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Operation Minsk

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Not to be confused with the Minsk Offensive of 1944
Operation Minsk
Part of Polish-Soviet War

Polish-Soviet War & Lithuanian-Soviet War of 1919: map showing Polish & Lithuanian counterattacks.
DateEarly August, 1919
Location
Near Minsk, modern Belarus
Result Polish victory
Belligerents
 Poland  Russian SFSR
Commanders and leaders
Stanisław Szeptycki Vasily Glagolev
Strength
14,000 men
40 guns		 Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown but heavy

Operation Mińsk was a military offensive of the Polish Army during the Polish–Soviet War. It resulted in the capture of Minsk from the Red Army around 8 August 1919. The victory allowed the Polish troops to advance further into Russian-controlled Lithuania and Belarus and thus to present the Bolsheviks with a military fait accompli. The main Polish attack was toward Maladzyechna, Minsk, and Polotsk along the railroad lines. On 6 August, the Polish Army took over Slutsk and Minsk was taken two days later. The Polish units fought under command of General Stanisław Szeptycki. Polish control over the railway lines prevented the Russians from bringing in reinforcements. By the end of August, the Polish forces had taken Barysaw and Babruysk.[1]

The main military campaigns of the Polish–Soviet War took place in 1920.[2][3]

Background

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Polish officers in Minsk in August 1919

In early 1919, the eastern front of the Directorate of Ukraine collapsed, and by spring, the Ukrainian insurrection had failed under attack from all sides, including by the White armies. In the summer of 1919, after the Polish successes in several skirmishes with the Soviet forces, both combatants were engaged on multiple fronts, were near the limits of their capability to wage war against each other and needed time to regroup and to concentrate their forces.[2]

In June 1919, the Jewish First Guard Battalion from Minsk, at the insistence of its own members, was deployed by the Bolsheviks against the Polish Army, which included the 1st and 2nd Lithuanian–Belarusian Divisions.[4][5][6] The Jews had won the first skirmish, which forced the Poles to retreat several kilometers.[4]

Battle

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In July, the Polish High Command decided to strike one more blow against the Bolsheviks and to cripple the Russian Army's Western Division, headquartered in Minsk.[7] The assault on the vital railway centre by the Polish Northern Group was led by General Stanisław Szeptycki, whose officers included Władysław Anders, Józef Adam Lasocki and Stefan Mokrzecki. Their forces were composed of 12,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry and 40 guns. The Polish plan involved a wide pincer movement around the city of Minsk. The battle raged throughout the first week of August. The Soviet forces took heavy casualties and retreated. On 8 August 1919, the Polish troops took over Minsk.[2][8]

Aftermath

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Perhaps as retribution for the actions of the Jewish regiments, the Polish troops killed 31 Jews suspected of supporting the Bolsheviks, beat and attacked many more, looted 377 Jewish-owned shops with the aid of the local civilians and ransacked many private homes.[9][10]

Polish soldiers in Minsk in August 1919

The success of the Polish offensive allowed the Poles to move forward again. In late summer, Polish Commander-in-chief Józef Piłsudski had ordered his armies to stop their offensive, as he considered that all the territories that were important to Poland and could be taken before winter had been secured. Piłsudski also wanted to release the Soviet forces engaged on the Polish front so they could be used to fight the advancing Whites.

References

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Inline
  1. ^ Palij, Michael (1995). "The Genesis of the Polish-Soviet Russian War". The Ukrainian-Polish Defensive Alliance, 1919-1921: An Aspect of the Ukrainian Revolution. CIUS Press. pp. 83–84. ISBN 1895571057.
  2. ^ a b c Davies, Norman (2006) [1998]. White Eagle, Red Star (Polish edition): Biały Orzeł, Czerwona Gwiazda. Translated by Andrzej Pawelec. Kraków: Społeczny Instytut Wydawniczy Znak, 1st ed. pp. 31–32 in PDF. ISBN 83-240-0749-0. First published in 1972 as White Eagle, Red Star (doctoral theses).
    —— English ed. (2011) Random House, ISBN 1446466868, pp. 59, 70. Google Books.
  3. ^ Snyder, Timothy (2007). Sketches from a Secret War: A Polish Artist's Mission to Liberate Soviet Ukraine. Yale University Press. p. 247. ISBN 978-0300125993.
  4. ^ a b Budnitskii, Oleg (2012). Russian Jews Between the Reds and the Whites, 1917-1920. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 373, 364. ISBN 978-0812208146. The battalion 'forced the Poles to retreat several versts' [one verst is roughly equal to 1 kilometer].
  5. ^ Stachura, Peter D. (2004). Poland, 1918-1945: An Interpretive and Documentary History of the Second Republic. Psychology Press. p. 85. ISBN 0415343585.
  6. ^ Gdański, Jarosław (2017). "Cossacks, Russians, and Ukrainians on the Polish side in the War of the 1920" [Kozacy, Rosjanie i Ukraińcy po stronie polskiej w wojnie 1920 r.]. Magazyn IOH (Bimonthly). Toruń: Inne Oblicza Historii. ISSN 1734-9060. Also in: Tarczyński, Marek (1998). "1 dywizja Litewsko-Białoruska (1st Lithuanian–Belarusian Division)". Battle of the Niemen; August 29 - October 18, 1920 [Bitwa niemeńska 29 VIII - 18 X 1920]. Warsaw: Rytm. pp. 265, 345, 390, 647. ISBN 83-87893-55-2. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  7. ^ Stachura, Peter D. (2004). Poland, 1918-1945: An Interpretive and Documentary History of the Second Republic. Psychology Press. p. 31. ISBN 0415343585 – via Google Books, preview.
  8. ^ Morgenthau, Henry (1922). All in a Life-time. Doubleday & Page. p. 414. OCLC 25930642. Minsk Bolsheviks.
  9. ^ Morgenthau, Henry (1922). All in a Life-time. Doubleday & Page. p. 414. OCLC 25930642. Minsk Bolsheviks.
  10. ^ Sloin, Andrew (2017). The Jewish Revolution in Belorussia: Economy, Race, and Bolshevik Power. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253024633..
General
  • Davies, Norman, White Eagle, Red Star: the Polish-Soviet War, 1919–20, Pimlico, 2003, ISBN 0-7126-0694-7. (First edition: New York, St. Martin's Press, inc., 1972.), pages 58–60

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