Yakov "Golden Tooth" Maskalevsky was a Ukrainian rebel

ataman Ataman (variants: ''otaman'', ''wataman'', ''vataman''; ; ) was a title of Cossack and haidamak leaders of various kinds. In the Russian Empire, the term was the official title of the supreme military commanders of the Cossack armies. The Ukra ...

and a member of the

Makhnovist movement The Makhnovshchina (, ) was a mass movement to establish anarchist communism in southern and eastern Ukraine during the Ukrainian War of Independence of 1917–1921. Named after Nestor Makhno, the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Insurg ...

Biography

Yakov was born in the village of Katerynivka. He was enlisted during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and he eventually became a full knight of St. George, receiving the rank of ensign. After the end of the war in 1918, he worked as a miner, where he began to participate in the revolutionary actions of anarchist groups. He organized a detachment of 600-700 sabers and 30-40 ''

tachanka A tachanka (Russian and ) was a horse-drawn cart (such as charabanc) or an open wagon with a heavy machine gun mounted on the rear side. A tachanka could be pulled by two to four mules and required a crew of two or three (one driver and a machin ...

'', which fought against both the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

and

White Army The White Army, also known as the White Guard, the White Guardsmen, or simply the Whites, was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and Anti-Sovietism, anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. T ...

. Moskalevsky was nicknamed the "Golden Tooth" by the White Guards. While

Nestor Makhno Nestor Ivanovych Makhno (, ; 7 November 1888 – 25 July 1934), also known as Bat'ko Makhno ( , ), was a Ukrainians, Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary and the commander of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine during the Ukrainian War o ...

briefly joined the Red Army, Maskalevsky continued to fight against the Bolsheviks, he dispersed their organizations and distributed land to the peasants. With his detachment, the otaman participated in battles near

Huliaipole Huliaipole ( ; ) is a small city in Polohy Raion, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Ukraine. It is known as the birthplace of Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary Nestor Makhno. In January 2022, it had an estimated population of Huliaipole was attacked by ...

and Oleksandrivsk, and was noted for bravery by Makhno himself. In 1920-1921, the detachment began to disintegrate, the fighters despaired of victory and began to disperse to their homes, for most of them wives and old parents were waiting. On 22 March 1921 a Golden Tooth detachment of 150 people with 3 machine guns went to

Yeysk Yeysk () is a port and a resort town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated on the shore of the Taganrog Gulf of the Sea of Azov. The town is built primarily on the Yeysk Spit, which separates the Yeya River from the Sea of Azov. Population: ...

on the ice of the

Sea of Azov The Sea of Azov is an inland Continental shelf#Shelf seas, shelf sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, and sometimes regarded as a northern extension of the Black Sea. The sea is bounded by Ru ...

, and part remained in the

Mariupol Mariupol is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius, Kalmius River. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the tenth-largest city in the coun ...

district and awaited the arrival of Viktor Belash. With the arrival of the latter, the rebels joined him. On 13 July 1921 a Golden Tooth detachment knocked the 2nd company of the 90th battalion of the

Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...

out of the village of Maryevka. Being defeated, the Bolsheviks retreated to the Voznesensky mine. On the same day, Yakov's detachment of 300 sabers with 10 machine guns joined Makhno. Leaving a detachment of 150 sabers and 100 bayonets in Maryevka, Yakov went to Novo-Mikhailovka, which he also occupied. Then, together with Makhno, he moved in a southeastern direction to the Taganrog district, Donetsk province. Until 1922, Maskalevsky had 250-300 rebels in his detachment. At the end of 1922 the otaman was captured and, while trying to escape from prison, was killed.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maskalevsky, Yakov 1922 deaths Makhnovists Military personnel from Donetsk People from Bakhmutsky Uyezd People from Donetsk Oblast Ukrainian anarchists Ukrainian people of the Ukrainian–Soviet War Ukrainian people of World War I