Battle of Zadwórze

Part of Polish-Soviet War

Date	August 17, 1920
Location	Zadwórze, near Lwów
Result	Pyrrhic Soviet victory.

Belligerents

Poland

Russian SFSR

Commanders and leaders

Bolesław Zajączkowski †

Siemion Budionnyi

Strength

330

1st Cavalry Army

Casualties and losses

318 dead

Unknown, probably exceeding 600

Battle of Zadwórze (sometimes referred to as the "Polish Thermopylae") was a battle of the Polish-Soviet War. It was fought on August 17, 1920 near the train station of Zadwórze (), a small village located 33 kilometres from the city centre of Lwów (now Lviv). The battle, lasting roughly 24 hours, resulted in the complete destruction of the Polish forces but at the same time halted the Soviet advance, preventing the forces of Siemion Budionnyi from seizing Lwów and so contributing to the successful defence of Warsaw. The battle has been called a Polish Thermopylae.

By mid-August 1920 the Red Army broke all Polish lines of defense and was marching towards Warsaw. The Polish headquarters prepared a plan to counter-attack the Red Army on its left flank from the Wieprz River area, in what became known as the Battle of Warsaw. To gather enough forces for the offensive, Gen. Józef Piłsudski, Polish Commander in Chief, ordered all available units to move to the Wieprz area and withdrew a number of formations from the Polish Southern Front, leaving only two-and-a-half infantry divisions to oppose the 12th Red Army and Budyonny’s cavalry. The city of Lwów was left with merely token forces defending the Upper Bug River line against three Russian armies (9th, 13th and 14th).

After several days of heavy fighting, the 1st Cavalry Army under Siemion Budionnyi broke through Polish lines of defense and started its march towards Lwów. The civilian inhabitants of the city started to organize resistance and build field fortifications, anticipating a long siege. Several thousand civilians, mostly students and veterans of the 1918 Battle of Lwów, volunteered for the self-defense units. Ill-equipped detachments were sent towards the front line and fought in several battles (among them battles of Kamionka Strumiłłowa, Ruda Siedlecka, Chodaczków, Krasne, Busko, Biłka Szlachecka, Kurowice, Streptów, Zuchorzyce and Laszki Królewskie), but were unable to stop numerically and technologically superior forces of the Red Army.

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