Battle of Bakhmach

Battle of Bakhmach
	Part of the Eastern Front (World War I)
	; Memorial plaque of Battle of Bakhmach in Olomouc (Czech Republic). Statue of legionar in winter uniform was made by Otakar Španiel.
Date	8–13 March 1918
Location	Bakhmach, now Ukraine
Result	Entente/Soviet victory
Belligerents
Entente Powers:; Czechoslovak Legions Soviet Russia	Central Powers:; Germany; Austria-Hungary
Commanders and leaders
Ludvík Krejčí; Nikolai Krylenko	Johannes von Eben; Franz Rohr von Denta
Strength
2,800 Czech soldiers; 4,700 Soviet soldiers	6,000 Austro-German troops
Casualties and losses
145 killed, 210 wounded, 41 missing	around 300 killed, hundreds wounded

Battle of Bakhmach (Bitva u Bachmače in

Soviet Russia and the Central Powers occupying Ukraine after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The battle lasted from March 8 to March 13, 1918 over the city of Bakhmach (Бахмач), today in Ukraine

and was the last engagement in World War I for the Soviets. Following a Legion victory, the Germans negotiated a truce.

Prelude

On March 3, 1918

Bolsheviks, signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

with Germany, in which it gave up control over Ukraine.

On March 8 Germans troops reached Bakhmach, an important rail hub, and in doing so threatened the Czech Legion with encirclement. The threat was so grave because captured legionnaires were summarily executed as traitors of Austria-Hungary. The 6th "Hanácký" and 7th "Tatranský" Rifle Regiments, together with the Assault battalion of Czechoslovak Army Corps of the Legion, set up defenses at the town against incoming German 91st and 224th Infantry divisions.

Battle

The battle was notable because the troops were not only fighting for Bakhmach

Desna, which led to bloody battles at Doch. The climax of the fighting occurred on March 10. Thanks to the Legion victory, the Germans negotiated a truce, during which Czechoslovak armoured trains could freely pass through Bakhmach railway junction to Chelyabinsk

.

The Czechoslovak Legion (about 42,000 soldiers) during the truce set up for escape from Russia via the

Trans-Siberian railroad

. Armies of Germany and Austria-Hungary then started to occupy the land without much resistance.

Losses of the Legion were: 145 killed, 210 wounded, 41 missing. Estimate of German losses is around 300 dead and hundreds wounded.

Similarly to

Siberian anabasis

", the battle of Bakhmach became one of the symbols of the Czechoslovakian Legions and their fight for independence.

Sources

Václav Cháb: "Německý vpád na slovanský východ : kus dějin - kus boje o budoucnost", Prague, 1938

Václav Cháb: "Bachmač : březen 1918", Prague, 1948

Karel Goš: "Bitva u Bachmače byla slavnou epizodou Hanáckého pluku : největší oslavy proběhly v roce 1938", article in newspaper Olomoucký den, March 20, 1999, page 10

PRECLÍK, Vratislav. Masaryk a legie (Masaryk and legions), váz. kniha, 219 str., vydalo nakladatelství Paris Karviná, Žižkova 2379 (734 01 Karviná) ve spolupráci s Masarykovým demokratickým hnutím (Masaryk Democratic Movement, Prague), 2019,
ISBN 978-80-87173-47-3
, pages 50 - 70, 72 - 100, 124 - 128,140 - 148,184 - 190

M. Vlachynský: "V březnu 1918 bojovali legionáři u Bachmače", article in newspaper Českobudějovické listy, March 14, 1998, page 12

Adolf Kubíček: Hanáci v revoluci (Hanakians in revolution: The Chronicle of 6th Czechoslovak Rifle Regiment), Olomouc, 1928

External links

Short overviews of the battle

[1]^{[permanent dead link]} (in Czech)^{[dead link]}
Bachmač from Valka Municipality website (in Czech)

51°10′58″N 32°49′38″E / 51.18278°N 32.82722°E / 51.18278; 32.82722