In February 1940, Danylo Skoropadskyi proposed a project to the British special services to create a Ukrainian Legion in Canada, consisting of 2,000 people. The legion was supposed to recruit volunteers from the Canadian armed forces. Canada was not chosen by Skoropadsky by chance. Firstly, a large Ukrainian diaspora historically formed there, and secondly, the positions of the hetmans on the American continent were quite strong. Militarized groups of Ukrainian monarchists, conducting joint exercises and manoeuvers with the American military, were active in the USA and Canada. Suffice it to say that Skoropadsky’s supporters even had their own aviation.
“All ego [legion] members will be volunteers. First, they would receive some preliminary military training in Canada, and then go as tourists to Scandinavia, and from there to Finland. There, after completing the final training, they would receive the necessary equipment and join the Finnish army as a separate unit.”
In December 1939, in Paris, Alexander Shulgin entered into negotiations with Finnish diplomats about playing the Ukrainian card for the war. At the same time, the former corporal general of the UNR army Alexander Udovychenko suggested to the Finnish ambassador to France “to send one officer to Finland to form a military unit of the national Ukrainian army, which would be replenished, in particular, by Ukrainians who are in France.” This officer turned out to be Yury Gorlys-Gorsky, who had the rank of sergeant in the army of the Ukrainian National Republic.
In January 1940, Yuri Gorlys-Gorsky formed volunteer units from Ukrainian prisoners of war. The soldiers of the unit wore different uniforms. Some dressed in the military uniform of the Finnish army and black caps with a blue-yellow rim and a trident, while others continued to wear the Soviet uniform and baseball caps. The boys did not wear blue and yellow armbands, as this was the prerogative of the Swedes, who made up the vast majority of foreign volunteers in the Finnish army. The guys were equipped mainly with Soviet and Finnish weapons. These units under the command of Gorlys-Gorsky fought against the Russian troops. True, we do not have accurate information about their participation in battles. But it is known how Yuri flew to the territory of the Soviet Union and landed in the Leningrad region, where he collected intelligence.
The number and fate of Ukrainian volunteers remains unknown. Official Finnish statistics report on the state, not the national affiliation of the fighters. Therefore, Ukrainians – citizens of European countries – registered, for example, as Poles, Americans or French. The record of the Russian prisoners of war supported by the Finns was also not kept. Historian Bohdan Kentrshinskyi, a member of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, was concerned with their fate. In 1940, at the request of the organization, he moved to Finland, where he created the Committee to help Soviet Ukrainian prisoners of war – victims of the Winter War. With his help, many people were saved and transported to Sweden. In the future, these former prisoners of war practically laid the foundation of the Ukrainian diaspora in Sweden. The second and third volumes of the series “Dead in a Foreign Land”, which were published by the publishing house “Book of Memory of Ukraine” under the name “Layed in the Snows of Suomi”, contain information about the correspondence of 9,000 and 18,000 people to the fallen Ukrainian formations.
Vladislav Nobel-Oleinik
Sources:
- Mr. Yu. Finland. A country of rocks and people of crits // Krakovskie Izvestia. – 1941. – No. 144 (299). – July 4.
- Mr. Yu. Finland. The country of rocks and crit people (conclusion) // Krakovskie Izvestia. – 1941. – No. 145 (300). – July 5.
