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Andrey Guly-GulenkoMilitary figure of the Ukrainian People's Republic
Date of Birth: 01.10.1886
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Content:
- Early Life and Military Service
- Ukrainian Revolutionary Activities
- Service in the Ukrainian People's Republic
- Opposition to Hetman Skoropadsky and Anti-Hetman Uprising
- Military Campaigns against White and Anarchist Forces
- Accusations and Relief from Command
- Return to Military Activity and Guerrilla Campaigns
Early Life and Military Service
Petro Guli-Gulnko was born into a peasant family in Ukraine. He graduated from the Richelieu Gymnasium in Odessa (1907) and the Novo-Alexandrian Agricultural School (1911). During his studies, he was active in the national organization Ukrainian Hromada.
From 1911 to 1914, Guli-Gulnko served in the army's 11th Sapper Battalion. He participated in World War I from 1914 to 1917 with the battalion, which was transformed into the 11th Engineer Regiment in 1916. Beginning as an ensign, he ended the war as a staff captain and was awarded the Order of St. George, 4th degree (1917).
Ukrainian Revolutionary Activities
After the February Revolution, Guli-Gulnko became a member of the Divisional Committee and was later delegated to the RUMCHEROD (Central Executive Committee of the Soviets of the Romanian Front, Black Sea Fleet, and Odessa Military District). He helped organize the Ukrainian movement on the Romanian Front and attended the All-Ukrainian Military Congress in May 1917.
Service in the Ukrainian People's Republic
In November 1917, Guli-Gulnko became head of the Economic Department of the Technical Troops Directorate of the Ukrainian General Staff. He participated in the anti-Bolshevik street fighting in Kyiv in January 1918. In April 1918, he was appointed commander of the engineering regiment of the 3rd Kherson Corps of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR) in Odessa.
Opposition to Hetman Skoropadsky and Anti-Hetman Uprising
Following Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky's rise to power, Guli-Gulnko was dismissed from service as a non-military academy graduate. He moved to Yekaterinoslav, then to Rostov-on-Don and Novorossiysk, which became the center of the Ukrainian movement in the North Caucasus.
In November 1918, Guli-Gulnko actively participated in the anti-Hetman uprising in Yekaterinoslav. From December 1918, he was head of the Yekaterinoslav Kosh of the Active Army of the UNR.
Military Campaigns against White and Anarchist Forces
In January 1919, Guli-Gulnko's organizational efforts led to the creation of the Kherson-Oleksandrivsk (Zaporizhzhia) front against White Army units and the Oleksandrivsk-Novomoskovsk front against Nestor Makhno's anarchist detachments. On January 2, his unit drove Makhno's forces out of Yekaterinoslav.
In February-March 1919, troops under his command were forced to retreat westward under pressure from units of the Red Army-aligned ataman Nikifor Grigoriev. Guli-Gulnko himself fell ill and was evacuated to Kamianets-Podilskyi.
Accusations and Relief from Command
In Kamianets-Podilskyi, Guli-Gulnko was arrested by the UNR counterintelligence for allegedly abandoning the front without authorization. He was released after a few days, but when Symon Petliura offered him command of the Zaporizhzhia Corps, he declined, offended by the arrest.
Return to Military Activity and Guerrilla Campaigns
Guli-Gulnko lived in Kamianets-Podilskyi as a civilian but soon resumed military activity. He joined the Central Insurgent Committee and, from June 12, 1919, served as a staff officer for the UNR Minister of War.
After fierce fighting and a raid on White Army rear areas, his detachment was reduced to about 150 men. However, upon arriving in the Kherson region, Guli-Gulnko managed to rally a significantly larger force of local peasants (at times numbering up to 20,000) into numerous detachments.
Throughout the end of 1919, Guli-Gulnko's troops operated in the Cherkasy-Yelizavetgrad-Yekaterinoslav area. In December 1919, they defeated White units at Znamenka and Fundukliivka and stormed Yelizavetgrad, forcing the Whites to abandon the city.
