The Battle of Kruty (Ukrainian: Бій під Крутами, Biy pid Krutamy) took place on January 29[1] or 30,[2] 1918, [2] near Kruty railway station (today the village of Pamiatne, Nizhyn Raion, Chernihiv Oblast), about 130 kilometres (81 mi) northeast of Kyiv, 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 Kyiv, a small Ukrainian unit of 400 soldiers of the Bakhmach garrison (about 300[6][7] of which were students), commanded 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.[2]
Just before the assault Tymchenko was replaced by D. Nosenko. Tymchenko left for Nizhyn in attempt to recruit the locally quartered Shevchenko Regiment (800 soldiers) to the Ukrainian side.[2] On January 30, 1918, the Shevchenko regiment sided with the Soviet regime, the news of which forced the Ukrainian garrison of Kruty hastily to withdraw.[2] Over half of the 400 men were killed during the battle, which lasted up to five hours. In Soviet historiography, the battle is mistakenly dated on January 29, 1918[2] and confused with the Plysky rail station skirmish (uk:Плиски (станція)).[2]
The Haidamaka Kish of Symon Petlyura (300 soldiers) that rushed to reinforce[2] the Kruty garrison and was delayed[2] due to the Darnytsia railworkers sabotage[2] and stopped in close vicinity at Bobryk railway station.[2] They eventually turned back to Kyiv due to the Bolshevik Arsenal Uprising, which occurred on the same day.
Eighteen of the students were re-buried at Askold's Grave in the centre of Kyiv after the return of the Tsentralna Rada to the capital in March 1918. At the funeral the then President of the Ukrainian People's Republic, Mykhailo Hrushevsky, called every one of the 400 students who fought in the battle, heroes. Poet Pavlo Tychyna wrote "To the memory of the thirties" about the heroic death of the students.
After the fall of the Ukrainian People's Republic the bodies of the students were moved to the Lukyanivske Cemetery in Kyiv.
The true story of the battle was hidden by the Soviet Government. Only recently, a monument was set up to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kruty at Askold's Grave, and a commemorative hryvnia coin was minted. In 2006, the Kruty Heroes Monument was erected on the site of the historic battle. The battle is remembered each year on or around January 29.[8]
Ukrainian youngsters lost their lives to stop the Bolshevist army of Russian Lieutenant General Nikolai Muravyov from advancing on Kyiv.
— Ex-President Viktor Yuschenko at the 91st anniversary of the battle describing the students[9]
Young people, like Spartan soldiers, died for the sake of their motherland in a struggle against foreign aggressors, and it was an example of their sacrifice and selfless love for their native land. Every anniversary of the Heroes of Kruty is not only a day to honor those people who loved our motherland more than their lives. This is also another reminder to our contemporary politicians regarding their responsibility for the fate of their country and people.
— Ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko describing the battle[10]
Near Kruty the Kyiv military cadets and students became the forerunners of the Ukrainian political nation. Having different ethnic roots, they as one fought for our Ukrainian State. As the founding of the Ukrainian People's Republic became the base of the Ukrainian statehood, so the heroism of the Kruty's warriors became the beginning and the symbol of liberating struggles of Ukrainians for the liberty in the past 20th century.
— Ex-President Viktor Yuschenko at the 91st anniversary of the battle[11]
On 1 March 2022, the armed forces of Ukraine successfully defended the area around Kruty from a Russian army attack during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the Russians losing nearly 200 men.[12] Before the fighting, Russian soldiers took photos near the Memorial to the Heroes of Kruty, and fired on it.[12]
At the Askold Cemetery
They were buried,
The thirty martyrs-Ukrainians,
The glorious young...
At the Askold Cemetery
The Ukrainian bloom! —
By the bloody roadway
For us to follow into the world.
Onto whom has dared to rise
The betrayer's hand?
Sun is blooming, wind is playing
And the Dnieper-river...
Against whom has Cain committed?
O, Lord, punish them!
Over everything they loved
It was their loved land.
They died in the New Testament
With the glory of saints.
At the Askold Cemetery
They were buried.— Pavlo Tychyna, 1918 (free translation)[14]
