Bender Uprising

Bender Uprising
Part of the Southern Front of the Russian Civil War
Grigoriy Ivanovich Borisov (Stary), the leader of the Bender Uprising
Date 27 May 1919 Location Tighina, Kingdom of Romania (present day Bender, Moldova) Result Romanian–French victory
Belligerents
Romania France	Red Guards  Ukrainian SSR
Commanders and leaders
Ferdinand I Henri Berthelot	Grigoriy Borisov
Strength
Unknown	150+ Red Guards 150 Ukrainian troops
Casualties and losses
Unknown	150+ captured and executed

The Bender Uprising was organized by local Bolshevik groups in Bender/Tighina on 27 May 1919, as a protest of the local Russian population against the annexation of Bessarabia by the Kingdom of Romania in December 1918 (united in a federation with Romania since April 1918, Bessarabia was annexed by the latter on 10 December). Red Guards from local factories were organized under the command of Grigoriy Borisov, and were supported by 150 troops of the 3rd Brigade of the 5th Division of the 3rd Ukrainian Soviet Army. Together, the Ukrainian troops and the rebels captured the local railway station, post office and telegraph office. During that evening, however, the Romanian Army together with a unit of French colonial troops arrived at the scene and swiftly suppressed the uprising. Although many rebels fled across the Dniester River, at least 150 of them were captured and executed.[1][2]

References

1. Jonathan D. Smele, Rowman & Littlefield, 2015, Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916-1926, p. 190
2. Wim P. van Meurs, East European Monographs, 1994, The Bessarabian question in communist historiography: nationalist and communist politics and history-writing, p. 77