Battle of Warsaw ( 1920 ) The Battle of Warsaw , often hailed as the " Miracle at the Vistula " was the decisive Polish victory in 1920 in the Polish – Soviet War . Poland , on the verge of total defeat , suddenly rebounded and defeated the invading Red Army , then pushed it back . It was , and still is , celebrated as a great victory for the Polish people over Russia . As Soviet forces invaded Poland in summer 1920 , the Polish army retreated westward in disorder . The Polish forces seemed on the verge of disintegration and observers predicted a decisive Soviet victory . The battle of Warsaw was fought from August 12 – 25 , 1920 as Red Army forces commanded by Mikhail Tukhachevsky approached the Polish capital of Warsaw and the nearby Modlin Fortress . On August 16 , Polish forces commanded by Józef Piłsudski counterattacked from the south , disrupting the enemy ' s offensive , forcing the Russian forces into a disorganized withdrawal eastward and behind the Neman River . Estimated Russian losses were 10 , 000 killed , 500 missing , 30 , 000 wounded , and 66 , 000 taken prisoner , compared with Polish losses of some 4 , 500 killed , 10 , 000 missing , and 22 , 000 wounded . The defeat crippled the Red Army ; Vladimir Lenin , the Bolshevik leader , called it " an enormous defeat " for his forces . In the following months , several more Polish follow - up victories saved Poland ' s independence and led to a peace treaty with Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine later that year , securing the Polish state ' s eastern frontiers for the next 20 years . Prelude . In the aftermath of World War I , Poland fought to preserve their newly regained independence , lost in the 1795 partitions of Poland , and to carve out the borders of a new multinational federation ( Intermarium ) from the territories of their former partitioners , Russia , Germany , and Austria – Hungary . At the same time in 1919 , the Bolsheviks had gained the upper hand in the Russian Civil War , having dealt crippling blows to the Russian White Movement . Vladimir Lenin viewed Poland as a bridge to bring communism to Central and Western Europe , and the Polish – Soviet War seemed the perfect way to test the Red Army ' s strength . The Bolshevik ' s speeches asserted that the revolution was to be carried to western Europe on the bayonet s of Russian " soldat " s and that the shortest route to Berlin and Paris lay through Warsaw . The two sides were embroiled in the Polish – Ukrainian War , amidst competing territorial claims . After early setbacks against Poland in 1919 , the Red Army was overwhelmingly successful in a counter - offensive in early 1920 that nullified the Polish Kiev Operation , forcing a Polish retreat . By mid - 1920 , Poland ' s very survival was at stake and foreign observers expected it to collapse at any moment . The Russian strategy called for a mass push toward the Polish capital , Warsaw . Its capture would have had a major propaganda effect for the Russian Bolsheviks , who expected the fall of the Polish < a href = " capital % 20capital % 20not % 20only % 20to % 20undermine % 20the % 20morale % 20of % 20the % 20Poles % 2C % 20but % 20to % 20spark % 20an % 20international % 20series % 20of % 20communist % 20 % 5B % 5Buprising % 5D % 5Ds % 20and % 20clear % 20the % 20way % 20for % 20the % 20Red % 20Army % 20to % 20join % 20the % 20 % 5B % 5BGerman % 20Revolution % 20of % 201918 % E2 % 80 % 9319 " > German Revolution ] ] . [ [ File : Polish - soviet war 1920 Polish defences near Milosna , August . jpg | thumb | Polish defences at ] ] Miłosna , Łódź Voivodeship | Miłosna < / a > , near Warsaw . ] ] The Russian 1st Cavalry Army under Semyon Budyonny broke through Polish lines in early June 1920 . The effects of that were dramatic ; Budyonny ' s success resulted in a collapse of all Polish fronts . On July 4 , 1920 , Mikhail Tukhachevsky ' s Western Front began an all - out assault in Belarus from the Berezina River , forcing Polish forces to retreat . On July 19 the Red Army seized Grodno and on July 28 , it reached Białystok . On July 22 , the Brześć Fortress was captured . Orders of battle . Polish . 