Battle of Radzymin (1920)

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Battle of Radzymin

Date	August 12-August 15, 1920
Location	near Radzymin, Poland
Result	Polish victory

Combatants

Poland

Bolshevist Russia

Commanders

Władysław Sikorski,
Franciszek Latinik

Mikhail Tukhachevski

Strength

1st and 5th Army

3rd, 4th and 15th Armies

Casualties

Polish-Soviet War
1919 *Target Vistula* – Bereza Kartuska – Pińsk – Lida – Wilno – Minsk – 1st Berezina – Daugavpils 1920 Latyczów – Mozyr – Korosteń – Koziatyn – 2nd Berezina – Kiev – Wołodarka – Głębokie – Mironówka – Olszanica – Żywotów – Miedwiedówka – Dziunków – Wasylkowce – Bystrzyk – 1st Brześć – 1st Grodno – 1st Niemen – Boryspol – Auta – Dubno – Kobryn – Łomża – Brody – Dęblin – Nasielsk – Serock – Radzymin – Warsaw – Płock – Wkra – Cyców – Ciechanów – Lwów – Zadwórze – Mława – Białystok – Komarów – Dytiatyn – 2nd Niemen – 2nd Grodno – 2nd Brześć – Mołodeczno – 2nd Minsk

The Battle of Radzymin was part of the Battle of Warsaw during the Polish-Bolshevik War.

The final Soviet assault on the Polish capital of Warsaw began on August 12 with an attack on the town of Radzymin, twenty-three kilometers east of Warsaw. The initial success of the assault prompted Polish commander Józef Piłsudski to hasten the execution of his defence plan by twenty-four hours.

Positions prior to the battle

The first phase of the battle started August 13 with a Red Army frontal assault on the Praga bridgehead. In heavy fighting, Radzymin changed hands several times and foreign diplomats, with the exception of the British and Vatican ambassadors, hastily left Warsaw. On August 14 Radzymin fell to the Red Army, and the lines of Gen. Władysław Sikorski's Polish 5th Army, which were defending the areas north of Warsaw, were broken. The 5th Army had to fight three Soviet armies at once: the 3rd, 4th and 15th. The Modlin sector was reinforced with reserves—the Siberian Brigade and Gen. Franciszek Krajowski's fresh 18th Infantry Division, which were both elite, battle-tested units—and the 5th Army held out until dawn.

Situation around Radzymin at the height of the battle

At the same time, the Polish 1st Army, under Gen. Franciszek Latinik, resisted a direct assault on Warsaw by six Red Army rifle divisions. The struggle for control of Radzymin forced Gen. Józef Haller, commander of the Polish Northern Front, to start the 5th Army's counterattack earlier than planned.

Radzymin was recaptured on the 15 August and this victory proved to be one of the turning points of the battle of Warsaw. The Polish counterattack was extremely successful, pushing Soviet armies away from Radzymin and Warsaw, and eventually crippling four Soviet armies.