After
signing the Riga Peace Treaty in March 1921, the Second Polish Republic seemed
to have gained guarantees of security for its own statehood on the eastern
border. However, these hopes proved deceptive. Soon, such neighboring relations
became toxic for the Polish state. Once again, the phrase of German Chancellor
Otto von Bismarck was confirmed: «Agreements with Russia are not worth the
paper they are written on.» In the early 1920s, espionage in favor of Soviet
Russia, Bolshevik agitation in border counties, illegal migration across the
eastern border, armed provocations on the Polish side of the border, bribery
of local and state officials, etc. spread along the border strip. Later, Soviet
sabotage groups began to act more actively.
Poland
was forced to experiment with border security - customs battalions (1921-1922),
border guards (1922-1923), and state police (1923-1924). Finally, the Border
Protection Corps (BPC) came into play, whose units were located in the Volyn
region (voivodeship) from 1924 to 1939: 1st BPC Brigade, 1st BPC Brigade
«Volyn», Brigade «Volyn», BPC Regiments
«Sarny» and «Rivne». During this period, the structure of the BPC
changed repeatedly, new tasks for border protection, reconnaissance, and
defensive actions were added. The backbone of the BPC military formations
consisted of infantry and cavalry units
stationed in Volyn settlements, primarily in Rivne, Hoshcha, Ostroh, Dederkaly, Zdolbuniv, Nevirkiv, Mizoch,
Sarny, Rokytne, Berezne, and others.
After the start of World War II, part of the BPC
personnel stationed on the eastern borders was mobilized into the regular army
and sent to the western front. Therefore, the quality of border guards in terms
of military training deteriorated on the Soviet-Polish border. From 17
September 1939, after the Soviet troops violated the border, most border units
did not receive specific orders from the command, so they acted at their own
discretion in conditions of disorientation and limited ability to assess events.
Most border posts did not engage in battles, some retreated chaotically into
the depths of the Volyn region, and some soldiers fell into Bolshevik captivity