3 Fronts ( " Northern , Central , Southern " ) , 7 Armies , a total of 32 divisions : 46 , 000 infantry ; 2 , 000 cavalry ; 730 machine guns ; 192 artillery batteries ; and several units of ( mostly FT - 17 ) tanks . Fronts : Battle plans . Polish . By the beginning of August , the Polish retreat had become more organized , as their supply lines were steadily shortened . At first , Józef Piłsudski wanted to stop the Soviets at the Bug River and the city of Brest - Litovsk , but the Soviet advance resulted in their forces breaching that line , making that plan obsolete . On the night of August 5 – 6 , Piłsudski , staying at the Belweder Palace in Warsaw , conceived a revised plan . In the first phase , it called for Polish forces to withdraw across the Vistula River and defend the bridgehead s at Warsaw and at the Wieprz River . A quarter of the available divisions would be concentrated to the south for a strategic counteroffensive . Next , Piłsudski ' s plan called for the 1st and 2nd Armies of General Józef Haller ' s Central Front ( 10½ divisions ) to take a passive role , facing the Soviet main westward thrust and holding their entrenched positions , Warsaw ' s last line of defence , at all costs . At the same time , the 5th Army ( 5½ divisions ) under General Władysław Sikorski , subordinate to Haller , would defend the northern area near the Modlin Fortress ; when it became feasible they were to strike from behind Warsaw , thus cutting off Soviet forces attempting to envelop Warsaw from that direction , and break through the enemy front and fall upon the rear of the Soviet Northwestern Front . Additionally , five divisions of the 5th Army were to protect Warsaw from the north . General Franciszek Latinik ' s 1st Army would defend Warsaw itself , while General Bolesław Roja ' s 2nd Army was to hold the Vistula River line from Góra Kalwaria to Dęblin . The crucial part , however , was assigned to the approximately 20 , 000 strong , newly formed Task Force ( also translated as " Assault Group " or " Shock Army " , from Polish " Grupa Uderzeniowa " ) , under the personal command of Piłsudski . This unit , composed of the most elite Polish units from the southern front , was to be reinforced by General Leonard Skierski ' s 4th Army and General Zygmunt Zieliński ' s 3rd Army . After retreating from the Bug River area , those armies had not moved directly toward Warsaw but had crossed the Wieprz River and broken off contact with their pursuers , thus confusing the enemy as to their whereabouts . The Assault Group ' s assignment was to spearhead a rapid offensive from their southern position in the Vistula - Wieprz River triangle . They were supposed to advance north , targeting a weak spot that the Polish intelligence thought to have found in between the Soviet Western and Southwestern Fronts , where their communications relied on the weak Mazyr Group . The aim of this operation was to throw the Soviet Western Front into chaos , and separate it from its reserves . According to the plan , Sikorski ' s 5th Army and the advancing Assault Group would meet near the East Prussia n border , leaving the Soviets trapped in an encirclement . Although based on fairly reliable information provided by Polish intelligence and intercepted Soviet radio communications , the plan was called ' amateurish ' by many high - ranking army officers and military experts , from Polish officers to the advisors from the French Military Mission to Poland who were quick to point out Piłsudski ' s lack of formal military education . Criticism was levied on the logistical side , as suggested concentration points were as far as 100 – 150 miles ( 150 to 250 km ) from many Polish units , most of them engaged on the frontlines , and all of that a mere week before the planned date of the counterattack . All regrouping was within striking distance of the enemy ; if Piłsudski and his staff mistimed when the Soviet offensive would begin , the Polish counter - attack and even the cohesion of the entire Polish front would be in chaos . Piłsudski himself admitted in his memoirs that it was a risky gamble ; he decided to go forward with it due to the defeatist stance of politicians , fear for the safety of the capital , and the prevailing feeling that if Warsaw were to fall , all would be lost . Only the desperate situation persuaded other army commanders to go along with it , as they realized that under the circumstances it was the only possible way to avoid a devastating defeat . The plan seemed so desperate and inept , that when a copy of it was intercepted by the Soviets , it was discarded as a poor deception attempt . The authorship of the plan is a matter of some controversy . Due to Piłsudski ' s political image , he was largely unpopular with the right wing of Polish politics . Furthermore Paderewski told top Allied leaders that Weygand had the idea ; Paderewski knew better