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The Battle of Warsaw, August 12th-26th 1920

For Tomasz Nowak, Rotmistrz (Captain), of the Polish cavalry, the day of August 14th had been a day, which began promising. For the first time since his promotion a few days earlier he led his men, 81, into the battle. He crossed the Wkra river as part of General Sikorski's 5th Polish army. Tomasz had seen few battles before and only got the post because three officers before him had been killed. Still he had panache and let his unit attack the enemy.

However, this day and the next the Polish 5th Army was nevertheless able to retake Nasielsk, but they came not further. The town was completely destroyed. Indeed they came to a halt. That had consequences for the next phase.

On August 16th the Polish reserve army under Pilsudski attacked and could advance. However, their attack was halted by forces, which had opposed the 5th army before and were transferred to this part of the front. The 5th army was no longer able to conduct offensive actions. And the next day would see, who would prevail, as both sides were exhausted. As the Polish reserve army had more supplies and faces a weakened enemy, Sikorski thought, they would succeed.

In the end he was wrong. The cavalry corps under Budjonny, who had been forced by Tuchatschewsky to join him, attacked the Poles. This attack led to the catastrophe. Although the Poles had found some morale in the fights, they lost even more now. The "Attack of the Red Cossacks" would bring the end as some units paniked. Pilsudki's reserve army was driven back. Indeed they retreated to Warsaw, which was enclosed two days after.

The Polish 5th army was forced to retreat, and the retreat became a route. There was no real base any more to retreat. Tomasz had survived the fights. However, his panache was lost. He had seen reality and still saw the Soviet soldier, whom he had hit with the sabre in the neck. The blood. The eyes becoming wider and wider. Of his 81 men only little more than 40 were left. His way was west, in the hope to regain contact with the leadership.

However, this leadership did not exist any more. In August 26th Warsaw had surrendered and Pilsudski was shot as were most of the generals and high politicians. Poland had no longer a working government. The armies were dispanding and fleeing west. As did the civilians.

On August 27th, Czechoslovakian forces crossed the border with Poland and occupied about 600 km² territory. It seemed they had secretly made some negotiations with the Soviets, as Soviet forces did not enter the territory.

The very same day there were conferences in many state's governments. The most important being in Berlin and Moscow.
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