Ukrainian People's Revolutionary Army (), also known as the Polissian Sich () or the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, was a paramilitary formation of Ukrainian nationalists, nominally proclaimed in Olevsk region in December 1941 by Taras Bulba-Borovets, by renaming an existing military unit known from July 1941 as the UPA-Polissian Sich (Poliska sich). It was a warlord-type military formation without a strict central command. From spring 1942 until the autumn of 1943, it acted against the German rural civil administration and warehouses, from spring 1943 it also fought against Soviet Partisans and some units against Poles; from July–August 1943, it clashed with OUN-B Bandera's UPA and UB units. To distinguish itself from Stepan Bandera's Ukrainian Insurgent Army, it was renamed the Ukrainian People's Revolutionary Army on 20 July 1943. Among the local population and Soviet partisans, members of Bulba's formation were always known as bulbovtsy (Russian) / bulbivtsi or bulbashi (Ukrainian). UPA and Polissian Sich By the end of June 1941 Taras Borovets, with support from German occupation forces officials, decided to create his own military formation. At the beginning of July 1941 he was nominated by the Germans to the post of Ukrainian militia commander at Sarny district. By the beginning of August 1941 he obtained German permission to create an armed military formation which he named Polissian Sich. The main tasks of this newly created formation was " by the order of German military command … establishing a self defense against Bolshevik regular and partisan units." Borovets' military formation obtained high praise from the Germans; they especially noted the cruel massacre of retreating Soviet Army soldiers which this formation had conducted earlier. At the beginning of August, Borovets made an attempts to obtain military support from the two rival factions of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. Stepan Bandera's OUN-B rejected his proposal while the OUN-M under Andriy Melnyk faction agreed to provide support. Several military officials affiliated to the OUN-M joined the UPA-Polissian Sich. The Sich's chief of staff was Petro Smorodsky, formerly a lieutenant colonel of the UNR Army. After defeating a Soviet force at Olevsk on 21 August, Borovets established his headquarters there. From this time till the middle of November 1941, the Bulba formation controlled a large territory of northwest Ukraine which lay away from central roads. By the autumn of 1941, it had 2,000-3,000 armed personnel and published the official newspaper Haidamaka. Arms and ammunition were