but he was trying to use American support for a comeback in Polish politics . After the battle many false reports suggested that the plan was in fact prepared either by the French general Maxime Weygand or by the Polish Chief of Staff Tadeusz Jordan - Rozwadowski . According to recent research , the French Military Mission proposed only a minor tactical counter - attack of two divisions towards Mińsk Mazowiecki . Its aim would have been to push the Red Army 30 kilometres back in order to ease subsequent ceasefire negotiations . On the other hand , General Rozwadowski ' s plan called for a deeper thrust into Russian lines from the area of Wieprz . However , Piłsudski proposed a large - scale operation , with significant forces committed to beating the enemy forces rather than merely pushing them back . The plan was opposed by the French mission , which did not believe that the Polish Army would be able to regroup after a 600 kilometre retreat . Nonetheless for many years , a myth persisted that it was the timely arrival of Allied forces that had saved Poland , a myth in which Weygand occupied the central role . Russian . Mikhail Tukhachevsky planned to encircle and surround Warsaw by crossing the Vistula River , near Włocławek , to the north and south of the city and launch an attack from the northwest . With 24 divisions in four armies under his command , he planned to repeat the classic maneuvre of Ivan Paskevich , who in 1831 , during the November Uprising , had crossed the Vistula at Toruń and reached Warsaw practically unopposed , crushing the Polish uprising . This move would also cut the Polish forces off from Gdańsk , the only port open to shipments of arms and supplies . The main weakness of the Russian plan was the poorly defended southern flank , secured only by the Pinsk Marshes and the weak Mazyr ( Mozyrska ) Group . That unit consisted of the 57th Infantry Division , 8 , 000 strong , and acted as the link between the Soviet two fronts ( the majority of the Russian Southwest Front was engaged in the battle of Lwów ) . Davies argues that the Soviet failure was caused by its tardiness in moving forces in for a frontal attack on Warsaw . By contrast the Poles were speedy , making every day ' s delay a liability to the Soviets . Furthermore there was poor coordination between the Soviet Western Command and the three armies of the Southwestern Command . In the political sphere , Davies argues , there was too much friction inside the Soviet Command . Rumors of disobedience to orders on the Soviet side by General Semën Budënny , or possibly even J . V . Stalin , were baseless , argues Fiddick . Moscow had decided for political reasons to reinforce the Crimean front at the expense of the Polish front . It meant it was replacing its goals of European - wide Communist revolution to a sort of " peaceful coexistence " with the West amidst internal consolidation . Battle . First phase . While the Red Army pushed forward , Gayk Bzhishkyan ' s Cavalry Corps , together with the 4th Army , crossed the Wkra River and advanced towards the town of Włocławek . The 15th and 3rd Armies were approaching Modlin Fortress and the 16th Army moved towards Warsaw . The final Russian assault on Warsaw began on August 12 . The Soviet 16th Army commenced the attack at the town of Radzymin ( only 23 kilometres east of the city ) , and captured it the following day . This initial success of the Red Army prompted Piłsudski to move up his plans by 24 hours . The first phase of the battle started on August 12 , with a Red Army frontal assault on the Praga bridgehead . In heavy fighting , Radzymin changed hands several times and most foreign diplomats left Warsaw ; only the British and Vatican ambassadors chose to remain . On August 14 , Radzymin fell to the Red Army , and the lines of Władysław Sikorski ' s Polish 5th Army were broken . The 5th Army had to fight three Soviet armies at once : the 3rd , 4th , and 15th . The Modlin sector was reinforced with reserves ( the Siberian Brigade , and General Franciszek Krajowski ' s fresh 18th Infantry Division — both elite , battle - tested units ) , and the 5th Army held out until dawn . The situation was saved around midnight when the 203rd Uhlan Regiment managed to break through the Red Army lines and attack a Soviet command post , which resulted in a destruction of the radio station of A . D . Shuvayev ' s Soviet 4th Army . The latter unit had only one remaining radio station fixed on one frequency which was known to the Polish intelligence . Since the Polish code - breakers did not want the Russians to find out that their codes were broken , but still neutralize the other radio station , the radio station in Warsaw recited the Book of Genesis in Polish and Latin on the frequency used by the 4th Army . It thus lost contact with its headquarters and continued marching toward Toruń and Płock , unaware of Tukhachevsky ' s order to turn south . The raid by the 203rd Uhlans is sometimes referred to as " the Miracle of Ciechanów . " At the same time , the Polish 1st Army under General Franciszek Latinik resisted a direct Red Army assault on Warsaw by six rifle divisions . The struggle for control of Radzymin forced Józef Haller , commander of the Polish Northern Front , to start the 5th Army ' s counterattack earlier than planned . During this time , Piłsudski was finishing his plans for the counter - offensive . He decided to supervise the attack personally handing in a letter of resignation from all state functions , so that he could concentrate on the military situation , and so that his eventual death would not paralyze the state . He succeeded in raising the morale of the troops , between August 12 and August 15 , visiting units of the 4th Army concentrating near Puławy , about 100 kilometres south of Warsaw . At that time , Piłsudski also commented on the dreadful state of logistics of the Polish Army : " In the 21st Division , almost half of the soldiers paraded in front of me barefoot . " The newly created Polish army had little choice in its equipment ; its rifles and artillery pieces were produced in at least six countries , each of them using different ammunition . Second phase . The 27th Infantry Division of the Red Army managed to reach the village of Izabelin , 13 kilometres from the capital , but this was the closest that Russian forces would come . Tukhachevsky , certain that all was going according to plan , was actually falling into Piłsudski ' s trap . There were only token Polish troops in the path of the main Russian advance north and across the Vistula , on the right flank of the battle ( from the perspective of the Soviet ' s advance ) . At the same time , south of Warsaw , on the battle ' s left front , the vital link between the North - Western and South - Western Fronts was much more vulnerable , protected only by a small Soviet force , the Mozyr Group . Further , Semyon Budyonny , commanding the 1st Cavalry Army , a unit much feared by Piłsudski and other Polish commanders , disobeyed orders by the Soviet High Command , which at Tukhachevsky ' s insistence , ordered him to advance at Warsaw from the south . Budyonny resented this order , influenced by a grudge between commanding South - Western Front generals Alexander Ilyich Yegorov and Tukhachevsky . In addition , the political games of Joseph Stalin , at the time the chief political commissar of the South - Western Front , further contributed to Yegorov ' s and Budyonny ' s disobedience . Stalin , looking for personal glory , aimed to capture the besieged Lwów ( Lviv ) , an important industrial center . Ultimately , Budyonny ' s forces marched on Lwów instead of Warsaw and thus missed the battle . The Polish 5th Army counterattacked on August 14 , crossing the Wkra River . It faced the combined forces of the Soviet 3rd and 15th Armies ( both numerically and technically superior ) . The struggle at Nasielsk lasted until August 15 and resulted in near complete destruction of the town . However , the Soviet advance toward Warsaw and Modlin was halted at the end of August 15 and on that day Polish forces recaptured Radzymin , which boosted the Polish morale . From that moment on , Sikorski ' s 5th Army pushed exhausted Soviet units away from Warsaw , in an almost blitzkrieg - like operation . Sikorski ' s units were given the support of almost all of the small number of mechanized units - tank s and armoured cars - that the Polish Army had , as well as the support of the two Polish armoured train s . It was able to advance rapidly at the speed of 30 kilometres a day , disrupting the Soviet " enveloping " northern manoeuvre . Third phase . On August 16 , the Polish " Assault Group " commanded by Józef Piłsudski began its march north from the Wieprz River . It faced the " Mazyr Group " , a Soviet corps that had defeated the Poles during the Kiev operation several months earlier . However , during its pursuit of the retreating Polish armies , the " Mozyr Group " had lost most of its forces and been reduced to a mere one or two divisions