Battle of the Niemen River

This article is about the 1920 battle. For Second World War battle, see battle of the Niemen River (1944).

Battle of the Niemen
Part of the Polish-Soviet War
Battle of Niemen Battle of the Niemen. Allegorical painting by Wojciech Kossak.
Date September 15, 1920 – September 25, 1920 Location near Hrodna, along the Niemen River Result Decisive Polish victory
Belligerents
Russia	Poland
Commanders and leaders
Mikhail Tukhachevsky	Józef Piłsudski
Strength
~100,000 on the Western Front (September 1)	96,300 (September 15)
Casualties and losses
40,000+	7,000

The Battle of the Niemen River was the second-greatest battle of the Polish-Soviet War. It took place near the middle Neman River between the cities of Suwałki, Grodno and Białystok. After having suffered almost complete defeat in the Battle of Warsaw (August 1920), Mikhail Tukhachevski's Red Army forces tried to establish a defensive line, against Józef Piłsudski's counter-attacking Polish Army, running northward from the Polish-Lithuanian border to Polesie, and centering on Grodno. Between September 15 and September 25, 1920, the Poles outflanked the Soviets, once again defeating them. After the mid-October Battle of the Szczara River, the Polish Army had reached the Tarnopol-Dubno-Minsk-Drisa line.

Opposing forces

Photo of the battle.

Both the Polish Army and the opposing Red Army suffered heavy casualties in the course of war, and especially during the Russian summer offensive of 1920. Moreover, both opposing armies were still in the phase of organisation. By August, the Poles mobilised almost 1 million men, which allowed to reinforce most front-line units to approximately 50-60% of their nominal strength. Out of that number almost 350 000 were in active service on the eastern front, while the rest served in other units or were still training. The Polish brigades and divisions were usually ill-equipped, but were commanded by experienced officers, veterans of the Great War and the subsequent Polish-Ukrainian War. Moreover, with fresh forces arriving to the front almost every week the reserves of the Polish C-i-C were sufficient for waging an offensive war.

The Red Army suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of Warsaw in August and lacked organisation. Although the reserves of fresh, untrained recruits were almost unlimited, the Russian units lacked experienced officers. Also, in the course of the war the Soviet forces lost large parts of their artillery, which was usually used on the battlefield as a last stand against the assaulting enemy. This tactics allowed the Poles to outgun their enemies. Also, the Russian air forces were almost non-existent while the Polish Army could use its few aeroplanes to successfully disrupt enemy moves and conduct intelligence operations.

The Red Army was organised in several fronts. The Western Front facing the Poles had more than 700,000 soldiers in August. However, large part of its forces were either taken prisoner of war by the Poles, interned in East Prussia or routed. After the arrival of 68,000 reinforcements in August and additional 20,500 in September, the forces of Tukhachevski reached approximately 20 to 40% of their nominal strength. However, both the morale and the reinforcement abilities of the Russian troops were seriously harassed.

Polish Army

The order of battle of the Polish Army as after the reorganisation of September 11. The position of units as of September 15, 1920. The armies and divisions are listed north to south.

Polish Army	Army	Operational Group	Unit	Remarks
Józef Piłsudski HQ in Białystok	2nd Army Edward Rydz	Shielding group Left flank, facing Lithuania	Siberian Brigade Rumsza
			17th Greater Polish Division Osiński
		Wing Group / Assault Group west of Grodno and in Suwałki area	1st Polish Legions Infantry Division Dąb-Biernacki
			1st Lithuanian-Belarusian Division Rządkowski
			II Cavalry Brigade
			IV Cavalry Brigade Nieniewski
		Front Group west of Grodno, ordered to hold out the enemy	22nd Volunteer Infantry Division Koc
			21st Mountain Infantry Division Galica
		Right Flank Niemen river crossing in Mosty Zaniemeńskie	3rd Polish Legions Infantry Division Berbecki
	4th Army Leonard Skierski	Main Forces	15th Greater Polish Division Jung	Upper Rosia river
			14th Greater Polish Division Konarzewski	to the NE of Prużana
			11th Infantry Division Małachowski	to the NE of Kobryń
			16th Pomeranian Division Ładoś	Kobryń-Pińsk railroad and highway
		Garrison of Brześć Fortress	"Brześć" Fortified Area ?	ca. 1200 men
	3rd Army Władysław Sikorski	Left wing Wołyń area	Bułak-Bałachowicz's Group Bułak-Bałachowicz	ca. 1500 men, formed of deserters from the Red Army and other Russian and Belarusian volunteers
			18th Infantry Division Krajowski
		Main forces between Wołyń and Lwów	2nd Polish Legions Division Żymierski
			7th Infantry Division Szubert
			9th Infantry Division Narbut-Łuczyński
			10th Infantry Division Żeligowski
			Dreszer's Cavalry group Dreszer	3rd and 9th cavalry brigades, later renamed to 2nd Cavalry Division
		Haller's Operational Group Haller von Hallenburg	1st Cavalry Division Rómmel	temporarily attached
			13th Infantry Division Haller de Hallenburg	temporarily attached
		Allied troops	Don Cossacks' Brigade col. Salnikov	Only 251 soldiers and officers
			Kuban Cossacks' Brigade mjr. Yakovlev	Only 614 soldiers and officers
		Garrison of Zamość	6th Ukrainian Division Bezruchko	token forces left in the city after the Battle of Komarów
	6th Army Wacław Iwaszkiewicz	Januszajtis' Group towards Płoskirów	12th Infantry Division Żegota-Januszajtis
		Latinik's Group around Lwów	5th Infantry Division Szymański?
			8th Infantry Division Burhardt-Bukacki
			I Cavalry Brigade	Narajówka river, Złota Lipa - east of Lwów
		Jędrzejowski's Group around Lwów	7th Infantry Division K. Szubert?
			13th Infantry Division Pawlik
			Organic cavalry
	Ukrainian Army Mykhailo Omelianovych-Pavlenko		1st to 5th Infantry Divisions and 1st Cavalry	Only nominally, en cadre and had 8189 officers and 8202 soldiers (mostly cavalrymen). Reserve of the 6th Army south of Lwów.