Battle of Koziatyn

Part of Polish-Soviet War

Date	April 1920
Location	Koziatyn, Volhynia (Ukraine)
Result	Polish victory

Belligerents

Poland

Bolshevist Russia

Commanders and leaders

Jan Romer

Unknown

Strength

1 cavalry division

2 infantry divisions

Casualties and losses

9 killed
33 wounded

Unknown, ~8000 captured

The Battle of Koziatyn (also known as the Raid on Koziatyn and Koziatyn Envelopment) of 25–27 April 1920 was one of the most spectacular raids of the Polish cavalry during the Polish-Soviet War. In the effect of a pincer maneuver some 160 kilometres behind the front line, the Polish Army was able to seize the strategically important town of Korosten. The town, a major railway hub and a Red Army supply depot, was captured with negligible Polish losses.

The battle, along with a similar Raid on Korosten, resulted in a complete disruption of the Soviet 12th and 14th Armies of the South-Western Front. The Soviets lost approximately two divisions and a large amount of materiel, and roughly 8000 Soviet soldiers became prisoners of war. This allowed the Polish forces to capture Kiev soon afterwards. The maneuver is taught in military colleges around the world as an example of a blitzkrieg-like offensive executed before the advent of tank warfare.

In the early months of 1920 the Polish headquarters realized that it had insufficient forces to wage a full-scale war against the Soviets on all fronts of the Polish-Soviet War. To counter the threat of a large scale offensive by the Red Army, the Polish HQ prepared a preemptive strike in the south towards Kiev. This was to create a large operational space in the southern section of the front and allow the Poles to move parts of their forces northwards, to Belarus, while leaving the southern flank secured by Petlura's forces nominally of the defunct Ukrainian People's Republic, allied to Poland at that time. In order to neutralize superior Soviet numbers, the Poles decided to create a large, all-cavalry unit that was to strike a wedge between the Soviet 12th Army and the Soviet 14th Army, thus disrupting their defenses and encircling a large number of enemy troops between the front line and a large pocket of resistance created far behind it.

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Wikipedia