Soviet-Polish War 1919 1920. Poland against Russia

The offensive of Polish troops on Kyiv began the Soviet-Polish war, which ended in the fall of the same year with the establishment of the Polish border east of the city of Vilna (now Vilnius, Lithuania).

Polish leader Józef Pilsudski, who announced the creation of a state in November 1918 and proclaimed himself its “boss,” counted on the restoration of Poland to the borders of 1772 (that is, before its so-called “first partition”).

From the autumn of 1918 to the spring of 1920, the RSFSR repeatedly proposed that Poland establish diplomatic relations and a reasonable border, but Poland refused under various pretexts. During the same period, Polish and Soviet troops, moving towards each other, occupied the western provinces of the former Russian Empire.

All of Galicia and Volyn. Lithuanian and Belarusian cities, including Vilna and Minsk, changed hands several times.

By April 1920, two theaters of military operations had emerged, separated by the Pripyat swamps. In Belarus, the Western Front of the Red Army (about 90 thousand bayonets and sabers, more than one and a half thousand machine guns, more than 400 guns) had in front of it about 80 thousand Polish bayonets and sabers, two thousand machine guns, more than 500 guns; in Ukraine, the Southwestern Front of the Red Army (15.5 thousand bayonets and sabers, 1200 machine guns, more than 200 guns) - 65 thousand Polish bayonets and sabers (almost two thousand machine guns, more than 500 guns).

On May 14, the Western Front (commander - Mikhail Tukhachevsky) launched a poorly prepared attack on Vilna and further on Warsaw, which forced the enemy to regroup. On May 26, the Southwestern Front (Alexander Egorov), reinforced by the 1st Cavalry Army transferred from the Caucasus, launched a counteroffensive. On June 12, Kyiv was recaptured and the attack on Lviv began. A month later, the troops of the Western Front were able to take Minsk and Vilna. Polish troops retreated to Warsaw.

On July 11, the English Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lord George Curzon, in a note to the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Georgy Chicherin, proposed stopping the advance of the Red Army on the Grodno-Brest line, west of Rava-Russkaya, east of Przemysl (the "Curzon Line", approximately corresponding to the boundaries of the settlement of ethnic Poles and practically coinciding with the modern eastern border of Poland). The RSFSR rejected British mediation, insisting on direct negotiations with Poland.

The offensive in diverging directions towards Warsaw and Lvov was continued, despite the objections of the People's Commissar for Military Affairs Leon Trotsky and member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Southwestern Front Joseph Stalin.

As the Soviet troops approached the Vistula, the resistance of the Polish troops increased. The commander-in-chief of the Red Army, Sergei Kamenev, ordered the transfer of the 1st Cavalry Army and another part of the forces of the Southwestern Front to the Western Front, but this was never done. The 1st Cavalry Army continued fighting for Lvov until August 19.

In the Warsaw direction, the enemy had about 69 thousand bayonets and sabers, and the Western Front - 95 thousand. However, the main forces of the front were advancing around Warsaw from the north, and only the Mozyr infantry group of 6 thousand bayonets remained south of the city. Against it, the enemy concentrated striking forces of 38 thousand bayonets and sabers, which, under the personal command of Pilsudski, launched a counteroffensive on August 16, quickly broke through the weak combat formations of the Mozyr group and began to advance to the northeast. By August 20, having occupied Brest, Polish troops surrounded the main forces of the Western Front from the south, completely disrupting its rear and railway communications.

The result of the “miracle on the Vistula” (by analogy with the “miracle on the Marne” of September 1914) was the complete defeat of the Western Front, which lost 66 thousand people captured and 25 thousand killed and wounded. Almost 50 thousand more people retreated to East Prussia, where they were interned. In August-October, Polish troops captured Bialystok, Lida, Volkovysk and Baranovichi, as well as Kovel, Lutsk, Rivne and Tarnopol.

The Poles, however, were unable to build on their success and went on the defensive at the achieved positions. At the end of August, active hostilities on the Soviet-Polish front ceased. The war took on a positional character.

On August 17, Soviet-Polish negotiations began in Minsk, which were then transferred to Riga. On October 18, the armistice agreement came into force, and on March 18, 1921, the Riga Peace Treaty was signed. The Polish border was drawn significantly east of the "Curzon Line", almost strictly from north to south along the Pskov meridian. Vilna remained to the west of the border, Minsk to the east.

Poland received 30 million rubles in gold, 300 steam locomotives, 435 passenger cars and more than eight thousand freight cars.

The losses of Soviet troops amounted to 232 thousand people, including irrevocable ones - 130 thousand people (killed, missing, captured and interned). According to various sources, from 45 to 60 thousand Soviet prisoners died in Polish captivity.

The Polish army lost over 180 thousand people, including about 40 thousand people killed, over 51 thousand people captured and missing.

In the fall of 2014, the Russian Military Historical Society began collecting funds for the installation of a monument (cross) to the Red Army soldiers who died in captivity at the Rakowicki cemetery in Krakow, but the Polish authorities rejected this initiative.

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Relations between Russia and Poland have always been difficult: evidence of this is the Polish campaign against Moscow in 1612, the three sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 18th century, and numerous Polish uprisings against Russia. At the beginning of the 20th century, there was another aggravation of relations between the two peoples; this conflict became fateful for the whole of Europe.

The war between Poland and Soviet Russia lasted from 1919 to 1921 and can be called part of the civil war that was raging in Russia at that time. The fighting took place on the territory of Ukraine, Belarus and Poland. Poland, under the leadership of Pilsudski, sought to regain the lands of Ukraine and Belarus, which were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth before all the divisions of the country began in the 18th century, and the Bolsheviks wanted to spread communist ideology to other countries.

Start of hostilities

On November 11, 1918, the Compiègne Armistice was signed, German troops began to leave the occupied territories in eastern Europe. They were replaced by local governments or political forces supported by communist Moscow.

Following the departing German troops, the Red Army moved, and on December 10 Minsk was occupied. Belarusian and Lithuanian Poles organized the “Committee for the Defense of the Eastern Borders” (KZVO). The Bolsheviks proclaimed the Belarusian Soviet republic, and KZVO units occupied Vilnius, but were soon driven out of there. At this stage, the Polish army could not help the KZVO in any way: there were still German troops in the western regions and a conflict with the Czechs began. But soon the situation changed and the Polish army moved east. On February 4, Kovel was occupied, followed by Brest. At the same moment, Poland invaded the territory of Western Ukraine.

At the end of February the offensive began Polish army in Belarus. By the beginning of April, the Poles took Lida, Vilno, and Baranovichi. In August, Minsk and Bobruisk were occupied. At this very time, the Poles occupied part of Galicia and liquidated the Western Ukrainian People's Republic.

The Bolsheviks were not able to send a sufficient number of reserves to the Polish front, because at that time Denikin’s army launched a powerful offensive against Moscow.

Diplomatic front

The Entente countries provided assistance to the Poles, however, its excessive strengthening was not part of their plans. At the end of 1919, the Declaration on the Eastern Border of Poland (Curzon Line) was issued. According to this Declaration, the lands where the Poles lived were to go to Poland. But at that time the Polish army was much east of this line, and had no intention of retreating.

At this very time, negotiations took place with Denikin, which ended in nothing. During the negotiations with the Bolsheviks, an exchange of prisoners was discussed, the Soviet side demanded to hold a referendum in Belarus regarding the future of the country, and the Poles wanted an end to hostilities between Russia and the UPR.

Thanks to the cessation of hostilities in Belarus, the Soviet side was able to direct part of its forces against Denikin. Pilsudski rated the strength of both the Red Army and the Volunteer Army extremely low and, in conversations with diplomats, argued that Polish troops would soon enter Moscow.

At the beginning of 1920, a new Polish offensive began. Dvinsk, Mozyr and Kalinkovichi were occupied. But the most successful was the offensive of the Polish forces in Ukraine, where they had a significant advantage over the Red Army. In May, Polish troops entered Kyiv and crossed the Dnieper.

Counteroffensive

An offensive by Soviet troops under the leadership of Tukhachevsky began in Belarus, but it did not bring much results and quickly fizzled out. The Red Army suffered heavy losses. The situation on the Southwestern Front was different. The Bolsheviks transferred fresh forces here (Budenny's 1st Cavalry Army) and managed to break through the Polish front. To avoid encirclement, Polish troops retreated to Rivne. At the same moment, a large offensive of the Red Army began in Belarus. He was successful: Minsk, Bobruisk, and Bialystok were captured. The Red Army entered the primordially Polish lands. The Soviet government of Poland was formed.

Battle of Warsaw

The Red Army reached the border and stopped for a while. Many consider this a big mistake, because at that time the Polish army practically did not exist. The situation was aggravated by the fact that Western countries almost stopped sending aid to the Poles.

The Bolsheviks hoped for an uprising of workers and peasants in Poland, but it did not happen. On August 12, units of the Red Army under the command of Tukhachevsky launched an attack on the Polish capital. The forces of both sides were approximately equal. The Red Army managed to occupy the first line of defense and capture several cities near the Polish capital. At this time, a plan for a Polish counteroffensive was being prepared.

