The division was formed in early 1918 by Danylo Terpylo and Mykhailo Danchenko from local volunteers and former soldiers in the region south of Kyiv. It initially consisted of two large divisional-sized units, hence its occasional description as a "two-division formation".[1]
The division operated primarily in the territory of present-day Kyiv Oblast, centred on the village of Trypillya and the towns of Vasylkiv, Bila Tserkva, and Fastiv. On 3 December 1918, the Dnieper Division was incorporated into the Siege Corps of the Sich Riflemen, growing to four regiments with approximately 4,000 soldiers.[1]
In January 1919, under the influence of Bolshevik agitation, the division's headquarters refused an order to relocate to Galicia in support of the West Ukrainian People's Republic. The unit declared its recognition of Soviet authority.
A detachment of Sich Riflemen under Captain Osyp Dumin was dispatched from Kyiv to suppress the mutiny. On 22 January 1919, in a battle near Obukhiv, the rebellious troops were defeated, disarmed, and the Dnieper Division was officially disbanded.
In February 1919, in the Trypillya–Rzhyshchiv area, Otaman Danylo Terpylo reorganised former members of the division into new detachments. These units initially cooperated with the Bolsheviks but soon broke away and became the core of Zeleny's large-scale anti-Bolshevik peasant insurgency in the Kyiv and Cherkasy regions throughout 1919.
Ukraine