Duklia Pass

Duklia Pass [Дукельський перевал; Dukelskyi pereval]. Map: IV-2. A pass in the Low Beskyd in the Lemko region (elevation 502 m) on the border between Poland and Slovakia. It is one of the most convenient passes in the Carpathian Mountains. In the past it provided an important route between the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia and Hungary, and then between Poland and Hungary. In the 19th century the pass lost its importance because it lacked a railroad. In 1914–15 it was the site of fierce battles between the Russian and Austro-Hungarian armies and in 1944–5, between the German and Soviet armies. In January 1945 many Ukrainians who belonged to the Czechoslovak Brigade, led by General L. Svoboda, perished there fighting the Germans.

         [This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]