Battle of Bereza Kartuska | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of Polish-Soviet War | |||||||
Polish-Soviet & Lithuanian-Soviet Wars of 1919: Polish & Lithuanian counterattacks marked in blue. | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Poland | Russian SFSR | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
General Józef Haller | Unknown | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
62 soldiers | 86 soldiers | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown | 80 captured |
The Battle of Bereza Kartuska was fought between the Second Polish Republic and Soviet Russia around the village Bereza Kartuska (now Byaroza, Belarus) first on 14 February 1919, and again between 21 and 26 July 1920.
The first skirmish of Bereza is considered to be the initial engagement of the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1921 by some historians. [1]
After German and Polish representatives signed an evacuation agreement on 5 February 1919, the ten battalions of the newly formed Polish Army were to pass through German Oberkommando-Ostfront (Ober-Ost) lines at Wolkowysk to reach the Bolshevik front, where on 12 January 1919, the Soviet Supreme Command ordered a "reconnaissance in depth", codenamed Target Vistula. [2]
It is problematical whether this [Soviet] operation, which bore the code name 'Target Vistula' was intended to bring the Red Army as conquering heroes into Warsaw. Its name suggest so. Yet the extremely tentative phrasing of its directives and the extremely parlous state of the Western Army suggests otherwise. [2]
In February 1919, both Soviet Russia and newly-reborn Poland were in their infancy, and both only months old. [2] : 31 On 13 February 1919, at 7 in the morning, 57 Polish soldiers and 5 officers, led by Capt. Mienicki of the Polish Wilno Detachment, made a sortie into the township of Biaroza (Polish : Bereza), a small city to the east of Brzesc capturing 80 soldiers of the Red Army. [2] : 26–27
One year later, between 21 and 26 July 1920, soldiers of the Polish 14th Infantry Division under General Daniel Konarzewski once again clashed with the Red Army in Bereza Kartuska, soon after the Battle of Warsaw (1920). Poles had retreated from Baranowicze, abandoning German Imperial Army fortifications constructed there during World War I, and took defensive positions along the Jasiołda River. After three days of heavy fighting, the 14th I.D. once again was forced to retreat towards Kobryn, after burning the bridges on the Jasiołda. The town of Bereza Kartuska was retaken by the Polish Army and, at the end of the Polish–Soviet War, ceded to Poland in the Peace of Riga signed by Soviet Russia (acting also on behalf of Soviet Belarus). The peace treaty remained in force until the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939. [3]
The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I. The Second Republic ceased to exist in 1939, after Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Slovak Republic, marking the beginning of the European theatre of the Second World War. The Polish government-in-exile was established in Paris and later London after the fall of France in 1940.
The Battle of Warsaw, also known as the Miracle on the Vistula, was a series of battles that resulted in a decisive Polish victory in 1920 during the Polish–Soviet War. Poland, on the verge of total defeat, repulsed and defeated the Red Army.
The Polish–Soviet War was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, following World War I and the Russian Revolution, over territories previously controlled by the Russian Empire and the Habsburg monarchy.
Operation Tempest was a series of uprisings conducted during World War II against occupying German forces by the Polish Home Army, the dominant force in the Polish resistance.
The Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919 was part of the campaign by Soviet Russia into areas abandoned by the Ober Ost garrisons that were being withdrawn to Germany following that country's defeat in World War I. The initially successful offensive against the Republic of Estonia ignited the Estonian War of Independence which ended with the Soviet recognition of Estonia. Similarly, the campaigns against the Republic of Latvia and Republic of Lithuania ultimately failed, resulting in the Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty and Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty respectively. In Belarus, the Belarusian People's Republic was conquered and the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia proclaimed.
Byaroza, formerly Byaroza-Kartuzskaya, is a town in Brest Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Byaroza District. As of 2024, it has a population of 28,376.
The 1920 Kiev offensive was a major part of the Polish–Soviet War. It was an attempt by the armed forces of the recently established Second Polish Republic led by Józef Piłsudski, in alliance with the Ukrainian People's Republic led by Symon Petliura, to seize the territories of modern-day Ukraine which mostly fell under Soviet control after the October Revolution as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.
