Viktor Bilash

Viktor Bilash
Віктор Білаш
Otaman of the Makhnovshchina
In office
13 August 1921 (1921-08-13)  c. 1923 (1923)
Preceded byNestor Makhno
Succeeded byPosition disestablished
Personal details
Born1893 (1893)
Novospasivka, Mariupolsky, Katerynoslav, Russian Empire
Died24 January 1938(1938-01-24) (aged 44–45)
Kharkiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Cause of deathExecution by firing squad
NationalityUkrainian
Military service
Allegiance Makhnovshchina
Service Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine
Years of service1918–1923
RankChief of staff
Battles/wars

Viktor Fedorovych Bilash (Ukrainian: Віктор Федорович Білаш; 1893 – 24 January 1938) was a Ukrainian military commander who was the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine (RIAU) under Nestor Makhno during the Russian Civil War. A gifted military commander, Bilash himself planned many of the Insurgent Army's operations, later becoming its commander in chief after Makhno's flight into exile.

His son, Oleksandr, a World War II veteran, was able to obtain the manuscript of his father's work, with other previously unknown documents in 1993. He subsequently published it together as a book called “The Roads of Nestor Makhno”.