SUBTERRANEAN BUNKERS OF THE UKRAINIAN UNDERGROUND MOVEMENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R004600050006-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 7, 2001
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: April 24, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

("O; S NTRY
"fA ,TIN REPORT
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a .a _ h PT G NC AGENCY REPORT NO.
UJ5F (Ukraine)
SUBJECT Subterranean bunkers of the
Ukrainian Underground vvement
PLACE
ACQUIRED
DATE OF
INFO.
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l ,>
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DATE fl!S `''.
24 iF:
NO.. OF PAGES
NO. OF ENCLS.
fUSTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
42-oooy
sneral
Although the bunkers of the U: rainian underground move;, -int considered below
are all subterranean, it is nc.t uncommon for bunkers to e built above ground
in buildings The majority of bunkers of all types consist of one sub-
terranean room used only during, the cold moi.ths of the year., In direct
contrast to operating proced;a.r:s up to the end of .orid .,ar II, no offensive
act.lons are ever carried out from bankers, since they are built only for
defensive purposes,, All branihes of the resistance movement use bunkers,
both active partisans and sae-ialists.. In other words those members of
UFA, OUN, the UHVtt, the 5B, the tied Cross, and the finance and propaganda
sections who are living as i legal residents of the Soviet Union or Poland
live in bunkers some time du,ing each year, Supplies of food and water must
be sufficient in the fall to permit the inhabitants to remain enti-- ~a"
within the bunker as long a. snow is on the ground, In reaction to in-
creasingly refined and cle,'-r Soviet methods of bunker detection, the resistance
movement has per force cony, .nually improved camouflage devices and other
measures to prevent detectfan,,
2:, The site chosen for an underground bunker depends largely on local conditions,
terrain, density of fopulat.ihn, etc,, Bunkers are often built into the sides
of hills because it is east.- to dig horizontally than vertically. In general,
the farther a bunker is si`.;.atec: from a settlement, a road, or any sort of
thoroughfare, the better, the common location presently used is in an
ordinary field covered witf brush one or two feet high. Prior to 194.6, the
partisans found that bunks ,s near brooks were very ss tisfactory because, when
apf roaching the bunker, cr,, could wade along the brook, thereby eliminating
tell-tale footprints. Af.'icr the discovery of such a bunker in 1946,: the
aaFiLt3 - began searching iU brooks for bunkers; and since that time the UPA
units have been instructs;: to stop building bunkers beside brooks" UPK
Headquarters issues no sl ( cific instructions concerning the location of
;bunkers, The choice of sues is left to the discretion of the local commanders,
who are more familiar witt on-the-spot conditions.
'onsL action and Camouflage
3. Spades, picks, and shoNil_s are the main implements used in building bunkers.
flsual.ly a large bunker '.v acconodate seven to nine ,men can be built in thre3
This document is hereby regraded to
CONFIDENTIAL in accordance with the
letter of 16 October 1978 from the
Director of Central intelligence to the
Archivist of the United States.
25X1 C
CONFIDENTIAL
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weeks if the men working on it spend ten hours a day or night on the job,:,
Only the men who are to live in it participate ir, the building of the
bunker, Formerly, ordinary workmen were blindfolded and led to the site
but this became an insecure method when Soviet anti-partisan pressure on
the civilian population increased. '.,;ben building in an oten field, the
partisans attempt 'to dispose of the dirt in a nearby field under cultivation.
At (right they mix tha dirt with plowed soil so that it looks natural. Directly
over the ounker on the ground, branches and limbs of trees are laid in a Directly
criss-cross fashion to increase the amount of weight which the ground over
the bunker can su.ppport. leaves are then strewn over these branches and
:Limbs of trees. After a firm foundation has been made, a type of asphalt
or cement is ;ro rod among the branches and leaves. Above this "asphalt",
dirt and grass or shru:s are planted so that the location blends with its
natural surroundings. The ground above a bunker should slope so that water
will drain off.
25X1X
the following description of a bunker which he occupied
for three and a half months during the winter of 1946-47. This typical
bunker cons'.jted of one room five ,peters long and four meters wide. The
height of the sloped ceiling varied `':om three and a half meters on one
side of the room to two meters an the other side. The four corners of the
bunker were fortified by posts made from tree trunks and the inner walls
were lined with strung branches criss-crossed in much the same manner as
above the ounker and strengthened with the same cemuen:t-like substance.