A sudden attack on Soviet troops came from the southeast. At the same time, Polish troops launched two more attacks. Tukhachevsky's troops were greatly stretched, their flanks were exposed. The strike group of the Red Army faced a real threat of encirclement. The Soviet command sent Budyonny's cavalry army to help Tukhachevsky, but it was too late. Budyonny moved to help the troops of the western front, but he was never able to get through to them. In the battle for Warsaw, the Bolsheviks suffered serious losses: 25 thousand people were killed, 60 thousand soldiers were captured, thousands were missing.

The final stage of the war

After the Battle of Warsaw, fighting began again in Belarus. The Polish troops were successful. Molodechno, Lida, Minsk, Grodno were busy. The Bolsheviks suffered significant losses. Peace negotiations began in August 1920. Russia agreed to establish the eastern borders of Poland according to the Curzon line, but demanded a significant reduction in the Polish army. A truce was concluded in Riga on October 12.

The peace agreement between Poland and Soviet Russia was signed on March 18, 1921, in Riga. This was the end of the war. The Polish border was drawn much east of the Curzon line, and the question of reducing the strength of the Polish army was removed.

In this war, the Poles practically protected Europe from the Bolshevik invasion. If the Red Army had reached Germany, the history of the continent would have been completely different.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, an undeclared Soviet-Polish war occurred, during which the Bolshevik leadership and the government of Jozef Pilsudski tried to resolve pressing territorial issues.

Background to the conflict and its causes

Since 1815, Poland was part of the Russian Empire. During the First World War, these territories were occupied by German and Austro-Hungarian troops, who, in order to gain support from the local population, declared Poland a formally independent state. The Petrograd Provisional Government also turned to the Polish leadership, proposing independence on Russian terms: drawing the border along ethnographic lines (that is, transferring Galicia and Silesia to Poland), as well as concluding peace with Russia.

The foreign policy of the Provisional Government was partially continued by Vladimir Lenin. One of the first actions of the Bolsheviks after the victory of the Great October Revolution was the signing at the end of 1917 of several decrees that granted independence to many territories that were once part of the Russian Empire. The newly formed independent countries included Poland, Ukraine and Belarus.

Before the signing of the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which ended the First World War, there were German garrisons in Poland. But at the end of the autumn of 1918, Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, a talented and decisive politician who set several main goals for the country, became the ruler of Poland:

• Clear the country of German occupiers;
• Oppose Bolshevism;
• To revive the former Polish greatness and create a second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth within the borders of 1772 (that is, to include the western parts of Ukraine and Belarus into the state).

From a historical point of view, the Polish national-patriotic movement arose at a very opportune moment: Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary were exhausted by the world war. In addition, the Treaty of Versailles did not define the borders of Poland.

Meanwhile, on the territory of central Russia, the Civil War. By 1919, the Bolsheviks began to gain the upper hand over the white movement. Main centers of resistance new government, such as the Omsk Directory, were broken. Now, when the old regime did not pose a serious threat to the Bolsheviks, they decided to begin restoring the territorial integrity of the state and Sovietize the nearby countries - Belarus and Ukraine, where White Guard units still remained, and groups of anarchist atamans were also active. The most cherished and grandiose goal of the Soviet leadership was the establishment of a communist regime in Germany. Poland lay between two powers, and Pilsudski was an ardent opponent of Bolshevism and Russian domination.

Thus, the main goals of the Bolshevik leadership included:

• Eliminate anti-Soviet groups in Ukraine and Belarus;
• Establish your influence in Eastern Europe;
• Prevent the expansion of Poland to the borders of 1772;
• Eliminate all possible obstacles to the Sovietization of Germany.

At the end of 1918, the Polish leadership became familiar with two options for establishing new borders: Bolshevik and Western. Both Lenin and European countries were ready to expand the territory of Poland, but the proposed borders were smaller than the borders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which did not suit Pilsudski. The aggravation of relations between the two states reached its peak and led to an armed conflict.

Progress of the war

First stage: Polish offensive (January - October 1919)

In early 1919, while the Red Army was busy fighting Anton Denikin, Pilsudski launched an offensive against Belarus and Ukraine, once part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

One after another, the Polish army occupied: Vilno, Slonim, Pinsk, Grodno, Minsk, Bobruisk. During the decisive actions of the Polish command, the whole of Galicia was occupied. In order to continue advancing eastward, Warsaw had to find allies. It was planned to rely on the Entente countries and Denikin’s Volunteer Army, but in both cases the Polish proposals were accepted with great caution. Neither Denikin nor the Western powers wanted Poland to become too strong, especially at the expense of Russian lands. Therefore, the negotiations have reached a dead end.

In turn, the Bolsheviks could not resist the Polish pressure, since the Red Army had to prepare for Denikin’s campaign against Moscow. As a result, both sides were forced to temporarily lay down their arms.

Pilsudski understood that the restoration of the monarchy in Russia, for which Denikin fought, was unlikely to bring independence to Poland. Therefore, the Polish marshal decided to take a wait-and-see position. Since, according to his calculations, the Volunteer Army was rather weak, he just had to wait until it was defeated by the Red Army, and only then strike at the Bolsheviks, exhausted from the fight against Denikin.

Resumption of hostilities, repeated Polish offensive (January - May 1920)

At the end of 1919, Piłsudski began preparing for a new offensive:

• He concluded a military alliance against the Bolsheviks with the Ukrainian chieftain Simon Petliura. At the same time, Petliura was forced to cede large areas of Ukraine to the Poles;
• Developed a strategic plan for an attack on Ukraine and a repeated campaign against Belarus.

The Bolsheviks also reorganized the army in the west of the country. As part of these transformations, two fronts were created:

• Western, commanded by Tukhachevsky;
• Southwestern, headed by Egorov.

In the Belarusian direction, the Poles reached the Berezina, which was their original goal. On the Ukrainian front, Polish regiments, as well as the armies of the atamans of Petlyura and Tyutyunnik, moved into battle. Pilsudski's main striking force was the Poznan Riflemen - those Polish units that served in the German army during the occupation. Having learned about the approach of the Poles, the inhabitants of Galicia rose up in the rear of the Red Army, wanting to achieve the independence of Western Ukraine. The rebels hoped that Piłsudski would help them expel the Bolsheviks and create own state, but this was not part of the Polish marshal’s plans. The rebels who came out to meet the “liberators” were immediately captured.

The Polish army, supported by the local population and atamans, quickly moved forward. The Poles managed to occupy Kyiv and even move to the left bank of the Dnieper.

English intervention

European powers tried several times to intervene in the course of events and stop the civil war in Russia, and at the same time the Soviet-Polish conflict. For this purpose, Great Britain turned to the Bolshevik and Polish governments several times. For a long time, both sides ignored the messages of the British Foreign Minister Curzon. But in May 1920, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Chicherin suddenly agreed to accept British conditions:

• Stop the Red Army's attack on Georgia and Armenia;
• Start peace negotiations with Wrangel, who is entrenched in Crimea;
• Begin, through the mediation of England, negotiations with Poland on borders.

The Poles stubbornly continued their offensive because they understood that England would not insist on restoring the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to the borders of 1772. The Bolsheviks did not want to stop either. They kept part of their obligations and actually stopped the onslaught on Crimea and the Caucasus. But only in order to transfer the most combat-ready units of the Red Army to the west.

Counter-offensive of the Red Army (May - August 1920)

In the late spring of 1920, the Red Army launched an offensive in Ukraine. Budyonny's cavalry was especially effective, managing to oust the Poles from Kyiv, Zhitomir and Berdichev. While Budyonny was successfully advancing deep into Ukraine, Tukhachevsky launched an attack on Belarus. If the Ukrainians supported the Polish army and willingly joined its ranks, the population of Belarus was dissatisfied with the arrival of the Poles and sided with Tukhachevsky.

Pilsudski had to quickly withdraw his troops. At the height of the Polish flight and the advance of the Red Army deep into Eastern Europe, Lenin received another message from Curzon from Great Britain. The British minister again insisted on starting negotiations with Poland. He also proposed drawing a demarcation line along which the border between the two states would run (“Curzon Line”). But this time the Bolsheviks wanted to bring the war to a victorious end. Tukhachevsky, Egorov, Budyonny and Stalin, who also held one of the commanding positions on the Southwestern Front, were ordered to speed up the offensive. Pilsudski was forced to leave the occupied lines and retreat to the capital. The forces of Egorov and Tukhachevsky moved towards Warsaw.

Miracle on the Vistula

In mid-August 1920, the battle for Warsaw began. Preparing for the strike, the Bolsheviks underestimated the Polish army and the capabilities of enemy intelligence. Therefore, part of the Red Army moved not to the capital, but to other cities. A very important document also fell into the hands of the Red Army soldiers - a detailed plan for the Polish counterattack near Wiepsz. However, Tukhachevsky decided that this paper was nothing more than an attempt to misinform him. At the same time, Polish intelligence officers managed to find out the exact time of the Western Front's attack on the capital. On August 14 and 15, the Poles launched several successful attacks on Tukhachevsky’s forces. The Poles even managed to destroy the radio station, disrupting the coordination of the front's actions.

