Carpatho-Ukraine

Soon after the implementation of the Munich Agreement, signed of 30 September 1938, by which Czechoslovakia lost much of its border region to Nazi Germany, a series of political reforms were initiated, leading to creation of the Second Czechoslovak Republic, consisting of three autonomous political entities, including autonomous Slovakia, and autonomous Subcarpathian Rus' (Rusyn: Підкарпатьска Русь). First local Government of autonomous Subcarpathian Rus' was appointed on 11 October 1938, headed by prime-minister Andrej Bródy. In following days, a crisis occurred between two local fractions, pro-Rusyn and pro-Ukrainian, leading to the resignation of Bródy's government on 26 October. New regional government, headed by Avgustyn Voloshyn, adopted a pro-Ukrainian course and initiated the change of regional name, from Subcarpathian Rus' to Carpathian Ukraine.[1]

That proposal opened a new political debate. On 22 November 1938, authorities of the Second Czechoslovak Republic decided to adopt the Constitutional Law on the Autonomy of Subcarpathian Rus' (Czech: Ústavní zákon o autonomii Podkarpatské Rusi), officially reaffirming the self-determination rights of the Rusyn people (preamble), and also confirming full administrative and political autonomy of Subcarpathian Rus', with its own assembly and government. Such terminology was seen as a demonstration of state support for the pro-Rusyn fraction, and on 30 December 1938, local government responded by issuing a provisional decree that proclaimed the change of regional name to Carpathian Ukraine. That led to the creation of a particular terminological duality. In constitutional system of the Second Czechoslovak Republic the region continued to be formally known as the Subcarpathian Rus', while local institutions continued to promote the use of term Carpathian Ukraine.[2][1]

In late September 1938, Hungary was ready to mobilize between 200,000 and 350,000 men on the Czechoslovak borders in case the Czechoslovak question could not be solved on diplomatic level, in favor of the Hungarian territorial claims. After the Munich Agreement the Hungarian Army had remained poised threateningly on the Czechoslovak border. They reportedly had artillery ammunition for only 36 hours of operations, and were clearly engaged in a bluff, but it was a bluff the Germans had encouraged, and one that they would have been obliged to support militarily if the much larger, better trained and better equipped Czechoslovak Army chose to fight. The Czechoslovak army had built 2,000 small concrete emplacements along the border in places where rivers did not serve as natural obstacles.

The Hungarian minister of the interior, Miklós Kozma, had been born in Subcarpathia, and in mid-1938 his ministry armed the Rongyos Gárda ('Ragged Guard'), which began to infiltrate guerillas along the southern borders of Czechoslovakia; into Slovakia and Subcarpathia. The situation was now verging on open war, which might set the whole of Europe ablaze again. The appendix of the Munich Agreement concluded Czechoslovakia and Hungary should arrange their disputes by mutual negotiations, which could not achieve a final agreement, so the Hungarian and the Czechoslovak governments accepted the German-Italian Arbitration of Vienna as France and the United Kingdom rejected participation of no interest. This led to the First Vienna Award.

On 2 November 1938, this found largely in favor of the Hungarians and obliged the Prague government to cede 11,833 km² of Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia to Hungary. Not only did this transfer the homes of about 590,000 Hungarians to Hungary, but 290,000 Slovaks and 37,000 Rusyns as well. In addition, it cost Slovakia its second-largest city, Košice, and left the capital, Bratislava, vulnerable to further Hungarian pressure. As a consequence, the Slovak end of the Czechoslovak Army had to be reorganized. It had lost its natural defensive positions on the Danube River, almost the entire belt of fortifications along the Hungarian border and several major depots.

On 8 November 1938, the Slovak National Unity Party received 97.5 percent of the Slovak votes, and a one-party state was instituted. Slovak autonomy was formalized by the Prague parliament on 19 November, and to symbolize this new Slovak assertiveness, the country's name was then altered to Czecho-Slovakia. Carpatho-Ukraine was also given autonomy.

