After the Battle of Zadwórze, the forces of the Bolshevik 1st Cavalry Army under Semyon Budyonny were halted for over a day. By this time the Russian cavalry units had lost much of their initiative and had not managed to reach or intervene in the Battle of Warsaw. After the Bolsheviks lost the struggle for the capital of Poland and started their retreat eastwards, the forces of Budyonny were ordered by Mikhail Tukhachevsky to march northwards to attack the right flank of Józef Piłsudski's advancing forces in order to draw Polish forces away from the north and relieve pressure on the routed Western Army. Tukhachevsky believed that if Polish forces were required to turn south, he could reverse the disaster unfolding in the north and resume his westward offensive to capture Warsaw.