On August 16, the Polish army went on the offensive. Pilsudski managed to break through the front and crush the main forces of the Bolsheviks. The frivolity with which Tukhachevsky treated Pilsudski turned out to be a complete failure for the red commander. The army was rapidly retreating, losing people, equipment and equipment.

Results

In March 1921, the Riga Peace Treaty was signed. According to this document:

• Huge territories were transferred to Poland. The border was established much east of the “Curzon Line”;
• The Bolsheviks were forced to pay considerable reparations to Poland, as well as the debts of the tsarist government;
• The RSFSR pledged to return to Poland all valuables taken from there after 1772.

Subsequently, after the conclusion of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and during the Tehran Conference, the Soviet government managed to achieve the drawing of the border exactly along the “Curzon Line”.

By spring 1920 Bolsheviks already considered themselves winners in civil war. All main opponents were defeated. Only a handful of Petliurists remained at Kamenets-Podolsk, several thousand Kappelites And Semyonovtsy near Chita and Wrangel’s army, besieged in the Crimea. They were no longer taken seriously.

In such conditions, the communist leaders turned their main attention to the Polish front. It was formed in the west of Ukraine and Belarus back in 1919, but for a long time remained passive, with rare skirmishes. After the defeat of Denikin, the Bolsheviks began to impose their power in Ukraine. Soviet General Grigorenko tells how this happened in his memoirs. A detachment came to the village, took 7 hostages at random and gave them 24 hours to surrender their weapons. A day later they came with a search. Having found a sawn-off shotgun somewhere (possibly planted), the hostages were shot, a new seven were taken away and given another 24 hours. Grigorenko writes that the security officer who led their operation did not shoot less than three parties in any village. I leaned over and surplus appropriation. When collecting it, even 1919, when Ukraine was under the Whites, was counted as an “arrears.”

And Ukraine again flared up in uprisings. The atamans opposed the Reds. In Tulchin - Lykho, in Zvenigorod - Gryzlo, near Zhitomir - Mordalevich, near Kazatin - Marusya Sokolovskaya, near Vinnitsa - Volynets, near Uman - Guly... Well, in the Ekaterinoslav region - Makhno. Prisoners Galician riflemen were kept in camps near Vinnitsa. In mid-April they rebelled. It turned out to be more difficult to suppress them than the peasants - after all, these were experienced soldiers, previously trained by the Austrians. The Galician uprising intensified local riots.

Units of the 14th Red Army and reserves were taken to the rear to suppress. The moment was very favorable for Poland. On April 21, she entered into an agreement with Petlyura, which recognized the border of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth of 1772, up to its three divisions. Volyn remained with Poland, which the Petliurists had previously disputed with it. Petliura also abandoned his previous alliance with Galicia, recognizing it as Polish territory. In the joint struggle against the Soviets, Ukrainian troops had to act on the instructions of the Polish command, which undertook to supply them with weapons. Ataman Tyutyunnik also joined the union, recognizing Petliura’s supremacy. And Petrushevich, the president of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic absorbed by Pilsudski, said from emigration that the Galicians should not interfere in the fight between the Poles and the Bolsheviks.

Polish offensive in spring 1920

On April 25, 1920, Polish-Ukrainian troops went on the offensive, having about 200 thousand bayonets and sabers. Head of Poland to Ukraine Piłsudski moved about 60 thousand. There were no active actions in other areas. In Belarus, the front remained along the Berezina - going to the “Russian” lands was not part of the Poles’ plans. The Poles fought according to a classical strategy that did not allow for a simultaneous offensive “in all directions,” as the white generals had to do.

The Red Front has been breached. The Poznan riflemen, Poles who had previously served in the German army, advanced in the attack directions. Other elite troops were the “gallery” - divisions formed in France from prisoners. Petliurists operated in auxiliary areas. They were opposed by the 12th and 14th armies of the Reds (65 thousand). Having been hit, with their rear destroyed by the uprisings, they fled in panic. In 10 days, the Poles advanced 200 km or more. On May 6, 1920, having inflicted a heavy defeat on the 7th Soviet Division, they occupied Kyiv and captured a small bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnieper, near Darnitsa, stopping after that. On the southern flank, Tyutyunnik’s cavalry occupied the cities of Balta and Voznesensk, threatening Odessa and Nikolaev. And the Galician rebels, who united with the Poles, simply exchanged one captivity for another. Pilsudski did not need supporters of an independent Western Ukraine - they were disarmed and taken to camps.

The line of greatest advance of Polish troops to the east. June 1920

Interesting story with " Curzon note"July 12, 1920. It was written in Soviet literature that the imperialists, with this act of diplomatic intervention, tried to save Poland from defeat. It was kept silent that there were several “Curzon notes”. Having changed the policy of timid support for the whites to complete “peacekeeping,” Britain made proposals to end the Russian civil war on April 1, April 11 and April 17, 1920. The Reds, being on the crest of victories, responded with general peace-loving phrases and forced military operations, hoping to end with the last pockets of white resistance. And the next one was not the note beloved by Soviet historians from July 12, but from May 4, when the Poles were approaching Kyiv.

Promising England's mediation, the British Foreign Minister Curzon proposed the following peace conditions: the border between Russia and Poland is established along the so-called “Curzon Line” (almost coinciding with the later established Polish-Soviet border in 1945); Soviet Russia stops its offensive in the Caucasus; Georgia and Armenia remain sovereign states; The Soviets end the war against Wrangel. The issue of Crimea is resolved through negotiations with Wrangel, up to the honorable surrender of Crimea, the free travel of everyone abroad and no persecution of those who remain.

The Bolsheviks immediately agreed: Poland smashed them to smithereens! And about negotiations with Wrangel, Lenin’s People’s Commissar Chicherin proposed a cunning move - to make the participation of an English officer in them a condition for negotiations. He believed that the ardent Russian patriot Wrangel would never agree to this (although Wrangel would not have negotiated with the Bolsheviks in any case). Chicherin wrote to Lenin:

“We can’t hesitate for a minute to agree to an amnesty for Wrangel and to stop further advances in the Caucasus, where we have already captured everything valuable. The proposal to negotiate with Wrangel with the participation of an English officer will offend every true White Guard.”

Plans for a communist push into Europe

On August 2, 1920, a new “government” of Poland was created in Bialystok, consisting of Marchlewski, Dzerzhinsky, Pruchniak, Kohn and Unschlicht. Another “government” led by Zatonsky appeared in Galicia. Both of them declared themselves the supreme executive power in “their” states and, temporarily, the legislative power. Poland and Galicia were proclaimed Soviet republics.

The Galicians initially greeted the Reds well. They hated the Poles who destroyed their independence. Then they began to figure out that the new occupiers were even worse. In Austria-Hungary, Galicia was considered a backward province. The people here were simple, very religious and patriarchal. And the local peasants could not understand why they should take other people’s property and hate priests? But the Reds started robbing the “bourgeoisie” and desecrating churches...

“Beat the Bolshevik!” Polish propaganda poster from the era of the war with Soviet Russia 1920

All of Europe lay before the Bolsheviks! A new barbarian invasion was heading west. It will help to imagine their appearance " Cavalry» Babel, where you will see an image of a gathering of murderers, robbers and rapists. In the famous group of Yakir, the 45th division was formed on the basis of Makhnovist units, and the 47th - on the basis of detachments of another predatory chieftain - Grigorieva. And Kotovsky himself was a criminal. In Primakov’s 8th Cavalry Division, the division commander’s personal cook, Ismail, was also his personal executioner and, at the wave of his master’s hand, he cut off the heads of the unwanted... An avalanche, similar to the hordes of Batu, was rushing to Europe. The prospects of a “world revolution” again loomed before the Bolsheviks. Dzerzhinsky thought about the formation of Polish units of the Red Army. Behind Poland lay Germany - disarmed, outraged by the terms of surrender, shaken by putschs and strikes. Behind Galicia is the same Hungary. The Reds did not hide their plans. Tukhachevsky announced in the order:

“At bayonets we will bring happiness and peace to working humanity! Forward to the West! To Warsaw! To Berlin!"

Britain hastily sent a military squadron to the Baltic. Help for the Poles was intensified; the Anglo-French mission of Gen. Weygand and gene. Redcliffe. Churchill turned to the German generals Hoffmann and Ludendorff, exploring the possibility of creating a second line of defense against Bolshevism - the German one. Even the well-known supporter of negotiations with the Reds, the British Prime Minister Lloyd George, declared in the House of Commons that his government would resume supplies to the whites. Volunteer detachments of Poles began to be created in England and France. The US State Department issued the “Kolby Note” on August 10, 1920, indicating that the American government was “hostile to any negotiations with the Soviet regime.” And Latvia, a formal ally of Poland, on the contrary, hastened to conclude a separate peace with the Soviet of Deputies on August 11. Jumped to neutrals. Just as she betrayed the Germans before, so now she betrayed the Poles and the Entente. The Bolsheviks could now withdraw troops from this flank to the main direction.

