Vasyl Bozhenko

Vasyl Nazarovych Bozhenko (; between 1867 and 1871–21 August 1919) was a commander of Bolshevik partisans and regular Red Army units during the Soviet-Ukrainian War. He was a subordinate of Mykola Shchors in the fight against the Ukrainian People's Army in 1918–1919.

Biography Bozhenko's exact birth date is unknown, with various sources claiming 1867, 1869 or 1871 to be his birth year. He was born to a peasant family in Berezhynka, Kherson Governorate (now part of Kropyvnytskyi Raion, Kirovohrad Oblast). In 1904–1905 he fought in the rows of Russian Imperial Army during the Russo-Japanese War, and reached the rank of feldwebel. During the First Russian Revolution, in 1907 Bozhenko was arrested for revolutionary activities and sentenced to three years of imprisonment. After his liberation, in 1915–1917 he worked as a joiner at a mechanical workshop in Kyiv, and headed the city's woodworkers' trade union. Bozhenko's body was buried in a desecrated crypt in Zhytomyr, but soon reportedly got stolen from the grave.

Personal life According to Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko, Bozhenko produced the impression of a typical otaman, poorly disciplined in relation to his superiors, but at the same time caring and demanding for his subordinates. He identified himself as Little Russian and conversed in Ukrainian language or Surzhyk. Bozhenko was greatly respected by his soldiers, who called him bat'ko ("father") according to Cossack tradition.