The Battles of Rawicz refer to the armed anti-German rebellion by ethnic Polish residents of the town of Rawicz (German: Rawitsch), located in Province of Posen of the German Empire. The two battles took place in February 1919, during the Greater Poland Uprising, and resulted in German defeat.
The Greater Poland Uprising began on December 27, 1918, in Poznań (Posen). In a short time, Polish rebels captured most of Province of Posen (Provinz Posen), except for northern and southwestern areas. By January 5, Polish forces besieged Rawicz, after the rebellion had reached nearby town of Miejska Górka (Gorchen). Polish leaders decided to capture Rawicz, which was a very important railroad junction, and the seat of a county.
Rawicz was located in operational area of Polish Southern Front, commanded by Colonel Władysław Wawrzyniak, and his units tried to capture the town of February 3–4, and then February 5–6, 1919. Both attempts failed, due to German numerical superiority (2,500 German soldiers reinforced by an armoured train, vs. 2,100 Polish soldiers). Furthermore, several German units were stationed in nearby Lower Silesia, and their total forces were estimated at 15,000.
After the two failed attempts, most of the Polish-German fighting took place in villages and towns around Rawicz, such as Bojanowo, Kąkolewo and Miejska Górka. On February 10, German forces tried to break the siege of Rawicz, but failed to do so. On February 19, a truce was signed by both sides.
On February 16, 1919, the uprising ended after a truce was signed at Trier. German administration remained in Rawicz until January 16, 1920, when German civil servants and soldiers left the town. On January 17, 1920, Rawicz officially returned to Poland. In 1926, a Monument of the Soldier was unveiled in Rawicz. It was destroyed by Germans during World War II, and rebuilt in 1980. In 1947, a commemorative obelisk was unveiled at Rawicz Cemetery.
The Battles of Rawicz are commemorated on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Warsaw, with the inscription "RAWICZ 9 II 1919".
Greater Poland Voivodeship is a voivodeship, or province, in west-central Poland. The province is named after the region called Greater Poland or Wielkopolska. The modern province includes most of this historic region, except for some western and northern parts.
The Greater Poland uprising of 1918–1919, or Wielkopolska uprising of 1918–1919 or Poznań War was a military insurrection of Poles in the Greater Poland region against German rule. The uprising had a significant effect on the Treaty of Versailles, which granted a reconstituted Second Polish Republic the area won by the Polish insurrectionists. The region had been part of the Kingdom of Poland and then Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth before the 1793 Second Partition of Poland when it was annexed by the German Kingdom of Prussia. It had also, following the 1806 Greater Poland uprising, been part of the Duchy of Warsaw (1807–1815), a French client state during the Napoleonic Wars.
Wągrowiec is a town in west-central Poland, 50 kilometres from both Poznań and Bydgoszcz. Since the 18th century it has been the a seat of a powiat. Administratively it is attached to the Greater Poland Voivodeship. The town is situated in the middle of the ethnographic and historical region of Pałuki within Greater Poland and the Chodzież lake area, on the river Wełna and its tributaries Nielba and Struga, as well as on the shores of Durów Lake.
Jarocin is a town in west-central Poland with 25,700 inhabitants (1995), the administrative capital of Jarocin County in Greater Poland Voivodeship.
Rawicz is a town in west-central Poland with 21,398 inhabitants as of 2004. It is situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship ; previously it was in Leszno Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is the capital of Rawicz County.
Odolanów is a town in the Greater Poland Voivodeship of Poland, about 10 kilometres south-west from Ostrów Wielkopolski, with over 5000 inhabitants.
Margonin is a town in Chodzież County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland, with 3,022 inhabitants (2016).
Rawicz County is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Greater Poland Voivodeship, west-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat and largest town is Rawicz, which lies 88 kilometres (55 mi) south of the regional capital Poznań. The county contains three other towns: Miejska Górka, 9 km (6 mi) north-east of Rawicz, Bojanowo, 13 km (8 mi) north-west of Rawicz, and Jutrosin, 22 km (14 mi) east of Rawicz.
Szubin is a town in Nakło County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, located southwest of Bydgoszcz. It has a population of around 9,333. It is located on the Gąsawka River in the ethnocultural region of Pałuki.
Wysoka is a town in Piła County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland, with 2,736 inhabitants (2010).
Miejska Górka is a town in Rawicz County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland. With 3,190 inhabitants (2010), it lies approximately 9 kilometres (6 mi) north-east of Rawicz and 83 km (52 mi) south of the regional capital Poznań.
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.
Gmina Miejska Górka is an urban-rural gmina in Rawicz County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. Its seat is the town of Miejska Górka, which lies approximately 9 kilometres (6 mi) north-east of Rawicz and 83 km (52 mi) south of the regional capital Poznań.
14 Greater Poland Infantry Division was a unit of the Polish Army in the interbellum period, which took part in the Polish September Campaign.
Jan Nepomucen Umiński of Cholewa (1778–1851) was a Polish military officer and a brigadier general of the Army of the Duchy of Warsaw. A veteran of the Kościuszko Uprising, Napoleonic Wars and the November Uprising, he died in exile in Wiesbaden.
The Battle of Lawica was one of battles of the Greater Poland Uprising (1918–1919). It took place on January 6, 1919: Polish rebels defeated German forces, capturing the Poznań-Ławica Airport, together with rich war booty, estimated at 200 million ℳ. It is named after the now-suburb of Ławica.
Paweł Cyms was a soldier of the Imperial German Army and captain of infantry in the Second Polish Republic. He fought in World War I, Greater Poland Uprising (1918–19), Silesian Uprisings, Invasion of Poland, and in the Home Army during World War II.
16th Greater Poland Uhlan Regiment of General Gustaw Orlicz-Dreszer was a cavalry unit of the Polish Army in the Second Polish Republic. In the interbellum period, it was garrisoned in the city of Bydgoszcz.
17th Greater Poland Uhlan Regiment of King Bolesław Chrobry was a cavalry unit of the Polish Army in the Second Polish Republic. Formed in late 1918, it was garrisoned in Leszno. The regiment, whose patron was King Bolesław Chrobry, fought in the Polish–Soviet War and the 1939 Invasion of Poland, as part of Wielkopolska Cavalry Brigade.
Bernard Stanisław Śliwiński (1883-1941) was a Polish doctor of law, insurgent during the Greater Poland uprising, lieutenant colonel in the Polish Armed Forces infantry, district commander of the state police, Mayor of Bydgoszcz and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari.
German Empire 
Polish rebels