The Arbitration of Vienna fully satisfied nobody, and there followed 22 border clashes between 2 November 1938 and 12 January 1939, during which five Czechoslovaks were killed and six were wounded. The Slovak national militia Hlinka Guard participated in these clashes. The ineffectiveness of the Prague government in protecting their interests stirred Slovak and Ukrainian nationalism further. On 6 January 1939 Czechoslovak troops ordered by general Lev Prchala performed a surprise attack on the city of Munkács (now Mukacheve), in which the Carpathian Sich were as well involved, but the Rongyos Gárda with the help of the local police pushed them back. After this incident Döme Sztójay, the Hungarian ambassador in Berlin transferred a message to the German government in case of the German occupation of the Czech lands and the declaration of Slovak independence Hungary will occupy the rest of Carpathian Ruthenia, regardless of German approval. On March 11, the German ambassador in Budapest outlined in the German Government's response if Hungary will maintain and uphold the economic contracts with Germany, respect the rights of the local Germans and would not persecute the members of the Volosin Cabinet, then in case of the proclamation of an independent Carpatho-Ukraine would be acquiescent regarding the Hungarian plans.[3]

Slovak and Ukrainian nationalism grew more intense. On 10 March, the Hlinka Guard and Volksdeutsche demonstrated, demanding independence from Czecho-Slovakia. In the evening of 13 March, Slovak leader Jozef Tiso and Ďurčanský met Adolf Hitler, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Generals Walther von Brauchitsch and Wilhelm Keitel in Berlin.

Hitler made it absolutely clear: Slovakia could either declare independence immediately and associate itself with the Reich, or he would allow the Hungarians to take over the country – whom Ribbentrop reported were massing at the border. During the afternoon and night of 14 March, the Slovak parliament proclaimed independence from Czecho-Slovakia, and at 05:00 on 15 March 1939, Hitler declared the unrest in Czecho-Slovakia to be a threat to German national security. He sent his troops into Bohemia and Moravia, meeting virtually no resistance.

Following the Slovak proclamation of independence on March 14 and the Nazis' seizure of Czech lands on 15 March, Carpatho-Ukraine declared its independence as the Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine, with the Reverend Avgustyn Voloshyn as head of state.. Voloshin was now supported by the population of Subcarpathia. The First Constitutional Law of Carpatho-Ukraine of 15 March 1939 defined the new country as follows:[4]

1. Carpatho-Ukraine is an independent state
2. The name of the state is: Carpatho-Ukraine
3. Carpatho-Ukraine is a republic, headed by a president elected by the Soim of Carpatho-Ukraine
4. The state language of Carpatho-Ukraine is the Ukrainian language
5. The colors of the national flag of the Carpatho-Ukraine are blue and yellow, blue on top and yellow on the bottom
6. The state emblem of Carpatho-Ukraine is as follows: a bear on a red field on the sinister side, four blue and three yellow stripes on the dexter side, as well as the trident of Saint Volodymyr the Great
7. The national anthem of Carpatho-Ukraine is "Ukraine has not perished"
8. This act comes valid immediately after its promulgation

The proclaimed Carpatho-Ukrainian government was headed by President Avgustyn Voloshyn,[4] Prime Minister Julian Révaý, Minister of Defence Stepan Klochurak, and Minister of Internal Affairs Yuriy Perevuznyk. The head of the Soim was Avhustyn Shtephan, his deputies were Fedir Révaý and Stepan Rosokha. The Slovak declaration of independence caused law and order to break down immediately. The Hungarians had learned that the Germans would not object to a Hungarian takeover of Carpatho-Ukraine on the same day.

Hungarian invasion of Carpatho-Ukraine
Date 14–18 March 1939 (1939-03-14 – 1939-03-18) Location Carpatho-Ukraine Result Hungarian occupation and annexation
Belligerents
Invading:  Hungary Supported by:  Poland  Germany	Defending:  Carpatho-Ukraine  Czechoslovakia (until 16th March)	Supressing the Sich:  Czechoslovakia
Commanders and leaders
Miklós Horthy András Littay Ferenc Szombathelyi Miklós Kozma	Avgustyn Voloshyn Dmytro Kłympusz Mychajło Kołodzinskyj † Zenon Kossak † Oleg Svátek Lev Prchala	Bohumil Mařík Lev Prchala Oleg Svátek
Units involved
Carpathian Group[5] Irregular troops	12th Division[5] Border Security (StOS)[5] Carpathian Sich[5]
Strength
> 25,000[6] Other estimates: 18,000[5] 500 guns 50 tanks 15 aircraft	± 8,000[6] Other estimates: 2,700 (Czechoslovak)[5] 1,500 (Ukrainian)[5] 6 light tanks LT-35 (Czechoslovak) 4 armored vehicles OA vz.30 (Czechoslovak)
Casualties and losses
72 deaths, 164 wounded, 3 missing and 2 prisoners (official Hungarian statistics)[7] ± 200 killed and several hundred wounded (Czechoslovak and Ukrainian estimates)[7]	± 230 killed[4] Czechoslovak forces lost 40 killed, 150 injured and 17 missing[7] ± 27,000 civilians killed[4]

