60th anniversary of Petro Dyachenko – commander of the glorious Black Cossacks “The brave always have luck”. P. Dyachenko

60th anniversary of Petro Dyachenko – commander of the glorious Black Cossacks “The brave always have luck”. P. Dyachenko

Petro Gavrylovych Dyachenko is a legendary personality, a Ukrainian soldier and patriot, who devoted twenty-five years of his life to military activity and for thirteen years directly participated in hostilities. He was born on January 30, 1895, in the Poltava region in the village of Berezova Luka (now Hadyatsky district of the Poltava region). P. Dyachenko’s ancestors were Cossacks of the Myrhorod and Hadyatsky regiments, so the boy knew and understood the Cossack traditions from an early age. He graduated from six classes of a real school in Myrhorod, acquired the profession of a mechanic, and later – the Orenburg Riding School of Officers. In 1934, he graduated from the Polish Military High School.

This man was destined to be a soldier of many armies and a participant in numerous historical events: at the age of 23 he became a staff captain of the tsarist army, led the so-called death battalion, fought in the ranks of the army of the Provisional Government, commanded the Separate Cavalry Regiment of the Black Zaporozhians (“Chornoshlychniky”) of the UPR Army Corps, in 1918 he participated in the liberation of Poltava and Crimea under the leadership of Colonel P. Bolbochan. Colonel of the Active Army of the UPR, participant of the First Winter Campaign, contract major of the 1st Chevaulégers (Light Cavalry) Regiment during the time of J. Pilsudski in Poland (while retaining official UPR citizenship). During World War II he commanded the headquarters of the “Polish Sich” of Otaman T. Bulba-Borovets, later – commanded the Ukrainian Self-Defense Legion in the Kholm region, later – commanded the 3rd Infantry Regiment of the Ukrainian Liberation Army and the Ukrainian Anti-Tank Brigade “Free Ukraine” of the Ukrainian National Army under the command of General P. Shandruk. P. Dyachenko was the knight of two Iron Crosses, the Symon Petliura Cross, and the Military Cross.

However, a special page in the military biography of P. Dyachenko was his command of the Black Zaporozhians Regiment. The legendary fighting unit of the UPR Army, which did not suffer a single military defeat, entered the battlefield under a black flag embroidered with silver thread, with the slogan “Ukraine or Death” and “Adam’s Head” sewn on it (a combination of bones and a skull – a symbolic designation of poison, threat, death). According to contemporaries, the Black Zaporozhians even resembled the Cossacks of ancient times in appearance: fearless daredevils with shaved heads and long forelocks, dressed in black coats and black tops of their striped Cossack hats – they knew that they would either win this battle or die. The regiment distinguished itself especially during the First Winter Campaign, whose commander, General M. Omelyanovich-Pavlenko, called the Black Zaporozhians the best regiment of the UPR army. The historian L. Shankovsky wrote, “The Black Zaporozhians were an unsurpassed model, an example worthy of imitation. The “Oseledtsi” (as we called our Dnipro combat friends from the Black Regiment) were distinguished by special courage, contempt for death, and the ability to stand up for their friends in need.”

After World War II, Petro Gavrylovych, who lost both his sons and spent a long time in internment camps, was forced to emigrate to Philadelphia (USA) in order not to fall into the hands of the “Soviets”. In a foreign country, another son was born to him – the future sergeant of the American Air Force, a participant in the Vietnam War. The colonel himself was interested in floriculture, photography, and wrote memoirs. He died on April 23, 1965, and was buried in the Ukrainian Orthodox cemetery in Brown Brook (New Jersey).

Today, the descendants of the Cossacks of the famous Regiment are destroying the Moscow occupiers as part of the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade, named after the Black Zaporozhians. Modern Black Zaporozhians go into battle under the same banner as their ancestors, with the slogan “Ukraine or Death!