In Poland itself, the Red Invasion united all segments of the population. Pilsudski used the already mentioned appeal of Brusilov to former officers– as proof of the immutability of Russia’s “imperial” policy. Another point of agitation was the creation of a Soviet “government” in Bialystok - formed mainly from Polish Jews. The Founding Seym accelerated the agrarian reform, wresting from the Bolsheviks the weapon of agitation among the peasantry - now they went to fight for their own land. Helped to raise the people Catholic Church. And the Reds committed pogroms in the occupied territory and desecrated churches. The socialists created a “red legion” to fight the Bolsheviks, and the aristocracy created a “black legion”, even with a women’s company, which included representatives of the Polish nobility.

Having finally decided to sacrifice Lvov for the sake of Warsaw, Pilsudski withdrew many troops from there and began to create a strong group in the Dęblin (Ivangorod) area - south of Warsaw, on the flank of Tukhachevsky’s armies.

On August 10, Tukhachevsky’s Western Front received a directive to storm the Polish capital. The specter of a “world revolution” intoxicated the Reds. The offensive progressed as if in a drunken stupor. The second echelons, rear lines, and reserves were far behind, stuck due to blown-up bridges and traffic jams. By the beginning of the assault, Tukhachevsky had only 50 thousand people left. However, this was neglected. About 30 thousand were allocated to bypass Warsaw from the north, 11 thousand attacked it head-on, about 8 thousand went around from the south.

But on August 11, Commander-in-Chief Kamenev sensed something was wrong. And he decided to temporarily abandon the capture of Lvov, the 12th Army of the Southwestern Front, which had already moved from Vladimir-Volynsky to bypass Lvov, he ordered to turn west - to Lublin, cover the flank of the Western Front, and aimed the 1st Cavalry in the same direction - in Zamość. But where is it? Nobody wanted to march God knows where to protect other people's successes? After all, here cities surrendered one after another! In the frenzy of victories, communication was lost between the armies, which chose richer and more impressive targets.

On August 13, Egorov replied to Kamenev that he considered it no longer possible to change the main mission of the armies. On the same day, Budyonny's Cavalry began attacking Lviv. And on the same day, an order was discovered on the corpse of the Polish major, which indicated that on August 16, 1920 a counteroffensive would begin from Dęblin. The Red Command learned about the impending attack within three days! Repeated directives were sent to the troops of the Southwestern Front to urgently cover the flank of the Western Front. On August 14, the 12th Army, going deeper to the west, suddenly came across fresh Polish units (from the “Demblin” group) and received heavy blows from them. The army found itself in a difficult situation and replied to Headquarters that it could not help the Western Front - on the contrary, it itself was asking for help. On August 15, the 1st Cavalry was transferred to the subordination of Tukhachevsky. He ordered Budyonny to go to Zamosc and Vladimir-Volynsky. But what kind of Zamosc is there, when a huge, rich Lvov lay in front of a 20,000-strong horde of Budennovites? Who, however, desperately resisted.

"Miracle on the Vistula"

On August 16, Piłsudski began the “miracle on the Vistula” from the line of the Wieprz River, throwing his impact force– about 50 thousand people. with 200 guns. The Mozyr Red group was crushed instantly... On August 17, the command of the 1st Cavalry informed Tukhachevsky that it could not interrupt the battle for Lvov. On the same day, another shock group, Primakova, from the 8th Cavalry and 60th Rifle Divisions, went for a walk in Galicia. And Pilsudski was already smashing the 16th Army of the Western Front with all his might.

"Hey! Anyone who is Pole is treated with hostility.” Polish poster

On August 18, Yakir’s lagging group of two rifle divisions and Kotovsky’s cavalry brigade reached the approaches to Lvov, joining the assault. Primakov walked around the city from the south, creating local “revolutionary committees” and arranging “requisitions”. And Pilsudski continued the defeat of Tukhachevsky. On August 19, things got really bad for the Western Front. The 1st Cavalry received a second, categorical order to march to Zamosc. But Budyonny again sent troops to storm Lvov. The city held out last bit of strength. Refugees from the surrounding areas devastated by the Reds flowed to Lvov and became one of the defenders. A volunteer brigade of townspeople took the position. 10 infantry and 3 cavalry regiments repelled the onslaught of the Reds (18 rifle and 26 cavalry regiments). American volunteer pilots spent the entire day in the air, with only refueling stops. The Reds were never able to enter the city. And Primakov’s group, deciding that Lvov would be taken without it, turned to the Carpathians - to Stryi and Drohobych.

On August 20, Budyonny nevertheless withdrew his army from near Lvov and moved to Zamosc. Having suffered heavy losses, the 1st Cavalry lost the desire to climb the Lvov forts, and Tukhachevsky’s previous order served as a good excuse to withdraw. But the army obviously did not have time for Warsaw theater. By the end of the day on August 20, almost everything was over there. The Poles pushed the remnants of the defeated Reds to the Prussian border. Yakir continued the assault on Lvov, but the pressure on the city had now weakened. Yakir sought Primakov’s help. However, he was already 80 km to the south and started a battle for the city of Stryi. Here the Reds were met by the only White Guard division of the 3rd Volunteer Army of General Peremykin, created from Russian volunteers in Poland. During victories, the Poles were afraid to reinforce Russian volunteers. And now this small, weakly armed division was pushed back into the Carpathian foothills by the full-blooded 8th Red Cavalry Division. But the Bolsheviks did not advance further. Here they learned about the events near Warsaw. The next day Primakov went back from Stryi.

Miracle on the Vistula, or Tukhachevsky against Pilsudski. Video

Yakir still unsuccessfully searched for him and continued the assault for two more days. But the recklessness of the rush to the west began to take its toll here too. The Polish units, scattered during breakthroughs of numerous defense lines, did not disappear. They came to their senses in the red rear areas and contacted each other. And they formed a new front, converging to the west and cutting off the Reds from Russia. They occupied the towns of Bobrka and Peremyshlyany in the rear of Yakir, pressing him to Lvov. He had to immediately retreat to avoid being crushed from both sides. Primakov received the order to go to the aid of Yakir when he had already rolled back 40 km. Primakov’s group barely escaped the encirclement on its own. Tyutyunnik's cavalry mounted on her.

The 1st Cavalry, marching to Zamosc, climbed into the corridor between two Polish divisions. She was surrounded in a wooded and swampy area, inconvenient for cavalry. Only at the cost of heavy losses did Budyonny manage to break through between the two lakes and go to the retreating 12th Army. The remnants of Tukhachevsky's troops crossed the border into Germany, where they were disarmed and interned. When leaving the encirclement, they suffered more damage than during their movement to the west.

Lithuania also hit the Reds. With his hidden goal - to capture Vilna before Poland and thus resolve the territorial dispute. On September 16, 1920, the general retreat of the Reds from Galicia began. The Poles struck from Lvov and Galich. Petliura's cavalry destroyed the rear. A ring was closing around the entire 14th Army. She managed to break through to the east, but with huge casualties. Chasing the Bolsheviks, the Poles crossed the old border, occupied Volyn and part of Podolia up to and including Shepetivka.

Wrangel's Russian army also contributed greatly to the salvation of Europe from the Red invasion. Already on August 5, 1920, at the height of the victories, the Central Committee of the RCP (b) adopted a resolution: “Recognize that the Kuban-Wrangel Front must go ahead of the Western Front.” Troops were not transferred from Polish directions to the south, but they no longer received fresh formations there. From June-July, all reinforcements went to Tavria, against a handful of Wrangel’s White Guards, who took over 14 rifle and 7 cavalry divisions. Moreover, the best, selected divisions. What would have happened if they had appeared in the west, one can only guess...

Results of the Soviet-Polish war of 1919-1921. Polish borders in 1922

However, Poland, for its part, did not support the Russian White movement. The defeat of the Red armies gave her the opportunity to single-handedly make peace with the Soviets on favorable terms. On 10/12/20, when Wrangel tried to break through to the west, hoping to unite with the Poles on one front against the Bolsheviks, Pilsudski concluded a truce with the Soviet of Deputies. The Soviet-Polish war finally ended Riga world, which was signed on March 18, 1921. Under its terms, the Bolsheviks, in addition to the “Curzon Line” they had previously proposed, gave up Western Belarus and Western Ukraine in order to only concentrate efforts against Wrangel.

Based on materials from the book “White Guard” by V. Shambarov.

Soviet-Polish War(Polish wojna polsko-bolszewicka (wojna polsko-rosyjska) , Ukrainian Polish-Radian War) - an armed conflict between Poland and Soviet Russia, Soviet Belarus, Soviet Ukraine on the territory of the collapsed Russian Empire - Russia, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine in 1919–1921 during the Russian Civil War. In modern Polish historiography it is called the “Polish-Bolshevik War”. Troops of the Ukrainian People's Republic and the Western Ukrainian People's Republic also took part in the conflict; in the first phase of the war they acted against Poland, then units of the UPR supported Polish troops.

