User:JaneAsh12/Bukovynian Ukrainian Self-Defense Army

Bukovynian Ukrainian Self-Defense Army (BUSA) — an underground armed formation consisting mainly of Ukrainians from Bukovyna and Bessarabia. It's goal was to create an Independent Conciliar Ukrainian State.

September 1943 — July 1944
The first insurgent units, which were in fact ordinary village militias, appeared in Bukovyna in autumn of 1943. However in August of that same year a wave of arrests of the OUN members swept through Bukovyna, cutting off local insurgents' ties with the Organization.

In 1944 the first units of people's self-defense were created based on the OUN's formations in Bessarabia and Bukovyna – they were named the Bukovynian Ukrainian Self-Defense Army (BUSA). BUSA ​​operated mainly in the mountainous and lowland areas of Bukovyna and Bessarabia. Vasyl Shumka, a village teacher with the pseudonym "Luhovyi", became the head of the army which numbered about a thousand people, mostly Ukrainians. As Bukovyna was occupied by German-Romanian troops at the time, the army's main activities were aimed at guerrilla warfare against small enemy units and propaganda among the local population. In early 1944, with the approach of the Soviet troops, BUSA started to work more closely with the OUN-UPA.

July 1944 — May 1945
In July 1944, BUSA commander V. Shumko entered into negotiations with the Germans without the permission of the Bukovynian and OUN Central Commands. For this, in early August, OUN units disarmed BUSA, and the commanders were shot. In September 1944, the remains of BUSA became the basis of the Bukovynian regiment of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. The remnants of BUSA crossed the border after the retreating German troops, and later joined the 1st Ukrainian Division of the Ukrainian National Army.