Battle of Kruty

Battle of Kruty
Part of the Ukrainian–Soviet War (1917–1921)
Scheme of the Battle of Kruty.
Date January 29 or 30, 1918 Location near Kruty, Ukraine 51°4′46.32″N 32°9′33.48″E / 51.0795333°N 32.1593000°E / 51.0795333; 32.1593000Coordinates: 51°4′46.32″N 32°9′33.48″E / 51.0795333°N 32.1593000°E / 51.0795333; 32.1593000 Result Bolshevik victory, small group of students withdrew
Belligerents
The Kiev Cadet auxiliary kurin and the company size element of Free Cossacks of the Ukrainian People's Republic	Group of forces in battle with the counterrevolution in the South of Russia
Commanders and leaders
D.Nosenko Averkiy Honcharenko	Mikhail Muravyov Pavel Yegorov Reinholds Bērziņš
Strength
500 students 2 armored trains ~100 cossacks	1,000 men (strike force) 2,000+ men (reserves) 2 armored trains artillery battery Total: 6,000 soldiers
Casualties and losses
less than 260 prisoners 36 (later 28 executed)	about 300

1,000 men (strike force)
2,000+ men (reserves)
2 armored trains
artillery battery

The Battle of Kruty (Ukrainian: Бій під Крутами, Biy pid Krutamy) took place on January 29 or 30, 1918 (in Soviet historiography January 29, 1918), near Kruty railway station (today the village of Pamiatne, Borzna Raion, Chernihiv Oblast), about 130 kilometres (81 mi) northeast of Kiev, Ukraine, which at the time was part of Nezhinsky Uyezd of Chernigov Governorate.

As Bolshevik forces of about 4,000 men, commanded by Mikhail Muravyov, advanced toward Kiev, a small Ukrainian unit of 400 soldiers of the Bakhmach garrison (about 300 of which were students), commanded by initially by Captain F.Tymchenko, withdrew from Bakhmach to a small railroad station Kruty midway towards Nizhyn. The small unit consisted mainly of the Student Battalion (Kurin) of Sich Riflemen, a unit of the Khmelnytsky Cadet School, and a Free Cossacks company. Just before the assault Tymchenko was replaced by D.Nosenko, while Tymchenko left for Nizhyn in attempt to recruit the locally quartered Shevchenko Regiment (800 soldiers) on the Ukrainian side. Nonetheless on January 30, 1918 the regiment sided with the Soviet regime, the news of which forced the Ukrainian garrison of Kruty hastily to withdraw. Over half of the 400 men were killed during the battle, which lasted up to five hours. In the Soviet historiography the battle is mistakenly dated on January 29, 1918 and confused with the Plysky rail station skirmish (). The Haidamaka Kish of Symon Petlyura (300 soldiers) that rushed to reinforce the Kruty garrison and was delayed due to the Darnytsia railworkers sabotage stopped in close vicinity (rail station Bobryk) and eventually turned back to Kiev due to the Bolshevik's Arsenal Uprising that occurred on the same day.

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