Background

The main territories for the possession of which the war was fought until the middle of the 14th century were various ancient Russian principalities. After a period of internecine wars and the Tatar-Mongol invasion of 1240, they became objects of expansion by Lithuania and Poland. In the first half of the 14th century, Kyiv, the Dnieper region, the area between the Pripyat and Western Dvina rivers became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and in 1352 the lands of the Galician-Volyn principality were divided between Poland and Lithuania. In 1569, according to the Union of Lublin between Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, some Ukrainian lands, previously part of the latter, came under the authority of the Polish crown. In - gg., as a result of three divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, part of the lands (Western Belarus and most of Western Ukraine) came under the rule of the Russian crown, Galician territories became part of the Austrian monarchy.

Goals of the parties to the conflict

The main goal of the Polish leadership led by Józef Pilsudski was the restoration of Poland within the historical borders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, with the establishment of control over Belarus, Ukraine (including Donbass) and Lithuania and geopolitical dominance in Eastern Europe:

On the Soviet side, the establishment of control over the western provinces of the former Russian Empire (Ukraine and Belarus) and their Sovietization was considered as a minimum program, while the maximum program was the Sovietization of Poland, followed by Germany and the transition to world revolution. The Soviet leadership considered the war against Poland as part of the struggle against the entire Versailles international system that existed at that time.

Progress of the war

The situation in Eastern Europe at the end of 1918

Poland in 1918-1922

According to the Brest-Litovsk Peace Treaty of March 3, 1918, the western border Soviet Russia was installed along the line Riga - Dvinsk - Druya ​​- Drisvyaty - Mikhalishki - Dzevilishki - Dokudova - r. Neman - r. Zelvinka - Pruzhany - Vidoml.

On January 1, 1919, the Belarusian SSR was proclaimed. On the same day, Polish units took control of Vilnius, but on January 6 the city was recaptured by units of the Red Army. On February 16, the authorities of the Byelorussian SSR proposed to the Polish government to determine the borders, but Warsaw ignored this proposal. On February 27, after Lithuania was included in the Byelorussian SSR, it was renamed the Lithuanian-Byelorussian SSR (Litbel Republic).

Poland could not provide significant assistance to the KZVO detachments, since part of the Polish troops were drawn into a border conflict with Czechoslovakia and were preparing for a possible conflict with Germany over Silesia. , and there were still German troops in the western regions of Poland. Only after the intervention of the Entente on February 5, an agreement was signed that the Germans would let the Poles through to the east. As a result, on February 4, Polish troops occupied Kovel, on February 9 they entered Brest, and on February 19 they entered Bialystok, abandoned by the Germans. At the same time, Polish troops moving east liquidated the administration of the Ukrainian People's Republic in the Kholm region, Zhabinka, Kobrin and Vladimir-Volynsky.

On February 9 - 14, 1919, German troops allowed Polish units to reach the river line. Neman (to Skidel) - Zelvyanka river - river. Ruzhanka - Pruzhany - Kobrin. Soon, units of the Western Front of the Red Army approached there from the other side. Thus, a Polish-Soviet front was formed on the territory of Lithuania and Belarus. Although by February 1919 the Polish army nominally numbered more than 150 thousand people, the Poles initially had very insignificant forces in Belarus and Ukraine - 12 infantry battalions, 12 cavalry squadrons and three artillery batteries - only about 8 thousand people, the rest of the units were located on borders with Germany and Czechoslovakia or were in the process of formation. The size of the Soviet Western Army is estimated at 45 thousand people, however, after the occupation of Belarus, the most combat-ready units were transferred to other directions, where the position of the Red Army was extremely difficult. On February 19, the Western Army was transformed into the Western Front under the command of Dmitry Nadezhny.

To prepare for the offensive to the east, Polish troops in Belarus, which received reinforcements, were divided into three parts: the Polesie group was commanded by General Antoni Listovsky, the Volyn group - by General Edward Rydz-Smigly, on the Shchitno-Skidel line there was the Lithuanian-Belarusian division of General Vaclav Iwaszkiewicz-Rudoshansky . To the south of them were the divisions of generals Juliusz Rummel and Tadeusz Rozwadowski.

The offensive of Polish troops in Belarus

At the end of February, Polish troops crossed the Neman and launched an offensive in Belarus (which had been in a federation with the RSFSR since February 3). On February 28, General Ivashkevich’s units attacked Soviet troops along the Shchara River and occupied Slonim on March 1, and Listovsky’s units took Pinsk on March 2. The task of both groups was to prevent the concentration of Soviet troops along the Lida-Baranovichi-Luninets line and to prepare for the occupation of Grodno after the withdrawal of German troops from there. Soon Ivashkevich was replaced by Stanislav Sheptytsky.

Jozef Pilsudski in Minsk. 1919

On April 17 - 19, the Poles occupied Lida, Novogrudok and Baranovichi, and on April 19, the Polish cavalry entered Vilna. Two days later, Józef Pilsudski arrived there and made an appeal to the Lithuanian people, in which he proposed that Lithuania return to the union of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Meanwhile, Polish troops in Belarus under the command of Stanislav Sheptytsky continued to move east, receiving reinforcements from Poland - on April 28, the Poles occupied the city of Grodno, abandoned by the Germans. In May-July, the Polish units were replenished with the 70,000-strong army of Józef Haller, transported from France. At the same time, Western Ukraine comes under the control of the Poles - on June 25, 1919, the Council of Foreign Ministers of Great Britain, France, the USA, and Italy authorizes Poland to occupy eastern Galicia up to the river. Zbruch. By July 17, eastern Galicia was completely occupied by the Polish army, and the administration of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic (WUNR) was liquidated.

The offensive of Polish troops in Belarus continued - on July 4, Molodechno was occupied, and on July 25, Slutsk came under Polish control. The commander of the Soviet Western Front, Dmitry Nadezhny, was removed from his post on July 22, and Vladimir Gittis was appointed in his place. However, the Soviet troops in Belarus did not receive significant reinforcements, since the Soviet General Staff sent all reserves to the south against Anton Denikin’s Volunteer Army, which launched an attack on Moscow in July.

Front in December 1919

Meanwhile, in August, Polish troops again went on the offensive, the main goal of which was Minsk. After a six-hour battle on August 9, Polish troops captured the Belarusian capital, and on August 29, despite stubborn resistance from the Red Army, Bobruisk was captured by the Poles. In October, units of the Red Army launched a counterattack on the city, but were defeated. After this, the fighting subsided until the beginning of next year: the parties concluded a truce. This was explained by the reluctance of the Entente countries and Anton Denikin to support plans for further Polish expansion. A long negotiation process began.

Diplomatic struggle

As mentioned above, the successes of the Polish troops in Belarus were largely due to the fact that the leadership of the Red Army sent the main forces to defend the southern direction from the advancing troops of Anton Denikin. Denikin, like the White movement as a whole, recognized the independence of Poland, but was opposed to Polish claims to the lands east of the Bug, believing that they should be part of a single and indivisible Russia.

The Entente's position on this issue coincided with Denikin's - in December the Declaration on the eastern border of Poland (see Curzon Line), coinciding with the line of ethnographic predominance of the Poles, was announced. At the same time, the Entente demanded that Pilsudski provide military assistance to Denikin’s troops and resume the offensive in Belarus. However, at that time, the Polish troops were located significantly east of the Curzon line and the Pilsudski government did not intend to leave the occupied territories. After months of negotiations in Taganrog between Denikin and Pilsudski's representative, General Alexander Karnicki, ended without result, Polish-Soviet negotiations began.

A conversation took place in Mikashevichi between Julian Marchlewski and Ignacy Börner. The release of political prisoners was expected - a list was compiled of 1,574 Poles imprisoned in the RSFSR and 307 communists in Polish prisons. The Bolsheviks demanded a plebiscite in Belarus among the local population on the issue of state structure and territorial affiliation. The Poles, in turn, demanded the transfer of Dvinsk to Latvia and the cessation of hostilities against the UPR of Petliura, with which they had by this time entered into an alliance.

Although the negotiations ended without results, the break in hostilities allowed Pilsudski to suppress the pro-Soviet opposition, and the Red Army to transfer reserves to the Belarusian direction and develop an offensive plan.

Polish offensive in Ukraine

After the failure of peace negotiations, fighting resumed. In early January 1920, the troops of Edward Rydz-Smigly took Dvinsk with an unexpected blow and then handed the city over to the Latvian authorities. On March 6, Polish troops launched an offensive in Belarus, capturing Mozyr and Kalinkovichi. Four attempts by the Red Army to recapture Mozyr were unsuccessful, and the Red Army’s offensive in Ukraine also ended in failure. The commander of the Western Front, Vladimir Gittis, was removed from his post, and 27-year-old Mikhail Tukhachevsky, who had previously proven himself during the battles against the troops of Kolchak and Denikin, was appointed in his place. Also for better management troops, the southern part of the Western Front was transformed into the Southwestern Front, the commander of which was appointed Alexander Egorov.

The balance of forces on the Soviet-Polish front by May 1920 was as follows:

On the southern sector of the front - from the Dnieper to Pripyat:

Polish Army:

• 6th Army of General Vaclav Iwaszkiewicz
• 2nd Army of General Antoni Listovsky
• 3rd Army of General Edward Rydz-Smigly

A total of 30.4 thousand bayonets and 4.9 thousand sabers.