The 16th Army was a field army of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War era. It was originally formed as the Western Army on November 15, 1918, by the Russian SFSR for the purpose of recovering territories lost by the Russian Empire during the First World War and establishing Soviet republics in those territories. The Western Army engaged various local forces from the Baltic States, Belarus, Poland and Ukraine, and its actions contributed to starting the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1920. The army fought in the Polish–Soviet War under the command of Nikolai Sollogub and advanced westwards into Poland in July 1920 before being thrown back during the Battle of Warsaw in August. The army retreated east into Belarus and was disbanded in May 1921.
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The 1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division was a volunteer unit of the Polish Army formed around December 1918 and January 1919 during the Polish–Soviet War. It was created out of several dozen smaller units of self-defence forces composed of local volunteers in what is now Lithuania and Belarus, amidst a growing series of territorial disputes between the Second Polish Republic, the Russian SFSR, and several other local provisional governments. The Division took part in several key battles of the war. According to Paulius Pacevičius around 15-18% of the division were ethnic Lithuanians.
Byaroza monastery refers to the ruins of the former Carthusian baroque Catholic Monastery of the Holy Cross, constructed in the seventeenth century in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and today situated in Belarus.
Bereza Kartuska Prison was operated by Poland's Sanation government from 1934 to 1939 in Bereza Kartuska, Polesie Voivodeship. Because the inmates were detained without trial or conviction, it is considered an internment camp or concentration camp.
The Polish 4th Infantry Division was created following Polish independence after the end of World War I. The division participated in the Polish–Ukrainian War in 1919. During World War II, the division existed as three wholly separate organizations, the original incarnation of the division as part of the pre-war Polish Army, the second incarnation armed and equipped by the western Allies, and another division armed and equipped and controlled by the Soviet Union. The second and third incarnations of this division existed simultaneously from 1944 until 1947.
The Treaty of Warsaw of April 1920 was a military-economical alliance between the Second Polish Republic, represented by Józef Piłsudski, and the Ukrainian People's Republic, represented by Symon Petliura, against Bolshevik Russia. The treaty was signed on 21 April 1920, with a military addendum on 24 April.
The 6th Rifle Division was an infantry division of the Soviet Union's Red Army. Formed multiple times, it participated in several battles, most notably the Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919, the Estonian War of Independence and the Polish–Soviet War.The division's first formation was awarded the Order of the Red Banner twice and the Order of Suvorov 2nd class for its valor in combat. In November 1945, the division was disbanded. It was briefly reformed in 1955 but disbanded again in 1957.
The Battle of Radzymin took place during the Polish–Soviet War (1919–21). The battle occurred near the town of Radzymin, some 20 kilometres (12 mi) north-east of Warsaw, between August 13 and 16, 1920. Along with the Battle of Ossów and the Polish counteroffensive from the Wieprz River area, this engagement was a key part of what later became known as the Battle of Warsaw. It also proved to be one of the bloodiest and most intense battles of the Polish–Soviet War.
4th Niemen Uhlan Regiment was a cavalry unit of the Polish Army in the Second Polish Republic. It was garrisoned in the city of Vilnius, and it celebrated its day on 9 July, the anniversary of the 1920 Charge of Hrebionka.
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{{Infobox military conflict | conflict = Battle of Pinsk | place = near Pinsk, Civil Administration of the Eastern Lands | partof = Polish-Soviet War | image = Bitwa pinsk 1919.png | image_size = 315px | date = 23 February - 5 March 1919 | combatant2 = Russian SFSR | combatant1 = Second Polish Republic | width = 315px | combatants_header = Belligerents | result = Polish victory | commander1 [[File:Flag of Poland (1928–1980 General Józef Haller [File:Flag of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic .svg|Flag of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic |25px]] G.M. Bobrowski
Roman Łągwa | casualties1 = Unknown | casualties2 = At least 150 dead, wounded or imprisoned }}
The Battle of Sieliszcze was fought on 13 November 1919-14 November 1919 in the Polish–Soviet War, involving the Second Polish Republic against the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. It resulted in a Polish victory.