Isidor Lyuty (, ), better known by his ''

nom de guerre A ''nom de guerre'' (, 'war name') is a pseudonym chosen by someone to use when they are involved in a particular activity, especially fighting in a war. In Ancien régime, ''ancien régime'' Kingdom of France, France it would be adopted by each n ...

'' Petya Lyuty (), was a Ukrainian military commander in the

Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine (; RIAU), also known as ''Makhnovtsi'' (), named after their founder Nestor Makhno, was an Anarchism, anarchist army formed largely of Ukrainians, Ukrainian peasants and workers during the Russian C ...

. An early member of the insurgent staff, he also served as

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 ...

's personal bodyguard, before dying in battle against the

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 ...

at Pomichna.

Biography

Petya Lyuty worked as a painter and decorator. Following the outbreak of the

Ukrainian War of Independence The Ukrainian War of Independence, also referred to as the Ukrainian–Soviet War in Ukraine, lasted from March 1917 to November 1921 and was part of the wider Russian Civil War. It saw the establishment and development of an independent Ukr ...

against the occupying

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,; ; , ; were one of the two main coalitions that fought in World War I (1914–1918). It consisted of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulga ...

, Lyuty joined the insurgent detachment under

, who he served as his personal bodyguard. Disguised as women, Lyuty and Makhno carried out reconnaissance on the local Austro-German headquarters in

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 ...

, but they called off their planned bombing attack against it, as they feared that they would harm the women and children inside. On 22 September 1918, Makhno and Lyuty moved to decisively reoccupy Huliaipole, setting off from

Ternivka Ternivka (, ) is a city in Pavlohrad Raion, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Ternivka urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: Population was 23,972 (2024). History In April 1930 the village was ...

in disguise as officers of the (UAF). Along the way, they encountered a real detachment of the UAF, from whom they received

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

on the positions and strength of the Austro-German forces, before killing them. On 30 September 1918, Lyuty took a commanding role in the

battle of Dibrivka The Battle of Dibrivka was a military conflict between Ukrainian insurgents, led by Nestor Makhno and Fedir Shchus, and the Central Powers that were occupying southern Ukraine. It took place on 30 September 1918, towards the end of World War I. ...

, where the insurgents successfully defeated the local Austrian garrison. This was followed by a series of reprisals, with the Austrian forces eventually driving the insurgents out of Dibrivka. On 15 November 1918, the insurgents were ambushed by a Hungarian detachment at , with half of them being killed in the attack. During the scrambled insurgent defense, Makhno fired a Lewis gun from Lyuty's own shoulder, killing enough men to stop the attack. But after a failed counterattack, the insurgents fell back, pinned down by gunfire. Lyuty, along with Oleksiy Marchenko and Petro Petrenko, rescued a wounded Makhno from the battle and escaped on horseback. Nevertheless, the insurgents were able to rally themselves, finally recapturing Huliaipole on 27 November. This accelerated a process of reorganisation of the insurgent forces, which were now surrounded on all fronts by different enemies. At an extraordinary insurgent conference, the various insurgent detachments federated together under a central command, with Lyuty being elected to the insurgent staff. After Makhno broke with the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

and retreated from Huliaipole in the summer of 1919, Lyuty joined the insurgent detachment on its way towards

Kherson Kherson (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and , , ) is a port city in southern Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located by the Black Sea and on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, Kherson is the home to a major ship-bui ...

. In early September, the insurgents fell into a series of clashes with the

around Pomichna, during which Petya Lyuty was killed.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lyuty, Petya 1919 deaths Makhnovists People from Huliaipole Ukrainian military leaders Ukrainian military personnel killed in action Ukrainian people of the Ukrainian–Soviet War Wartime cross-dressers Year of birth unknown Ukrainian anarchists