• 12th Army of Sergei Mezheninov
• 14th Army of Hieronymus Uborevich

A total of 13.4 thousand bayonets and 2.3 thousand sabers.

On the northern section of the front - between Pripyat and Western Dvina:

Polish Army

• 4th Army (Polesie and Berezina region) General Stanislav Sheptytsky
• Operational group of General Leonard Skersky (Borisov area)
• 1st Army (Dvina region) General Stefan Mayevsky
• Reserve Army of General Kazimierz Sosnkowski

A total of 60.1 thousand bayonets and 7 thousand sabers.

• 15th Army of Augustus Cork
• 16th Army of Nikolai Sollogub

A total of 66.4 thousand bayonets and 4.4 thousand sabers.

Thus, in Belarus the forces were approximately equal, and in Ukraine the Poles had an almost threefold numerical superiority, which the Polish command decided to make maximum use of by transferring additional troops to this direction with a total force of 10 thousand bayonets and 1 thousand sabers. In addition, the actions of the Poles, in accordance with the agreement, were supported by Petliura’s troops, numbering about 15 thousand people at that time.

Polish-Ukrainian troops enter Kyiv. Khreshchatyk, 1920

On April 25, 1920, Polish troops attacked the positions of the Red Army along the entire length of the Ukrainian border and by April 28 occupied the line Chernobyl - Kozyatin - Vinnitsa - Romanian border. Sergei Mezheninov, not risking engaging in battle, withdrew the troops of the 12th Army, parts of which were scattered at a great distance from each other, lost unified control and needed to be regrouped. During these days, the Poles captured more than 25 thousand Red Army soldiers, captured 2 armored trains, 120 guns and 418 machine guns. On May 7, the Polish cavalry entered Kiev, abandoned by units of the Red Army, and soon the Poles managed to create a bridgehead up to 15 km deep on the left bank of the Dnieper.

The offensive of the Red Army in the spring-summer of 1920

Tukhachevsky decided to take advantage of the diversion of part of the forces of the Polish army from the Belarusian direction and on May 14 launched an offensive on the Polish positions with the forces of 12 infantry divisions. Despite the initial success, by May 27 the Soviet offensive had stalled, and on June 1 the 4th and parts of the 1st Polish armies launched a counteroffensive against the 15th Soviet army and by June 8 they inflicted a heavy defeat on it (the army lost more than 12 thousand soldiers killed, wounded and captured).

On the Southwestern Front, the situation was turned in the Soviet favor with the deployment of the 1st Cavalry Army of Semyon Budyonny, transferred from the Caucasus (16.7 thousand sabers, 48 ​​guns, 6 armored trains and 12 aircraft). It left Maykop on April 3, defeated Nestor Makhno’s troops in Gulyai-Polye, and crossed the Dnieper north of Yekaterinoslav (May 6). On May 26, after concentrating all units in Uman, the 1st Cavalry attacked Kazatin, and on June 5, Budyonny, having found a weak spot in the Polish defense, broke through the front near Samgorodok and went to the rear of the Polish units, advancing on Berdichev and Zhitomir. On June 10, the 3rd Polish Army of Rydz-Smigly, fearing encirclement, left Kyiv and moved to the Mazovia region. Two days later, the 1st Cavalry Army entered Kyiv. Attempts by Egorov's small troops to prevent the retreat of the 3rd Army ended unsuccessfully. Polish troops, having regrouped, tried to go on a counteroffensive: on July 1, the troops of General Leon Berbetsky struck the front of the 1st Cavalry Army near Rovno. This offensive was not supported by adjacent Polish units and Berbetsky's troops were driven back. Polish troops made several more attempts to capture the city, but on July 10 it finally came under the control of the Red Army.

To the west!

To the West, workers and peasants!
Against the bourgeoisie and landowners,
for the international revolution,
for the freedom of all peoples!
Fighters of the workers' revolution!
Turn your eyes to the West.
The fate of the world revolution is being decided in the West.
Through the corpse of white Poland lies the path to world fire.
Let's carry happiness on bayonets
and peace to working humanity.
To the west!
To decisive battles, to resounding victories!
…

At dawn on July 4, Mikhail Tukhachevsky's Western Front again went on the offensive. The main blow was delivered on the right, northern flank, on which an almost twofold superiority in men and weapons was achieved. The idea of ​​the operation was to bypass the Polish units with Guy's cavalry corps and push the Polish Belorussian Front to the Lithuanian border. This tactic brought success: on July 5, the 1st and 4th Polish armies began to quickly retreat in the direction of Lida, and, unable to gain a foothold on the old line of German trenches, retreated to the Bug at the end of July. In a short period of time, the Red Army advanced more than 600 km: on July 10, the Poles left Bobruisk, on July 11 - Minsk, on July 14, units of the Red Army took Vilna. On July 26, in the Bialystok area, the Red Army crossed directly into Polish territory, and on August 1, despite Pilsudski’s orders, Brest was surrendered to Soviet troops almost without resistance.

On July 23, in Smolensk, the Bolsheviks formed the Provisional Revolutionary Committee of Poland (Polrevkom), which was supposed to assume full power after the capture of Warsaw and the overthrow of Pilsudski. The Bolsheviks officially announced this on August 1 in Bialystok, where Polrevkom was located. . The committee was headed by Julian Marchlewski. On the same day, August 1, Polrevkom announced the “Appeal to the Polish working people of cities and villages,” written by Dzerzhinsky. The “Address” announced the creation of the Polish Republic of Soviets, the nationalization of lands, the separation of church and state, and also contained an appeal to workers to drive away capitalists and landowners, occupy factories and factories, and create revolutionary committees as government bodies (65 such revolutionary committees were formed) . The committee called on the soldiers of the Polish Army to mutiny against Pilsudski and defect to the side of the Polish Republic of Soviets. Polrevkom also began to form the Polish Red Army (under the command of Roman Longwa), but did not achieve any success in this.

Polish trenches near Milosna, August 1920

By the beginning of August, Poland's position had become critical - not only because of the rapid retreat in Belarus, but also because of the deterioration of the country's international position. Great Britain actually stopped providing military and economic assistance to Poland, Germany and Czechoslovakia closed their borders with Poland, and Danzig remained the only point of delivery of goods to the republic. As the Red Army troops approached Warsaw, the evacuation of foreign diplomatic missions began from there.

Front in August 1920.

Meanwhile, the position of the Polish troops worsened not only in the Belarusian, but also in the Ukrainian direction, where the Southwestern Front again went on the offensive under the command of Alexander Egorov (with Stalin as a member of the Revolutionary Military Council). The main goal of the front was the capture of Lvov, which was defended by three infantry divisions of the 6th Polish Army and the Ukrainian army under the command of Mikhailo Omelyanovich-Pavlenko. On July 9, the 14th Army of the Red Army took Proskurov (Khmelnitsky), and on July 12 it stormed Kamenets-Podolsky. On July 25, the Southwestern Front launched the Lvov offensive operation, but was never able to capture Lvov.

Battle of Warsaw

On August 12, the troops of Mikhail Tukhachevsky’s Western Front went on the offensive, the goal of which was to capture Warsaw.

Composition of the Western Front:

• 3rd Cavalry Corps Guy Guy
• 4th Army of Alexander Shuvaev
• 15th Army of Augustus Cork
• 3rd Army of Vladimir Lazarevich
• 16th Army of Nikolai Sollogub
• Mozyr group of Tikhon Khvesin

The two fronts of the Red Army were opposed by three Polish ones: Northern Front of General Józef Haller

• 5th Army of General Wladislav Sikorski
• 1st Army of General Frantisek Latinik
• 2nd Army of General Bolesław Roja

Central Front of General Edward Rydz-Śmigły:

• 4th Army of General Leonard Skersky
• 3rd Army of General Zygmunt Zielinski

Southern Front of General Vaclav Iwaszkiewicz:

• 6th Army of General Władysław Jędrzejewski
• Army of the UPR General Mikhailo Omelyanovich-Pavlenko

The total number of personnel differs in all sources. We can only say with confidence that the forces were approximately equal and did not exceed 200 thousand people on each side.

Mikhail Tukhachevsky's plan included crossing the Vistula in the lower reaches and attacking Warsaw from the west. According to some assumptions made, the purpose of “deviating” the direction of the attack of Soviet troops to the north was to quickly reach the German border, which was supposed to speed up the establishment Soviet power in this country . On August 13, two rifle divisions of the Red Army struck near Radimin (23 km from Warsaw) and captured the city. Then one of them moved towards Prague, and the second turned right - towards Nieporent and Jablonna. Polish forces retreated to the second line of defense.