The Hungarian invasion of Carpatho-Ukraine was a 1939 military conflict between the Kingdom of Hungary and Carpatho-Ukraine. During the invasion a series of clashes took place between the Hungarian and Polish troops against the paramilitary formations of the Carpathian Sich of Carpathian Ukraine and some Czech troops who remained in the region after the Czechoslovak army was disbanded. The war ended with the occupation and subsequent annexation of the territory of Transcarpathian Ukraine (Subcarpathian Rus') to the Kingdom of Hungary.[8]

This territory was later invaded by the Soviet Union and given to its Ukrainian SSR.

Campaign poster of the Carpathian Sich

Panzer 35(t)

The capture of Carpatho-Ukraine by Hungarian troops was originally planned to begin on March 12, 1939, the day of the elections to the local Soim, but the German government rejected the idea, saying it would announce the start of the occupation.[16]

The Hungarians concentrated 12 divisions of the VI Army on the border, and on the night of March 13–14, the Hungarian army began advancing deep into the territory of Carpatho-Ukraine with small forces.[17]

At 2:00 a.m., units of the Carpathian Sich (then a 5,000-strong paramilitary organization [9]) received weapons from the Khust gendarmerie (41 rifles and 90 pistols) to defend against the Hungarians on the orders of Prime Minister Augustyn Voloshyn.[18]

At around 4 a.m., Ivan Roman, the deputy commander of the Carpathian Sich, received a call from Czech officers demanding that the weapons be returned to the warehouse. The commandant, referring to the decree of Augustin Voloshyn, flatly refused. In response, General Lev Prchala ordered units of the 45th Regiment stationed in Khust to seize weapons by force.[18]

At 6:00 a.m., Czech troops, numbering 200 soldiers, armed with six light tanks (LT vz.35), four armored vehicles (OA vz.30), heavy guns, machine guns and mortars, attacked the main Sich buildings: Kish, "Sich Hotel ", The main team, "Women's Sect" and "Flying Variety". The leadership of autonomous Carpatho-Ukraine appealed to the Czechs to cease fire, but no response was received.[18] The Sich began seizing weapons depots, office buildings, and disarming patrols. Armed clashes between the Sich and Czechoslovak troops lasted more than 8 hours. Barricades appeared on the streets of Khust, and constant street fights broke out.[18]

At the same time, Prime Minister Voloshyn tried to resolve the conflict. Several attempts to call the central government were unsuccessful - Prague did not respond. After a telephone conversation between Prime Minister Augustyn Voloshyn (who strongly opposed an armed attack by Czechoslovak troops on Sich units) and General Lev Prchala, a truce was established in the streets: Czechoslovakia returned to the barracks and the Carpathian Sich disarmed.[16]

According to various sources, the losses of the Sich ranged from 40 to 150 killed and about 50 wounded, the losses of the Czechoslovaks - from 7 to 20 soldiers and gendarmes killed. During the confrontation between Sich and the Czechoslovaks, Hungarian troops occupied three villages near Mukachevo.[15]

On the morning of March 14, 1939, the commander of the eastern group of troops, General Lev Prchal, believing that the invasion of Hungarian troops had not been authorized by Berlin, ordered the beginning of the defense. However, after the declaration of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, he ordered on March 16th the evacuation of Czechoslovak troops and civil servants from the territory of Subcarpathian Ukraine.[19] The evacuation took place in three directions: in the west - to the Slovak Republic, in the north - to the Republic of Poland and in the southeast - to the Kingdom of Romania.[13] The last Czechoslovak troops left Khust in March 17.[6]

Chairman of the Carpathian Sich. From left to right: Ivan Rohach, Ivan Roman and Fedir Tatsynets

