Ukrainian Sich Riflemen

Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen
Sich Riflemen emblem on the cockade
Active	1914 - 1918
Country	Austro-Hungary
Allegiance	Austro-Hungary
Branch	Austro-Hungarian Army
Type	Corps
Role	infantry
Garrison/HQ	Lviv, Stryi
Nickname(s)	Sich Riflemen
Colors
Engagements	World War I
Commanders
Notable commanders	Yevhen Konovalets, Andriy Melnyk, Yuriy Otmarstein, Ivan Rogulsky, others

Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen (German: Ukrainische Sitschower Schützen; Ukrainian: Українські cічові стрільці (УСС), Ukraїnski sichovi stril’tsi (USS)) was a Ukrainian unit within the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War.

The unit was formed in August 1914 on the initiative of the Supreme Ukrainian Council. It was composed of members of different Ukrainian paramilitary organizations in Galicia, led by Frank Schott, and participated in hostilities on the Russian front. After World War I, with Austria's disintegration, the unit became the regular military unit of the West Ukrainian People's Republic. During German and Austrian occupation of Ukraine in 1918 the unit was stationed in southern Ukraine. Former unit soldiers participated in the formation of Sich Riflemen, a military unit of the Ukrainian People's Republic. In 1919 the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen expanded into the Ukrainian Galician Army (Ukrainian: Українська Галицька Армія). They participated in the Polish–Ukrainian War around Lviv and suffered heavy losses. On May 2, 1920, the unit was disbanded.

A number of Ukrainian youth organizations formed in Galicia as early as 1894, the result of the growing national consciousness among Ukrainians in Galicia. In 1900, a sports/firefighting organization Sich was founded by a lawyer and social activist Kyrylo Tryliovs'kyi in Sniatyn (today's Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast), which rejuvenated the ideas of Cossack Zaporozhian Sich to foster the national patriotism among the young generation. Alongside these organizations, forming all across Galicia, parallel sports/firefighting organizations (Sokil) (Falcon) were also springing up. By 1912, many smaller Sich companies appeared in numerous Ukrainian communities. Along with these youth organizations, a Women's Organizational Committee was set up to train nurses. The Ukrainian Sich Union coordinated the activities of all local Sich companies and printed its own newspaper, "The Sich News". By the start of the First World War there were at least 2000 such organizations in Galicia and Bukovyna