The Polish counteroffensive plan provided for the concentration of large forces on the Wieprz River and a sudden attack from the southeast to the rear of the Western Front troops. For this purpose, two strike groups were formed from the two armies of the Central Front of General Edward Rydz-Śmigły. However, order 8358/III on a counterattack near Wieprz with a detailed map fell into the hands of the Red Army soldiers, but the Soviet command considered the found document to be disinformation, the purpose of which was to disrupt the Red Army's offensive on Warsaw. On the same day, Polish radio intelligence intercepted an order from the 16th Army to attack Warsaw on August 14. To get ahead of the Reds, on the orders of Józef Haller, Wladislav Sikorski's 5th Army, defending Modlin, from the area of ​​the Wkra River struck Tukhachevsky's extended front at the junction of the 3rd and 15th armies and broke through it. On the night of August 15, two reserve Polish divisions attacked Soviet troops from the rear near Radimin. Soon the city was taken.

On August 16, Marshal Pilsudski began implementing the planned counterattack. The information received by radio intelligence about the weakness of the Mozyr group played a role. Having concentrated more than double the superiority against it (47.5 thousand fighters against 21 thousand), Polish troops (the first strike group under the command of Pilsudski himself) broke through the front and defeated the southern wing of the 16th Army of Nikolai Sollogub. At the same time, an attack was underway on Włodawa by the forces of the 3rd Legion Infantry Division, as well as, with the support of tanks, on Minsk-Mazowiecki. This created a threat of encirclement of all Red Army troops in the Warsaw area.

"Battle of Komarov". Hood. Jerzy Kossak

Given the critical situation on the Western Front, on August 14, Commander-in-Chief Kamenev ordered the transfer of the 12th and 1st Cavalry Armies to the Western Front to significantly strengthen it. However, the leadership of the Southwestern Front, which was besieging Lvov, ignored this order.

In the summer of 1920, Stalin, sent to the Polish front, encouraged Budyonny to disobey command orders to transfer the 1st Cavalry Army from Lvov to the Warsaw direction, which, according to some historians, had fatal consequences for the Red Army campaign. Tucker Robert Stalin. The path to power. page 16

Only on August 20, after a sharp demand from the central leadership, the 1st Cavalry Army began moving north. By the time the 1st Cavalry Army began to march from near Lvov, the troops of the Western Front had already begun an unorganized retreat to the east. On August 19, the Poles occupied Brest, and on August 23, Bialystok. On the same day, the 4th Army and the 3rd Cavalry Corps of Guy Guy and two divisions from the 15th Army (about 40 thousand people in total) crossed the German border and were interned. At the end of August, through Sokal, the 1st Cavalry Army struck in the direction of Zamosc and Grubeshov, in order to then, through Lublin, reach the rear of the Polish attack group advancing to the north. However, the Poles advanced the General Staff's 1st Cavalry reserves to meet them. On August 31, 1920, the largest equestrian battle since 1813 took place near Komarov. Budyonny's 1st Cavalry Army entered into battle with Rummel's 1st Polish cavalry division. Despite the superiority in numbers (7,000 sabers versus 2,000 sabers), Budyonny’s army, exhausted in the battles for Lvov, was defeated, losing more than 4,000 people killed. Rummel's losses amounted to about 500 soldiers. Budyonny's army, and behind it the troops of the Southwestern Front, were forced to retreat from Lvov and go on the defensive.

Polish soldiers display Red Army banners captured in the Battle of Warsaw

As a result of the defeat near Warsaw, Soviet troops on the Western Front suffered heavy losses. According to some estimates, during the Battle of Warsaw, 25 thousand Red Army soldiers died, 60 thousand were captured by Poland, 40 thousand were interned by the Germans. Several thousand people went missing. The front also lost a large number of artillery and equipment. Polish losses are estimated at 15 thousand killed and missing and 22 thousand wounded.

Fighting in Belarus

After the retreat from Poland, Tukhachevsky consolidated himself on the line of the Neman - Shchara - Svisloch rivers, using German fortifications remaining from the First World War as a second line of defense. The Western Front received large reinforcements from the rear areas, and 30 thousand people from among those interned in East Prussia returned to its composition. Gradually, Tukhachevsky was able to almost completely restore the combat strength of the front: on September 1, he had 73 thousand soldiers and 220 guns. By order of Kamenev, Tukhachevsky was preparing a new offensive.

The Poles were also preparing for the attack. The attack on Grodno and Volkovysk was supposed to tie up the main forces of the Red Army and enable the 2nd Army to reach the deep rear of the advanced units of the Red Army through the territory of Lithuania, holding the defense on the Neman. On September 12, Tukhachevsky gave the order to attack Wlodawa and Brest with the southern flank of the Western Front, including the 4th and 12th armies. Since the order was intercepted and deciphered by Polish radio intelligence, on the same day the Poles launched a pre-emptive strike, broke through the defenses of the 12th Army and took Kovel. This disrupted the general offensive of the Red Army troops and threatened the encirclement of the southern group of the Western Front and forced the 4th, 12th and 14th armies to retreat to the east.

The defense of the Western Front on the Neman was held by three armies: the 3rd of Vladimir Lazarevich, the 15th of August Kork and the 16th of Nikolai Sollogub (in total about 100 thousand soldiers, about 250 guns). They were opposed by the Polish group of Jozef Pilsudski: the 2nd Army of General Edward Rydz-Smigly, the 4th Army of General Leonard Skerski, the reserve of the commander-in-chief (about 100 thousand soldiers in total).

On September 20, 1920, the bloody battle for Grodno began. At first, the Poles were successful, but on September 22, Tukhachevsky’s troops brought up reserves and restored the situation. Meanwhile, Polish troops invaded Lithuania and moved towards Druskenniki (Druskininkai). Having captured the bridge across the Neman, the Poles flanked the Western Front. On September 25, unable to stop the Polish advance, Tukhachevsky gave the order to withdraw troops to the east. On the night of September 26, the Poles occupied Grodno, and soon crossed the Neman south of the city. Lazarevich's 3rd Army, retreating to the east, was unable to restore the front and withdrew to the Lida region with heavy losses. On September 28, however, Soviet troops were unable to capture the city already occupied by the enemy and were soon defeated (most of the personnel were captured).

Pilsudski intended to build on his success, encircle and destroy the remaining troops of the Western Front at Novogrudok. However, the Polish units, weakened in battle, were unable to carry out this order and the Red Army troops were able to regroup and organize defense.

During the Battle of the Neman, Polish troops captured 40 thousand prisoners, 140 guns, a large number of horses and ammunition. Fighting in Belarus continued until the signing of the peace treaty in Riga. On October 12, the Poles re-entered Minsk and Molodechno.

Terror against civilians

During the war, troops from both countries carried out executions of civilians, while Polish troops carried out ethnic cleansing, mainly targeting Jews. The leadership of both the Red Army and the Polish Army initiated official investigations into the results of such actions and tried to prevent them.

The first documented use of weapons against non-combatants was the shooting by the Poles of the Russian Red Cross mission on January 2, 1919; this act was most likely committed by the Polish Self-Defense units, since the regular Polish army had not yet left Poland. In March 1919, after the Polish army occupied Pinsk, the Polish commandant ordered the shooting of 40 Jews who had gathered for prayer, who were mistaken for a Bolshevik meeting. Some of the hospital staff were also shot. . In April of the same year, the capture of Vilnius by the Poles was accompanied by massacres of captured Red Army soldiers, Jews and people sympathizing with the Soviet regime. The offensive of Polish troops in Ukraine in the spring of 1920 was accompanied by pogroms and mass executions of Jews: in the city of Rovno, the Poles shot more than 3 thousand civilians, in the town of Tetiev about 4 thousand Jews were killed, the villages of Ivanovtsy, Kucha, Sobachi were completely burned for resistance to food requisitions. Yablunovka, Novaya Greblya, Melnichi, Kirillovka and others, their residents were shot. Polish historians question these data; according to the Brief Jewish Encyclopedia, the massacre in Tetiev was carried out not by Poles, but by Ukrainians - a detachment of Ataman Kurovsky (Petlyurite, former Red commander) on March 24, 1920. A representative of the Polish Civil Administration of the Eastern Lands (the Polish administration in the occupied territories), M. Kossakovsky, testified that the Polish military exterminated people only because they “looked like Bolsheviks.”

A special place in terror against the civilian population is occupied by the activities of the Belarusian units of “ataman” Stanislav Balakhovich, who at first were subordinate to the Polish command, but after the truce acted independently. The Polish military prosecutor, Colonel Lisovsky, who investigated complaints about the actions of Balakhovich’s men, described the activities of Balakhovich’s division as follows:

...Balakhovich's army is a gang of robbers that transports stolen gold. To occupy a city, an army is sent, whose soldiers rob and kill. And only after numerous pogroms, two days later, Balakhovich arrives with his headquarters. After the robbery, drinking begins. ...As for Balakhovich, he allows them to be robbed, otherwise they would refuse to move forward... every officer who joins Balakhovich’s army pours mud on himself that cannot be washed away.

An investigation conducted by Colonel Lisovsky, in particular, established that in Turov alone 70 Jewish girls aged 12 to 15 years were raped by Balakhovites.