This bunker had two openings flush with the ground, one-half meter square,
which served as windows These windows were made of camouflaged removable
boards., The only means of entry and exit to the bunker was a square tunnel
two meters long and one meter wide, extending between the ceiling of the
bunker and the surface of the ground above. At the upper entrance to the
tunnel, a wooden box resting on two ledges was fitted flush with the ground,
This box, filled with dirt, was camouflaged with grass To enter the
ounkerA one had to lift the box by pulling a wire well hidden in the sur-
rounding brush. To leave the bunker, one pushed the box up from below.
aiithin this bunker there was one t-.bie with an oil lamp, two chairs, several
barrels containing food, a chest containing weapons and ammunition, a
Stove, and a wooden structure partitioned into twelve bunks. Under the
bunks were stored boxes of food and arm,
The stove in the bunker was used not only for cooking but for warmth.
Cooking was done only on moonless nights; the stovepipe emerged in a clum.,
of bushes above the bunker. The heat created during the cooking hours had
to last to warm the bunker until the stove could be used again the following
slight .
7. In order to ventilate most bunkers, a small hole is drilled up the middle
of a nearby tree,. This method is general.I-y used for forest bunkers. Other-
there appears to be no specific provision for ventilation except for
the ordinary amount that would come 'nto a bunker through the opening; and
closing of the tunnel or "windows" or through cracks. In some bunkers there
is a small tunnel built off the main room which is used for toilet facilities.
:>easonal U ee
8,, bunkers arm usually built in the mate fail or just before the gro-ind freezes.,
The partisans move into the bunkers in December or January and stay there
underground until about April. During this time, they do not leave the bun-
ker unless there is no snow on the ground.,
9., Bunkers are built either as the winter quarters for small groups of ordinary
Partisans or for specialist underground workers such as printers. Fartisans
normally leave their bunkers in the spring and live above ground until the
p ol.lowingr, winter. Specialists, however, often continue liv ,g in their
bunker as long as it is safe to do so during all seasons of the year,
12. The men who live in bunkers usually sleep between 5:00 am and 3:00 pm.
Normally, breakfast is e q/ / ,(~9 la-R E52-6d4gr Wt'YO U 0~-4a
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lecture and study period which lasts five or six hours. Ali.tary history
of the Ukniine, compass and map reading, political indoctrination, and
partisan warfare are only a few of the topics that are taught during these
sessions. Naturally, the caliber teaching depends on the ability of the
group leader and the special talents of the other inhabitants. At ;aid
nig?,ht the occupants have their main meal, and an hour before daybreak they
have their supper and go to bed.
11, During the summer, the UNA has a five-week course in first aid, which trains
about fifty men each year. 0ihenever possible, the occupants of a bunker
will include one of these trained men dur.ng the winter. If, however, a
bunker has no one trained in first aid, all occupants 6o what they can to
aid a -.Lek or wounded companions. Regardless of the circumstances, a sick man
remains ).!.side the bunker until spring. The security danger is considered
too great during the winter period to allow the man to go to a villa;-e or
town for medical treatment.
Sc:curitvLeasures
12~ ~:'henever practical, i.e., not during the snow season, the men in a bunker
perform guard duty, This duty consists solely of guarding the bunker. The
guard rests in concealment usually not gore than a meter from the entrance
to the bunker itself, so that no unnecessary footprints are left on the
ground. This guard is necessary to keep the occupants from being caught
unaware by an intruder.
1.3. There are four standard ways of dealing with intruders who discover the
location of a bunker while it is in use:
a, If the men in the bunker know the man who discovers their hiding place
they warn him of the danger to all concerned if the Soviets should "' od
the location of the bunker. Following a lengthy lecture, the man is
set free,
Should the man riot be well-known to the occupants of the bunker, he is
kept in the bunker until a check.can be made of him. If tine occupants
are unable to obtain any information, derogatory or otherwise, they
often keep the man with them in the bunker throughout the winter.
P. If the man who discovers the ounker is a kncan agent, or subsequent in-
formation should prove him to be one, he is liquidated?
d, Then a bunker has been discovered and it appears likely that other per
soars of unknown reliability know of its location, the bunker is evacuated.
Evacuation is also normal if a person who has discovered the location
manages to escape?
