9th Greek Regiment

9th Greek Regiment
9-й Греческий полк
Active	1918–1919
Allegiance	Makhnovshchina (1918-19) Ukrainian SSR (1919)
Branch	Insurgent Army (1918-19) Red Army (1919)
Type	Partisan regiment
Size	2,000
Part of	1st Zadneprovskaya Division
Engagements	Russian Civil War Ukrainian War of Independence Battle of Mariupol
Decorations	Order of the Red Banner
Commanders
Notable commanders	Vladimir Takhtamyshev

The 9th Greek Regiment was a regiment that was part of the 3rd Infantry Brigade of the 1st Zadneprovskaya Ukrainian Soviet Division, formed on the basis of the Greek detachments of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine in February 1919.

History

In 1918, to fight the rule of Pavlo Skoropadskyi in the Mariupol district of the Yekaterinoslav province, the local Greeks – the Rumeíka and the Urums – formed several rebel groups. In Starohnativka, a detachment was formed headed by Vladimir Feofanovich Takhtamyshev, which operated in the area of Stary Kermenchik, Novo-Petrikovka, Novo-Karakuba and Bolshaya Yanisol. Partisan detachments of Sprutsko, Tsololo and Bogaditsi also operated the area of the Greek villages of Malaya Yanisol, Cherdakly, Makedonovka and Sartana.

In February 1919, the headquarters of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine united most of the Greek detachments. There were up to one and a half thousand rebels in the new formation. On February 21, 1919, the commander of the 2nd Ukrainian Soviet Army, Anatoly Evgenievich Skachkoru, issued an order to form the 1st Zadneprovsk Division. The third brigade of the division consisted of Makhnovist detachments, the Greek regiment under the command of Takhtamyshev became known as the 9th Regiment of the 3rd Brigade. On March 19, the regiment took part in the battle of Mariupol against the White Army, after which Dybenko awarded the 9th Regiment with the honorary Red Banner.

At the end of June 1919, the 9th Regiment occupied a part of the front stretching from Berdyansk to the village of Pokrovskoye. Under Takhtamyshev's command were 2,000 Red Army soldiers, of which 1,200 were without rifles. At the end of 1919, Takhtamyshev's unarmed detachment joined the 14th Army.

Bibliography

• Chop, V. М. (2008). Участь приазовських греків-колоністів у Махновському русi (1918—1921 рр.) (PDF) (in Ukrainian).
• Teper, I. (1924). Махно: от "единого анархизма" к стопам румынского короля (in Russian). Х.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Belash, Alexander; Belash, Victor (1993). Дороги Нестора Махно (in Russian). Kyiv: RVC "Proza".

External links

• The Greek Makhnovists - Nick Heath