Semen Karetnyk | |
|---|---|
 Semen Karetnyk in October 1920 | |
| Native name | Семе́н Мики́тович Каретник |
| Birth name | Semen Mykytovych Karetnyk |
| Born | 1893 (1893) |
| Died | 26 November 1920(1920-11-26) (aged 26–27) |
| Allegiance |  Russian Empire(1914–1917) Makhnovshchina(1918–1920) |
| Service | Imperial Russian Army(1914–1917) Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine(1918–1920) |
| Years of service | 1914–1920 |
| Rank | Ataman |
| Commands | Crimean Corps |
| Battles / wars | |
| Part ofa series on the |
| Makhnovshchina |
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Organisations Institutions Military organisations Political organisations |
Semen Mykytovych Karetnyk (Ukrainian:Семе́н Мики́тович Каретник; 1893 – 1920) was a Ukrainiananarchist revolutionary and military commander in theRevolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine (RIAU). He often replacedNestor Makhno as supreme commander of the Insurgent Army in 1920. Karetnyk gained a reputation for his central role in defeating theWhite Army inCrimea in November 1920.
Semen Karetnyk was born intoextreme poverty, growing up a poor peasant in the small southern Ukrainian town ofHuliaipole. He worked as ahostler until the outbreak ofWorld War I, upon which he was drafted into military service and worked his way through the ranks until he became anensign. By the time of theRussian Revolution, Karetnyk had gained much military experience, which he utilized upon his return to Ukraine, when he became a leading partisan of theMakhnovshchina.[1] Karetnyk's stronganarchist convictions brought him into the favor of the local revolutionary leaderNestor Makhno,[2] with Karetnyk going on to become thesecond-in-command of theRevolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine.[1]
Upon Makhno's return from Russia in July 1918, Karetnyk and his brother attended a meeting with other local anarchists in order to figure out how they could acquire weapons.[3] They resolved to carry outsurprise attacks against the local authorities, seizing 44,000 rubles in abank robbery atZherebets, and increasingly harassing the occupyingAustro-Hungarian Army.[4] Despite earlier successes, the insurgents were driven out of theregion by the occupation forces. They were surrounded by Hungarian forces atTemyrivka, where half of them were killed and Karetnyk himself was wounded.[5] They then regrouped atOrikhiv and on 27 November, they decisively retook Huliaipole.[6] Back in their hometown, the local anarchists established ageneral staff for the Insurgent Army, which Karetnyk joined.[7] On 20 December, Karetnyk led a detachment toSynelnykove, as part of a 300-to-500-strong insurgent battalion, and then on toNyzhnyodiniprovske [uk], arriving onChristmas.[8] The following day they attacked the city, capturing it from theUkrainian People's Republic by 28 December.[9]
When the first Bolshevik-Makhnovist alliance was broken in June 1919, Karetnyk was among the anarchists of Huliaipole that accompanied Makhno's small detachment in a retreat toright-bank Ukraine.[10] Following the formation of a temporary alliance withNykyfor Hryhoriv'sgreen army, Semen Karetnyk andOleksiy Chubenko were two members of the insurgent staff that called for Hryhoriv to be disposed of and played a role in carrying out his assassination.[11] According to the historianClarence Manning, it was Karetnyk himself that killed Hryhoriv.[12]
In the wake of the insurgent offensive after thebattle of Peregonovka, theOleksandrivsk Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents elected Karetnyk to theThird Military Revolutionary Council.[13] On 4 December 1919, after a conference of the insurgent command inKaterynoslav, Karetnyk participated in the arrest and execution of a number of local Bolsheviks that had participated in thePolonsky conspiracy.[14]
On 5 January 1920, Karetnyk entered into talks with theRed Army for a truce.[15] But the agreement between the two proved stillborn afterIeronim Uborevich ordered the insurgents to transfer to thePolish front and integrate themselves into the12th Army.[16] When talks between the Makhnovists and the Bolsheviks resumed in August 1920, Dmitri Popov and Semen Karetnyk were two of the insurgent command staff that argued against the proposed alliance. However, an insurgent vote on the matter secured a majority for an alliance with the Bolsheviks.[17] On 6 October, Semen Karetnyk, Dmitri Popov andViktor Bilash met the Bolshevik negotiator atStarobilsk to sign their provisional agreement. By the following day, they had arranged an armistice and decided that a final draft of the "Political-Military Alliance" would be agreed upon inKharkiv.[18]
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Karetnyk subsequently returned to the front at Huliaipole, where he reestablished a general staff to coordinate theinsurgent counteroffensive against theRussian Army inTavria.[19] At this time, the insurgent staff was split into two, with a wounded Nestor Makhno remaining in Huliaipole while Semen Karetnyk led an insurgent detachment on towardsCrimea.[20] On 22 October, the insurgents began their offensive, capturingOleksandrivsk andMelitopol before pushing the Russian Army all the way back toPerekop.[21]
Under the command ofMikhail Frunze, Karetnyk's Crimean detachment, along with the6th Red Army, was ordered to penetrate the White rear and cut the road between Perekop andSimferopol atDürmen [uk], but their attempt to occupy theLithuanian peninsula on 6 November was stifled after Karetnyk's insurgents were unable toford theSıvaş.[22] When the water receded the following night, the Soviet units were able to cross and capture the northern side of the peninsula, but a change in wind briefly prevented Karetnyk's detachment from crossing.[23] Semen Karetnyk, his cavalry commanderOleksiy Marchenko and machine gun commanderFoma Kozhyn were then summoned toStrohanivka [uk] for a meeting with Frunze, who ordered they immediately make the crossing. The insurgents initially hesitated to go forward with this as they suspected it was a trap, but crossed into Crimea in the early morning of 7 November, while being peppered by heavy machine gun fire.[24] By 14 November 1920, Karetnyk's detachment had occupied Simferopol and a number of other Crimean cities, forcing theGovernment of South Russia toevacuate and resulting in the establishment of theCrimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.[25] Karetnyk's detachment was then ordered to take up camp atSaky, where they were subsequently surrounded by the52nd Rifle Division,3rd Cavalry Corps and2nd Latvian Brigade, preventing the insurgents from leaving Crimea.[26]
Frunze then ordered the transfer of insurgent units in Crimea to theCaucasian front, but he did not send a copy of this order to Karetnyk and concentrated Red cavalry armies around the Crimean insurgents.[27] Frunze then alleged that the insurgents had refused their transfer to theCaucasus and claimed that they were planning an anti-Bolshevik uprising.[28] On 26 November, the Bolsheviks moved against theMakhnovshchina, attacking the Crimean insurgent units.[29] While en route to a Red Army command meeting, Karetnyk and his chief of staffPetro Havrylenko were arrested inMelitopol andexecuted by firing squad.[30] The following day, the remains of Karetnyk's detachment were able to break through the lines of the 6th Army at Perekop and escaped toİşün [uk], although the only survivors of his previously thousands-strong detachment were 250 of Marchenko's cavalry.[31] On 7 December, the Crimean army linked up with Makhno's forces atKermenchik, where they informed Makhno of Karetnyk's assassination and began to make plans for an anti-Bolshevik uprising.[32]
