The Battle of Warsaw

A miracle that took place 90 years ago.
It was the 18th most decisive battle in history, claim politicians and strategists. It was „Cud nad Wisłą” – the Miracle on the Vistula – says patriotic legend. It was the Battle of Warsaw – write historians. And all this refers to the Polish army’s victory over Bolshevik Russia in 1920. It was the victory that halted the march of communists to the West and saved Europe from the „red plague”. And how did it come to that?
In 1918, World War I came to an end, and a new political map of Europe was formed, where Poland, which Prussia, Russia and Austria had divided among themselves in 1795, reappeared after 123 years of subjugation.
During World War I, the Bolshevik revolution had broken out. The Czar and his family had been killed, and communists under the rule of Lenin had assumed power. The communists’ idea was internationalism, and European revolution, meaning expansion of communism in the world. Lenin dreamed of absolute power over the enemy West. And the newly created Polish State stood in the way. It was necessary to take Poland and defeat it, in order to move onward to the annexation of Germany, France, England and other European countries. This was the genesis of the Battle of Warsaw, or „the Miracle on the Vistula”.
At the end of February, 1920, the Soviet Bolshevik leader ordered the concentration of Soviet forces for a war with Poland. A month later, he chose the leader of the Red Army, Michail Tuchaczewski.
Officially, Russian diplomatic contacts with Poland talked of peaceful solutions to the border problems between the two countries. But Piłsudski, eminent politician and strategist (and later Marshall and Chief of State) did not trust the communists, and he knew that they were playing for time.
On the 25th of June, Michail Tuchaczewski gave orders to prepare the Russian army for an offensive. During the first days of fighting, the Bolsheviks had a definite advantage. War operations began to progress at lightning speed. On the 10th of August, 1920, a Soviet army numbering half a million was approaching Warsaw.
The Battle of Warsaw took places on the 12th-25th of August, 1920. General Tadeusz Rozwadowski, Chief of Staff of the Polish Army, created a battle strategy. However, the maneuver by Chief Commander, Józef Piłsudski, to flank the Red Army, played a key role. It was put into motion on the 16th of August, 1920 at the Wieprz River. Before that, however, on the 13th of August, three Russian divisions had captured Radzymin. Then, one of them moved on to Praga, another to Nieporęt and Jabłonna. On the 14th of August, fierce fighting took place near Wiązowna and Radzymin. On the 15th of August, the Polish army regained Radzymin, and the heaviest fighting took place in the nearby village of Ossów. This is where the priest Ignacy Skorupka died. His heroic death is one of the best known events in the Battle of Warsaw. This 27-year-old priest became the chaplain of the Praga garrison in July of 1920. From then on, he spent day after day in the barracks and at stations, hearing the confessions of the soldiers who were leaving for the front. On the 8th of August, at his own request, he became the chaplain of a volunteer battalion, which was mostly comprised of high school and college students. On the 13th of August, he marched along with the battalion to the front. In the evening, the battalion reached the village of Ossów, and the next day, Father Ignacy died in fighting with the Bolsheviks. On the 17th of August, he was buried at the Warsaw Powązki cemetery, and his funeral was a great patriotic manifestation. Father Skorupka was decorated with the Virtuti Militari V Class Cross posthumously.
As mentioned before, on the 16th of August, when the Polish army mounted a counter-attack, the battle began to tilt in the favor of Poland. By the 24th of August, the Bolsheviks were already retreating. The victory in the Battle of Warsaw did not end the war. General Tuchaczewski’s escaping army concentrated at the Niemen River. And it was here in September that another battle was fought, and again the Red Army suffered a great defeat. On the 15th of October, 1920, Polish and Soviet delegations signed a ceasefire in Riga, and on the 21st of March, 1921, a peace treaty was signed which regulated Polish-Soviet relations and established our eastern border until the USSR’s aggression on Poland on the 17th of September, 1939.
