Graywolves Company of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army

Graywolves Company of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Sotnia Siromantsi). A combat unit of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in Galicia, organized in October 1943 near Dolyna in the Carpathian Mountains, in the 4th UPA Military District (MD – Stanyslaviv region) of UPA-West. It was initially commanded by Lt Dmytro Karpenko. In November 1943, the Graywolves was assigned to the 3rd MD (Ternopil region) and sent northwest to the 2nd MD (Lviv region) to fight against the Polish Home Army in the Rava-Ruska area. The Graywolves operated in that area from April through August 1944, and then returned to the 3rd MD. On 30 September 1944, the Graywolves played a key role in a battle with a motorized NKVD battalion near Univ, Peremyshliany county. For the remainder of 1944, the company participated in almost continuous armed combat, culminating on 17 December 1944 in a successful attack on Novi Strilyshcha. Lt Kosach committed suicide in March 1946 when his bunker was discovered by Soviet security forces, and the last skirmish attributed to the Graywolves occurred on 15 July 1946. During the summer of 1947, the company was officially demobilized. It was one of the few UPA units that integrated soldiers from various parts of Ukraine.

Petro Sodol

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1989).]