Excerpt from the testimony of H. Gdanski and M. Blumenkrank to the investigation, given in the book of the Polish researcher Marek Kabanovsky “General Stanislav Bulak-Balachovich” (Warsaw, 1993):

[…] On the way there we met a Balakhov captain. He asked:
-Who are you leading?
- Jews...
- Shoot them.
There was another Jew with us - Marshalkovich.
The guards ordered us to lower our underwear and lick each other's asses. Then they also forced us to urinate in each other’s mouths and do other abominations... And the men were gathered around and ordered to watch all this... They forced us to have sexual intercourse with a chick. They raped us and scolded us on our faces...
Blumenkrank could not bear the abuse and asked to be shot. Marshalkovich is still ill after suffering bullying.

A resident of Mozyr, A. Naidich, described the events in the capital of the BPR Mozyr after the capture of the city by the Balakhovites (GA RF. F. 1339. Op. 1. D. 459. L. 2-3.):

At 5 o'clock. In the evening the Balakhovites entered the city. The peasant population joyfully greeted the Balakhovites, but the Jews hid in their apartments. Now a pogrom began with mass rapes, beatings, bullying and murders. Officers participated in the pogrom along with soldiers. A small part of the Russian population robbed the shops opened by the Balakhovites. All night long there were heartbreaking screams throughout the city...”

The report of the commission for registering victims of Balakhovich’s raid in Mozyr district stated that

Girls from 12 years old, women 80 years old, women with an 8-month pregnancy... were subjected to violence, and violence was committed from 15 to 20 times. Although the local commission that was formed for examination and assistance promised complete preservation of medical confidentiality, the number of people seeking help reaches only about 300 women, most of whom are sick with sexually transmitted diseases or become pregnant...

On the Soviet side, Budyonny’s army gained fame as the main pogrom force. Particularly large pogroms were carried out by Budennovites in Baranovka, Chudnov and Rogachev. In particular, from September 18 to 22, the 6th Cavalry Division of this army committed more than 30 pogroms; in the town of Lyubar on September 29, during a pogrom, 60 people were killed by division soldiers; in Priluki, on the night of October 3, 12 people were wounded, 21 were killed “and many women were raped.” At the same time, “women were shamelessly raped in front of everyone, and girls, like slaves, were dragged away by beasts and bandits to their carts.” In Vakhnovka on October 3, 20 people were killed, many were wounded and raped, and 18 houses were burned. After on September 28, while trying to stop the pogrom in the town of Polonnoye, the commissar of the 6th division G. G. Shepelev was killed, the division was disbanded, and two brigade commanders and several hundred ordinary soldiers were put on trial and 157 were shot.

Polish officers captured by the Red Army were certainly shot on the spot, just like the Bolshevik commissars captured by the Poles.

The fate of prisoners of war

Captured Red Army soldiers in the Tukholsky camp

There is still no exact data about the fate of Polish and Soviet prisoners of war. According to Russian sources, about 80 thousand Red Army soldiers out of 200 thousand who were captured by Poland died from hunger, disease, torture, bullying and executions

Polish sources give figures of 85 thousand prisoners (at least that many people were in Polish camps at the end of the war), of which about 20 thousand died. They were kept in the camps remaining after the First World War - Strzałkow (the largest), Dombier, Pikulice, Wadowice and Tuchol concentration camp. According to the 1921 agreement on the exchange of prisoners (addition to the Riga Peace Treaty), 65 thousand captured Red Army soldiers returned to Russia. If the information about 200 thousand captured and the death of 80 thousand of them is correct, then the fate of about 60 thousand more people is unclear.

Mortality in Polish camps reached 20% of the number of prisoners, mainly the cause of death was epidemics, which, in conditions of poor nutrition, overcrowding and lack of medical care spread quickly and had a high mortality rate. This is how a member of the International Committee of the Red Cross described the camp in Brest:

A sickening smell emanates from the guardhouses, as well as from the former stables in which prisoners of war were housed. The prisoners are chillingly huddling around a makeshift stove where several logs are burning - the only way heating At night, sheltering from the first cold weather, they lie in close rows in groups of 300 people in poorly lit and poorly ventilated barracks, on planks, without mattresses or blankets. Prisoners for the most part dressed in rags... due to overcrowding of premises unsuitable for habitation; close cohabitation of healthy prisoners of war and infectious patients, many of whom died immediately; malnutrition, as evidenced by numerous cases of malnutrition; swelling, hunger during the three months of stay in Brest - the camp in Brest-Litovsk was a real necropolis.

In the prisoner of war camp in Strzalkow, among other things, numerous abuses of prisoners took place, for which the camp commandant, Lieutenant Malinowski, was later put on trial.

Of the 60 thousand Polish prisoners of war after the end of the war, 27,598 people returned to Poland, about 2 thousand remained in the RSFSR. The fate of the remaining 32 thousand is unclear.

The role of the “great powers” ​​in the conflict

The Soviet-Polish war took place simultaneously with the intervention in Russia of the Entente countries, which actively supported Poland from the moment of its re-establishment as independent state. In this regard, Poland's war against Russia was considered by the "great powers" as part of the struggle against the Bolshevik government.

The Polish "Blue Army" was so named because of the blue French uniforms it wore.

However, the Entente countries' opinions regarding the possible strengthening of Poland as a result of the conflict differed greatly - the United States and France advocated all possible assistance to the Pilsudski government and took part in the creation of the Polish army, while Great Britain was inclined to limited assistance to Poland, and then to political neutrality in this conflict. The participation of the Entente countries concerned economic, military and diplomatic support for Poland.

From February to August 1919, Poland received 260,000 tons of food worth $51 million from the United States. In 1919, Poland received $60 million worth of military equipment from US military warehouses in Europe alone; in 1920, $100 million worth. In the spring of 1920, England, France and the USA supplied Poland with 1,494 guns, 2,800 machine guns, about 700 aircraft, and 10 million shells. The US military fought together with the Poles - the Kosciuszko squadron, which operated against Budyonny’s army, was made up of US pilots and was commanded by US Colonel Fauntleroy. In July 1919, a 70,000-strong army arrived in Poland, created in France mainly from emigrants of Polish origin from France and the United States. French involvement in the conflict was also reflected in the activities of hundreds of French officers, led by General Maxime Weygand, who arrived in 1920 to train Polish troops and assist the Polish General Staff. Among the French officers in Poland was Charles de Gaulle.

American pilots of the squadron named after. Kosciuszko M. Cooper and S. Fauntleroy

Britain's position was more restrained. The Curzon Line, proposed by the British minister as the eastern border of Poland in December 1919, assumed the establishment of a border west of the front line at that time and the withdrawal of Polish troops. Six months later, when the situation had changed, Curzon again proposed to fix the border along this line, otherwise the Entente countries pledged to support Poland “with all the means at their disposal.” Thus, throughout virtually the entire war, Great Britain advocated a compromise version of the division of the disputed territories (along the eastern border of the Poles).

However, even in the conditions of Poland's critical military situation, Great Britain did not provide it with any military support. In August 1920, a conference of trade unions and labor voted for a general strike if the government continued to support Poland and tried to intervene in the conflict; further shipments of ammunition to Poland were simply sabotaged. At the same time, the International Federation of Trade Unions in Amsterdam instructed its members to strengthen the embargo on ammunition destined for Poland. Only France and the United States continued to provide assistance to the Poles, but Germany and Czechoslovakia, with whom Poland managed to enter into border conflicts over disputed territories, at the end of July 1920 banned the transit of weapons and ammunition through their territory for Poland.

The reduction in assistance from the Entente countries played a significant role in the fact that after the victory at Warsaw, the Poles were unable to build on their success and defeat the Soviet troops of the Western Front. A change in Britain's diplomatic position (under the influence of the trade unions, which were in turn secretly financed by the Soviet government) precipitated the conclusion of the Riga Peace Treaty.

Results of the war

Polish-Soviet border after the war

Belarusian caricature on the division of Belarus between Russia and Poland: “Down with the shameful Riga division! Long live the free, undivided, people's Belarus!”

Neither side achieved its goals during the war: Belarus and Ukraine were divided between Poland and the republics that became part of the Soviet Union in 1922. The territory of Lithuania was divided between Poland and the independent state of Lithuania. The RSFSR, for its part, recognized the independence of Poland and the legitimacy of the Pilsudski government, and temporarily abandoned plans for a “world revolution” and the elimination of the Versailles system. Despite the signing of a peace treaty, relations between the two countries remained tense for the next twenty years, which ultimately led to the USSR's participation in the partition of Poland in 1939.

Disagreements between the Entente countries that arose in 1920 on the issue of military-financial support for Poland led to the gradual cessation of support by these countries for the White movement and anti-Bolshevik forces in general, the subsequent international recognition Soviet Union .

see also

• Polish citizens in Soviet captivity (1919 - 1923)
• Tuchol (concentration camp) – Polish prisoner of war camp

Notes

Literature

• Raisky N. S. The Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1920 and the fate of prisoners of war, internees, hostages and refugees. - M., 1999. ISBN 0-7734-7917-1
• “FROM THE WAR OF 1914 TO THE WAR OF 1939” (using the example of Poland). “Russian binding”, http://www.pereplet.ru/history/suvorov/suv_polsh.htm
• Soloviev S. M. “History of Russia since ancient times”, M., 2001, ISBN 5-17-002142-9