Some bunkers are built with an escape tunnel or hatch, usually very crudely
fashioned and barely wide and high enough for one ;;:an at a time to squeeze
through",. This exit is never used except for emergency escape:, when the
decision to evacuate has been made the occupants take all ;capers and printed
material, weapons, ammuni,ion, and, if tit.:e permits, their food. A one-room
bunker with about ten men can usually be evacuated completely in half an
hoFurj ,fter le_;vinc; the bunker, the men bury everything that they have taken
with them in order to be able to travel to the next safest place without being
burdened with extra equipment,
Soviet , ods for Discovering iunkers
Generally speaking, Soviet bunker-detecting methods have gone through the
following three phases since 1943:
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a.: The Red Army on the way to or from. the r,estern front in 1943 through
1945 combed specified areas looking for bunkers and partisans. They
concentrated r.o:,tly on wooded areas? Larger troop units were sent
through the woods searching. The soldiers were easily spotted by the
UPA men and few partisans were discovered during these years,
b. By 1945 and 19469 Soviet Army troops were no long.r used because they
were considered unreliable. Instead, LIVI) and special troops in groups
of 200 were sent into areas known to contain partisans. One source
told of a wooded area, forty-five kilometers long and seven kilometers
wide, where about 700 UPA partisans lived. The doviet^ sent 8,000
ir,VD troops into this area to ferret out the partisans during the
summer of 1946: At that ti.?:e of the year, UPt; partisans were living
above ground. There rictle three former forest rangers with the parti-
sans that summer who had formerly worked in this same forest complex.:
Consequently, by followii.g the directions of these rangers, the par-
tisan units spent the entire summer leading; the Soviets a merry chase
through the woods. The groups of 200 men that the Soviet sent out from
time to time were not familiar with the woods and were easy marks for
the small bands of UPA men, who could spot them coming and chose the
convenient time and place for an ambush or encounter. because they
were losing too many men on these forays into partisan country, the
Soviets gave up Phase 2 at the end of 1946.
G., harly 1947 marked the beginning of the latest and most successful Soviet
method of detecting the location of bunkers and partisan units. After
the mass troop action of Phases 1 and 2 _I roved unsuccessful, the Soviets
decided on the one-man penetraticn method,, They would put one man into
a suspected partisan area and order him to report all information that
he could obtain regarding the possible location of partisan groups.
According to recent reports, these agents are more interested in the
general area where partisan bunkers are located than in the specific
location of any one bunker. These men also live in an area for a bng
time and attempt to gain the confidence of the local population before
starting; on their task of ferreting out bunkers of the underground
rnoveirent. Prior Lo July 1948, it was known that MVD troops staticn>1
in the obl.ast capital, Drogobych, were given a course in the detection
of bunkers. H captured is~slD man who had. attended the course in Drogo-
bych told the UPA that the aIVU troops were given instruction on
seventy-six different types of ounkers used by the partisans, MVD
Headquarters in Kiev reportedly has a central office entirely de.-oted
to the study and comparison of bunko s and means of detecting them.
16 the Soviets are very thorough in their attempts to
25X1X locate centers of artisan activity,. He claims that, if, for example, the
A'VD locates a bunker in a well or near abrook,a check of every brook and
well in that particular area for further evidence of bunkers can be expected.
He also mentioned the fact that in the winter of 1947-1948 the Soviets sus-
pected that there were strong and well-organized UPA partisans in a certain
territory in the western Ukraine. In this region of about fifteen villages
and 7,,00{) inhabitants,, there was a wooded area where the Soviets had cap-
tured a Polish youth who at.parently had no great love for the Ukrainians.
After plying the Pole for a week with. food and wine, they instructed him to
-rend some time in the forest area and to attempt to obtain all the informa-
tion that he could concerning possible partisan activity? This method proved
unsuccessful because the ,yo ,ng Pole vies not familia- with the woods.
17. Still undaunted. the Soviet: tried another approach. One even, - - they
robbed several homes in one of the villages and the next day, professing
great concern over the robbery, the Sovie6ta_ went into the village and
searched, for the "robber". The wor i as quietly passed around by the MVD
that quite possibly the Pole who had spent some time in the village might
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have ccrisritted the rob;.eries.,,eanwhile, the Polish boy had taken to the
woods to hide out from the villagers and supposedly from the Soviets Not
long after h~vinV., [,one to the woods,, he net t-.itlo UP,i teen one evening.. He
yearned theta th`lt the Soviets were in the village. They thanked him and
went oriA but the young rote quietly followed them. He soon noticed that
their footsteps suddenly sto,..ed ahead ark's he heard nothing f or a while
In this manner he was able to surmise the ap,.roximate location of the bun-
ker,. The nest-evening; the juiVAU troops surrounded the area, and a-fight
ensued the followint it rning . During this encounter, four Urea men and
six Soviet's A.e killed The young dole who liad been the infors: 3 was
later captured by the UPa and verified the above incident in detail,
SF C~ T
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