Green Guard

This article is about 1940s force in Ukraine. For Army deserters in Austria-Hungary, see Green Cadres.

Green Guard
Зелена Гвардія
Active	1942–1943
Disbanded	1945
Country	Ukraine
Type	Partisan detachment
Garrison/HQ	Kyiv
Nickname(s)	Green Army
Engagements	Eastern 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

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

• Anarchism in Ukraine
• Anarchist brigades in the Italian Resistance
• Green armies
• Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine
• Soviet partisans
• Syndicalist Brigade
• Ukrainian Insurgent Army

References

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. Damier, Vadim (November 1998). "Fate of the Makhnovist". Прямое действие. Translated by Riltok. Confederation of Revolutionary Anarcho-Syndicalists. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
3. A. Dubovik; Y. Kravets; A. Belash (eds.). "ЦЕБРИЙ Осип Васильевич". Makhno.ru. ИМЕННОЙ УКАЗАТЕЛЬ (in Russian). Retrieved 12 May 2021.

Further reading

• Bonnet, F. (2017). Des vies en révolution - Ces destins saisis par Octobre-17. Non fiction (in French). Éditions Don Quichotte. ISBN 978-2-35949-652-9. Retrieved 2022-06-07.
• Tsebry, Ossip (1949–1950). "Memories of a Makhnovist Partisan". Delo Truda–Probuzdénie. No. 31–32. New York. pp. 17–19, 13–14. Retrieved 2022-06-07 – via The Anarchist Library.
• Woroncow, Jakub (2021-06-03). "Osip Tsebry: Burzliwy życiorys machnowca". Anarcho-Biblioteka (in Polish). Retrieved 2022-06-07.