That battle had at least three lesser-known episodes which were „miraculous”. According to documents which were made public in August of 2005 by the Central Military Archives, the Red Army’s codes had already been broken by lieutenant Jan Kowalewski, a cryptologist, mathematician and linguist (in 1923 he created encrypting services in Japan, for which he received the highest military medal in that country, the Order of the Rising Sun). The maneuver of the Polish counter-attack was successful due to knowledge about the plans and orders on the Russian side, and the ability of the Polish commanders to take advantage of it. And now let us move on to another episode. Carrying out a maneuver like that one depended to a great extent on keeping it top secret. In the meantime, on the 13th of August, near Brześć, major Wacław Drojowski was killed. The Russians found a map case with him that contained Polish plans. Fortunately, the Russians decided that it had been a trick that was intended to keep them from marching on to Warsaw.
And then there was another „miracle”. On the 15th of August, 1920, a lancier regiment from Kalisz captured the command of the 4th Soviet army in Ciechanów, along with one of two radio stations that the Soviets used to communicate with the command in Mińsk. The Poles knew that the second radio station was turned off because it was being moved to another location. They quickly retuned the Warsaw transmitter to the frequency of the Soviet radio station and started jamming the transmitters from Mińska, and in effect, the second radio station, when it was set up, could not receive orders from Tuchaczewski. For two days, the frequency in Warsaw broadcasted texts from the Bible, which were the only texts that the commanders of the Warsaw Citadel, where the Polish transmitter was located, could organize quickly and give radio telegraphers to transmit constantly.
In hundreds of Polish villages, cities and districts, there are traces of that war – mounds at cemeteries, memorial plaques in churches, hundreds of documents and memoirs, and the 15th of August is a holiday for the Polish Army. And every year, in the hot August days, we pay tribute to our valiant ancestors. The Battle of Warsaw of 1920 is mainly commemorated in the village of Ossów (in the Wołomin region), where celebrations have taken place since 1988.
Work is being done to create a full „Battle of Warsaw 1920” tourist route, which would be organized not only in Mazovia, but also in its neighbouring regions. In May, 2008, the administrative districts of Wołomin, Kobyłka, and Zielonka signed an agreement concerning the implementation of a programme, „Ossów Wrota Bitwy Warszawskiej 1920 Roku”, which is currently being introduced in many districts by local authorities. As a result, a Cultural Park, the first one in Mazovia, which bears the name of the whole programme, was created. Still, the key aim is to establish an Information and Education Center with a documentation center, as well as a Museum of the Battle of Warsaw. Mirosław Nizio, the co-creator of the design for the Warsaw Rising Museum, is responsible for the project. The museum will comprise the center of the park, and everything else should revolve around it. The road to the war cemetery in Ossów will also start here. The park itself will be full of walking paths and military exhibitions. Things as the rebuilding of operational trains tracks between Zielonka and Okuniew, or the construction of a biathlon shooting range are also planned. All this is supposed to be built in time for the 100th anniversary of the battle, in 2020.
And today, it is worth visiting the following places, where you can get a feel for the atmosphere of those events.
Mińsk Mazowiecki – the Gen. Kazimierz Sosnkowski Museum of the 7th Regiment Ułanów Lubelskich is located here.
Sulejówek – the residence of Marshall Józef Piłsudski, Dworek Milusin (Milusin Manor) is located here.
Ossów – here, one can see a war cemetery with 9 mass graves, a chapel, and a monument to the fallen which was erected in 1924, a wooden cross placed where a priest, Ignacy Skorupko, died in the fields of Ossów, the monument of the priest himself on Matarewicza Street, next to the house where his remains were taken after the battle, or the Ossów panorama exhibition pavillon close to the school in Ossów. In the pavillon, the visitors can see a permanent exhibition presenting an illustrated map of the 1920 war, as well as other maps, photos, and mementoes connected with the battle.
Radzymin – this is the place where the fiercest fighting took place, on the outskirts of Warsaw; the Cemetary of Polish Soldiers from 1920 is located here.
Wólka Radzymińska – the remains of Fort Beniaminów, built by the Russians before the First World War. There is a monument to the soldiers of the 28 Regiment of Kaniowski Riflemen.
Zegrze – On the 16th-18th of August, there was fierce fighting here which ended in pushing the Bolsheviks to the northeast. There are two well-preserved forts here which were erected by the Russians in 1892-1895.
Modlin – the fortress in Modlin was main strategic point of attack of Michail Tuchaczewski’s forces. Modlin Fortress is comprised of a complex that has been expanded and reinforced a number of times, and contains elements of French, Russian and Polish fortifications.