Battle of Szack

Battle of Szack (Shatsk)
Part of Invasion of Poland
Date September 28, 1939 Location Szack, Poland (now Ukraine) Result Tactical Polish victory
Belligerents
Soviet Union	Poland
Commanders and leaders
Colonel Iwan Russijanow	Wilhelm Orlik-Rueckemann
Strength
52nd Rifle Division	4,000 strong KOP group including artillery
Casualties and losses
(Soviet archives:) 81 dead 184 wounded 7 tanks (5 T-26, 2 T-38) 2 tractors 3 anti-tank guns (Polish accounts:) ~500 KIA 1,600 WIA 300 captured Several guns A few AFVs Up to 40 tanks	~350 KIA 900+ WIA A few trucks

Battle of Szack (Shatsk) was one of the major battles between the Polish Army and the Red Army fought in 1939 in the beginning of the Second World War.

During the invasion of Poland the Polish Border Defence Corps (KOP) was severely stripped of all the reserves and heavy armament. All the available Polish forces were sent to the west to reinforce the units resisting the German invasion. When the Red Army invaded Poland on September 17, there were barely any Polish forces to oppose them. The garrisons of the KOP were overstretched and after initial clashes and skirmishes for the border forts, the Polish units had to fall back.

The deputy commander of the KOP, general Wilhelm Orlik-Rueckemann decided to unite as many troops under his command as possible and join with the rest of Polish forces in the west. He ordered all the KOP forces in Polesie area to withdraw. In several days he managed to gather approximately 9 000 men under his command, coming from various units spread along a 300 kilometre long strip of the Polish-Soviet border. On September 19 he ordered all his units to march towards Kowel, where his forces were to be joined by the Independent Operational Group Polesie under general Franciszek Kleeberg. However, the difficult situation and the outcome of the battles of Brześć and Kobryń forced Rueckemann's group to change the plans. The Polish units changed the direction and started to march through the forests towards Włodawa and Kamień Koszyrski.

The group found itself in a no-man's-land between the Soviet forces and the Wehrmacht and could operate freely. However, the morale of the troops was low and on September 27 general Orlik-Rueckemann decided to engage the Soviet forces in order to achieve a victory and raise the morale.

...
Wikipedia