In early 1919
armed forces of the Ukrainian
People's Republic, which took control of the Ukraine after the successful
rebellion against the Ukrainian State, were in retreat after attacks of
Bolshevik Russians and internal unrests of peasant rebels, who refused to
accept any kind of state power on their lands.
Situation was
aggravated by the fact, that most Ukrainian Corpses-Divisions-Regiments, hastily
formed during the rebellion, had many personnel in the headquarters and trains,
but few combat troops.
So mid-February 1919,
the new commander of the UNR Army general Oleksandr Grekov decided to carry out
reorganization to reduce the number of headquarters and to create a more
flexible organizational structure, better suited to the conditions of maneuver
warfare.
According to the
order dated 21 February 1919, “in keeping with historical traditions and the
nature of combat operations,” the army was to consist of “koshes” (singular: “kish”),
replacing the previous corps structure. Each “kish” had only 2 brigades (named “zagin”
– literally “detachment”), but each is to be composed of very large battalions.
Various formations were to be consolidated, divisions and regiments were
eliminated, headquarters and trains were reduced.
The new organization
of the infantry battalion was particularly unusual: it had 5 infantry and 2
machine gun companies, whereas a standard infantry battalion at the time typically
comprised no more than 3-4 infantry companies and 1 machine gun company.
Unfortunately, not a single “kish” under the new organizational scheme was ever fully formed. Constant combat operations made a thorough reorganization impossible; furthermore, the new structure differed too radically from the familiar and well-established "corps-division-regiment" system to which career officers were accustomed. This necessitated a revision of tactics as well – something for which there was neither the time nor the inclination.
