, 2nd Lt. B. Wojciechowski, "Czarny" continued the attack on Dyniska, driving the UPA out of it, and then, in another offensive, captured Dębina.
The success of the Poles in the ongoing battle of Ulhówek and Rzeczyca could not escape the attention of the Germans, who deployed military aviation in the area of the battle, firing from their guns at Polish positions along the entire line of battle. The Germans bombed: field hospitals in the Bukowiec forest, Pawlowka, Kolonia Muratyn and Paszkiewicz's manor.[15]
Due to the German intervention and the numerical superiority of the Ukrainian forces, at 16:00 Zenon Jachymek ordered a retreat of Polish forces by the Huczwa river.
As a result of the offensive, the armed units of the Home Army and Peasant Battalions didn’t achieved their military goals and could not break out the strong defense of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and retreated with the heavy losses across the Huczwa River. The Polish forces lost approximately 71 men killed and 100 men wounded[16] [17] and the Ukrainian losses are unknown, but are most likely to be heavy.[18] During the offensive, the Ukrainian civilians were murdered by the Poles in the villages of Ratyczów (26 people killed, including 6 women and 9 children), Żerniki (32 killed, including 17 women and 1 child) and Steniatyn Colony (35 killed, including 14 women and 7 children).[19] In 14 June, the UPA counterattacked at the town of Łaszczów and it was one of the final battles of the Polish–Ukrainian ethnic conflict in the region because due to the Soviet intervention.[20] Despite the failure of the offensive, it prevented the UPA from making any deep inroads into the Zamość County.
The battle near Ulhówek and Rzeczyca was the largest battle fought between Polish and Ukrainian partisans during World War II in the Zamość region. In the 50th anniversary of the battle a monument was built for the partisans of the Home Army and Peasant Battalions who took part in the battles from the 2nd to the 5th of April and the 2nd of June. the battle of Rzeczyca was added in 2017, along with 21 other places to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw.[21] [22]