Kuty (Kąty) defence – was a skirmish between Polish self-defense units and

Ukrainian Insurgent Army The Ukrainian Insurgent Army ( uk, Українська повстанська армія, УПА, translit=Ukrayins'ka povstans'ka armiia, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist paramilitary and later partisan formation. During World ...

unit under commander Ivan Klymshyn (nom de guerre "Crow") and Andriy Melnyk's supporters in the village of Kuty (Polish Kąty) located in

Volhynia Volhynia (also spelled Volynia) ( ; uk, Воли́нь, Volyn' pl, Wołyń, russian: Волы́нь, Volýnʹ, ), is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between south-eastern Poland, south-western Belarus, and western Ukraine. Th ...

, Krzemieniec (

Kremenets Kremenets ( uk, Крем'янець, Кременець, translit. ''Kremianets'', ''Kremenets''; pl, Krzemieniec; yi, קרעמעניץ, Kremenits) is a city in Ternopil Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center o ...

) county,

Shumsk Shumsk (, , yi, שומסק, Shimsk) is a city in Kremenets Raion, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Shumsk urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population is Until 18 July 2020, Shumsk was the administrative cen ...

commune 3 or 4 May 1943. During the fight no less than 53 Poles were killed, although the assault was repelled by self-defense forces. After the battle Poles abandoned the village, and escorted by Germans went to Shumsk and later to

Prelude

Kuty was a Polish village with 234 Polish families (919 people) and 12 Ukrainian families. During the

Soviet occupation During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into two different ...

some Poles were deported to

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

. On November 14, 1942 Ukrainians killed a local leader, Władysław Giżycki, an organizer of the local

Riflemen's Association The Polish Riflemen's Association known as ''Związek Strzelecki'' (or more commonly, in the plural form as ''Związki Strzeleckie'') formed in great numbers prior to World War I. One of the better known associations called "Strzelec" (Riflemen's ...

. After assassinations of individual Poles in late 1942, inhabitants of Kuty formed a self-defense unit. Leaders of the self-defense force included: Jan Jasiński, Feliks Jasiński, former accountant and soltys Stefczyk, Władysław Jasiński, Roman Kucharski, Edward Wawrzykowski and former soldiers -

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non ...

s Stanisław Jasiński and Stanisław Szymański. The self-defense unit gathered 25

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...

s, some

revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...

s and

hand grenade A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade genera ...

s. The rest of men, in the event of an attack armed themselves with pitch-forks and

scythe A scythe ( ) is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or harvesting crops. It is historically used to cut down or reap edible grains, before the process of threshing. The scythe has been largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor m ...

s. The line of defense in the center of the village included a bricked houses and a church with a tower. Since February 1943, when the

Massacres of Poles in Volhynia The massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia ( pl, rzeź wołyńska, lit=Volhynian slaughter; uk, Волинська трагедія, lit=Volyn tragedy, translit=Volynska trahediia), were carried out in German-occupied Poland by the ...

had started, inhabitants who were afraid of attacks, began gathering in the centre of the village at night. On May 2, the

(UIA) planned to attack the Polish village. This information leaked out to the villagers who began defence preparations, although many inhabitants did not believe that the UIA was a threat.

Assault

On 3 (or 4) May about 10:20 pm UIA members and Melnyk supporters attacked the village from the north. In the village two thousand Poles from Kuty and nearby villages gathered. Houses at the village's perimeter were robbed, people who were not able to escape were butchered, and houses were burned down. Poles formed a defence line using rifles, safe from fire inside bricked houses. The church tower became the main point of the resistance. The battle lasted until 3:30 the next day when the Ukrainian command decided to withdraw all forces. At least 53 Poles perished.

Aftermath

The self-defense forces decided to abandon the village due to a lack of

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

. In the morning the Germans came from

, arrived at Kuty concerned by the glow of fire and the sound of gunfire. They gave 3 hours for everyone to pack their belongings and escorted the inhabitants to Shumsk. The next day all refugees departed to

. Most of inhabitants were deported to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

to be used as slave labor as

OST-Arbeiter : ' (, "Eastern worker") was a Nazi German designation for foreign slave workers gathered from occupied Central and Eastern Europe to perform forced labor in Germany during World War II. The Germans started deporting civilians at the beginning ...

. The abandoned village was razed except for the Ukrainian households. Bricked houses were disassembled. Poles who returned to Kuty after a few days were killed. The total number of Polish deaths due to the skirmish was 67 people.

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Katy Massacre 1943 in Europe World War II massacres Poland in World War II World War II crimes in Poland Massacres of Poles in Volhynia War crimes committed by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army

Prelude

Assault

Aftermath

See also

Sources