In these circumstances, on March 15, 1939, Augustyn Voloshyn proclaimed the independence of Carpatho-Ukraine by radio and sent a telegram to Adolf Hitler in Berlin, asking him to take the country under the protectorate of Nazi Germany. In response, the German government refused to support and advised not to resist Hungarian troops.[20] On the same day, the Hungarian government sent a parliamentarian to Khust with a proposal to disarm and peacefully join the Kingdom of Hungary. Voloshyn refused, saying that "Carpatho-Ukraine is a peaceful state and wants to live in peace with its neighbors, but if necessary will repel any aggressor." Mobilization was announced in Transcarpathia.[15]

In the evening of March 15, Hungarian troops launched a general offensive in four directions: Uzhhorod - Perechyn - Uzhok; Uzhhorod - Svaliava - Lavochne; Mukachevo - Irshava - Kushnytsia; Korolevo - Khust - Yasinya - Volove.

The Carpathian Sich recruited volunteers, mostly demobilized Czechoslovak army soldiers from the local population, and, with 10,000 to 12,000 poorly armed soldiers, tried to resist. The Hungarians struck the main blow along the Uzhhorod-Perechyn line, trying to cut off Carpathian Ukraine from the Slovak Republic. The Hungarian army encountered strong resistance near the village of Horonda, where sotnia "Sich" M. Stoyka held the defense for 16 hours.[15]

Heavy fighting followed the cities of Khust and Vynohradiv, which repeatedly passed from hand to hand. The most bloody was the battle on the outskirts of Khust, on the Red Field. According to the Hungarian archives, 230 people from Sich were killed in this battle, and 160 Hungarians.[13] The resistance of the Sich threatened to prolong the fighting, but the Poles came to the aid of the Hungarians, who began their offensive from the Uzhok Pass.[15]

On the morning of March 16, a day after the declaration of independence, the government of Carpatho-Ukraine left Khust, heading for the Romanian border, and a few hours later Hungarian troops stormed the capital of Carpatho-Ukraine. The 24th Hungarian Border Guard Battalion and the 12th Scooter Battalion took part in the storming of the city, aircraft and anti-tank guns were also actively used. The Hungarians were opposed by more than 3,000 Sich soldiers, who were armed with 12 units of armored vehicles previously seized from the Czechoslovaks. Under the pressure of the oppressive forces of the enemy, the Sich were forced to retreat from the city.[15]

On March 17, Hungarian troops captured Rakhiv, Yasinia, and Bushtyno. Voloshyn and his immediate entourage reached the Romanian border in the area of Velykyi Bychkiv via Tiachiv. From the Kingdom of Romania he moved to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and then via Vienna to Nazi-occupied Prague,[13] where he was appointed rector of the local Ukrainian Free University and stayed there until 1945, when he was arrested by Soviet intelligence SMERSH and deported to Moscow on July 19, 1945, where he died, according to the official version - from heart failure. On March 15, 2002, President Leonid Kuchma signed a decree posthumously awarding Voloshyn the title of "Hero of Ukraine" with the Order of the State.

In total between 1939 and 1944 80,000 Carpathian Ukrainians perished.[3]

Following the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944, Adolf Eichmann oversaw the deportation of almost the entire Hungarian Jewish population; few survived the Holocaust. At the conclusion of the Battle of the Dukla Pass on 28 October 1944, the Soviet Union had driven the Germans and Hungarians back and occupied Carpathian Ruthenia and the rest of western Ukraine. Control of Carpathian Ruthenia thus "nominally" reverted to Czechoslovakia. The delegation of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile, led by minister František Němec, arrived in Khust to establish the provisional Czechoslovak administration, according to the treaties between the Soviet and Czechoslovak government that year.

However, after just a few weeks, for reasons that remain unclear, the Red Army and the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs started to obstruct the delegation's work and finally a puppet "National Committee of Transcarpatho-Ukraine" was set up in Mukachevo under the protection of the Red Army. On 26 November this committee, led by Ivan Ivanovich Turyanitsa, a Rusyn who had deserted from the Czechoslovak army, proclaimed the "will of Ukrainian people" to separate from Czechoslovakia and to join the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. After two months of conflict and unsuccessful negotiations the Czechoslovak government delegation departed Khust on 1 February 1945, leaving Carpatho-Ukraine under Soviet control.

The Soviet Union exerted pressure on Czechoslovakia, and on 29 June 1945, the two countries signed a treaty, officially ceding Carpatho-Ruthenia to the USSR. In 1946, the area became part of the Ukrainian SSR as the Zakarpattia Oblast.