Kakhovka

Kakhovka Каховка
A church in Kakhovka
Flag
Map of Ukraine with Kakhovka highlighted.
Coordinates: 46°48′N 33°28′E / 46.800°N 33.467°ECoordinates: 46°48′N 33°28′E / 46.800°N 33.467°E
Country Oblast Raion	Ukraine Kherson Oblast Kakhovka Raion
Founded	1791
Population (2001)
• Total	38,000
Postal code	74800
Area code(s)	+380 5536
Climate	Dfa
Website	http://www.kakhovka.ks.ua

Tachanka monument

Kakhovka (Ukrainian: Каховка, Russian: Кахо́вка) is a port city on the Dnieper River in the Kherson Oblast (province) of southern Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Kakhovka Raion (district), the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast, and is located at around 46°48′37″N 33°28′36″E / 46.81028°N 33.47667°E.

It is home to the KZEZO (Electro-Welding Equipment Plant) as well as the Tavria Games festival.

There is a Swedish consulate in Kakhovka.

History

In 1492 Meñli I Giray established a fortress near the site of today's Kakhovka called İslâm Kermen (later also called Shagin-Girei, presumably after Şahin Giray). It was frequently attacked by Cossacks and was finally destroyed by them under the leadership of Ivan Mazepa in 1695. In 1791 the Russian Colonel D.M. Kulikovsky founded the trade town of Kakhovka. Kakhovka was situated in the Tauria district. In 1848 the town obtained city rights. In the 1870s–90s the town was renowned for having a huge population of low-income contractors (batraki). By a Russian economist (N.J. Tjezjakov) time-by-time 20-40.000 contractor gathered in the city, 80% of them males.

In December 1918, by the decision of the administration of the Dnipro povit (uyezd), Kakhovka was declared a city. In August 1920, during the final push in the Russian Civil War to drive the Whites under Wrangel out of the Crimea, Ieronim Uborevich established a bridgehead at Kakhovka, which became the site of fierce battles, "probably the closest the Civil War came to world war trench fighting."^[1]

During World War II, Kakhovka was captured by the German Army on August 30, 1941. It was released by the 4th Ukrainian Front during the Melitopol offensive on November 2, 1943.

In 1972 the Verkhovna Rada of the Ukrainian SSR gave the city the rank of "city of oblast subordinance" within Kherson Oblast.

Cultural influence

The 1935 film Three Friends (Три товарища) included the song "Kakhovka" (words by Mikhail Svetlov and music by Isaak Dunayevsky), which became very well known, especially the refrain "Мы мирные люди, но наш бронепоезд/ Стоит на запасном пути" ("We are peaceful people, but our armored train/ Stands [ready] on the siding"). Svetlov chose the site of the little-known Civil War battle for his song because he had grown up nearby and had known the town during the war.^[2]

References

1. Evan Mawdsley, The Russian Civil War (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2008), p. 268.
2. "Песня о Каховке".

External links

• The murder of the Jews of Kakhovka during World War II, at Yad Vashem website.