In the beginning of March 1831 he even entered into correspondence with the Russian Field-marshal Hans Karl von Diebitsch, who was taken very ill both at Paris and London. When, at last Skrzynecki had to take the offensive his opportunity was gone, and he committed more than one tactical blunder. In the battle of Ostrołęka (26 May 1831) he showed his usual valour and considerable ability, but after a bloody contest Diebitsch prevailed and Skrzynecki fell back upon Warsaw, where he demanded a reconstruction of the government and his own appointment as dictator. To this the Diet would not consent, though it gave Skrzynecki a vote of confidence. But public opinion was now running strongly against him and he was forced on 10 August, in his camp at Bolimów, to place his resignation in the hands of his successor, Henryk Dembiński. Skrzynecki thereupon joined a guerrilla corps and on 22 September took refuge in Austrian territory. Subsequently he resided at Prague, but migrated to Brussels where he was made commander in chief of the Belgian army, an appointment he was forced to resign by the combined and emphatic protest of Russia, Austria and Prussia, in 1839; however he rested there in active service until 1848. With the permission of the Austrian government he finally settled at Kraków, where he died in 1860.