covering a 150 - kilometre front - line on the left flank of the Soviet 16th Army . On the first day of the counter - offensive , only one of the five Polish divisions reported any sort of opposition , while the remaining four , supported by a cavalry brigade , managed to push north 45 kilometres unopposed . When evening fell , the town of Włodawa had been liberated , and the communication and supply lines of the Soviet 16th Army had been cut . Even Piłsudski was surprised by the extent of these early successes . " Assault Group " units covered about 70 kilometres in 36 hours . As planned , it split the Soviet fronts , disrupting the offensive , all without encountering any significant resistance . The Mozyr Group had been already defeated in the first day of the Polish counterattack . Consequently , the Polish armies found what they expected - a large opening between the Soviet fronts . They exploited it ruthlessly , continuing their northward offensive with two armies following and falling on the surprised and confused enemy . On August 18 , Mikhail Tukhachevsky , in his headquarters in Minsk some 300 miles ( 500 km ) east of Warsaw , realized the extent of his defeat , quickly issuing the orders for the Red Army to retreat and regroup . Tukhachevsky wanted to straighten the front line improving his logistics , regain the initiative and push the Poles back again , but the situation had progressed beyond salvage . His orders either arrived too late or failed to arrive at all . Soviet General Bzhishkyan ' s 3rd Cavalry Corps continued to advance toward Pomerania , its lines endangered by the Polish 5th Army , which had finally managed to push back the Red Army and gone over in pursuit . The Polish 1st Legions Infantry Division , in order to cut the enemy ' s retreat , carried out a forced march , being on the move for up to 21 hours a day , from Lubartów to Białystok - covering 163 miles ( 262 km ) in only 6 days . Throughout that period , the Division engaged the enemy twice . The division ' s rapid advance allowed it to intercept the 16th Soviet Army , cutting it off from reinforcements near Białystok , and forcing most of its troops to surrender . The Soviet armies in the centre of the front fell into chaos . Some divisions continued to fight their way toward Warsaw , while others turned to retreat , lost their cohesion , and panicked . The Russian commander - in - chief lost contact with most of his forces , and all Soviet plans were thrown into disorder . Only the 15th Army remained an organised force and tried to obey Tukhachevsky ' s orders , shielding the withdrawal of the westernmost extended 4th Army . However , it was defeated twice on August 19 and 20th and joined the general rout of the Red Army ' s North - Western Front . Tukhachevsky had no choice but to order a full retreat toward the Western Bug River . By August 21 , all organized resistance ceased to exist and by August 31 , the Soviet South - Western Front was completely routed . Aftermath . Although Poland managed to achieve victory and push back the Russians , Piłsudski ' s plan to outmaneuver and surround the Red Army did not succeed completely . On July 4 four Soviet armies of the North - Western Front began to advance on Warsaw . After initial successes , by the end of August , three of them - the 4th , 15th and 16th Armies , as well as the bulk of Bzhishkyan ' s 3rd Cavalry Corps - had all but disintegrated , their remnants either taken prisoner or briefly interned after crossing the border to German East Prussia . The 3rd Army was the least affected , due to the speed of its retreat , as the pursuing Polish troops could not catch up with it . Russian Red Army losses were about 15 , 000 dead , 500 missing , 10 , 000 wounded , and 65 , 000 captured , compared to Polish losses of approximately 4 , 500 killed , 22 , 000 wounded , and 10 , 000 missing . Between 25 , 000 and 30 , 000 Soviet troops managed to reach the borders of Germany . After crossing into East Prussia territory , they were briefly interned , then allowed to leave with their arms and equipment . Poland captured about 231 pieces of artillery and 1 , 023 machine gun s . The southern arm of the Red Army ' s forces had been routed and no longer posed a threat to the Poles . Semyon Budyonny ' s 1st Cavalry Army besieging Lwów had been defeated at the Battle of Komarów ( August 31 , 1920 ) and the Battle of Hrubieszów . By mid - October , the Polish Army had reached the Tarnopol - Dubno - Minsk - Drisa line . Tukhachevsky succeeded eventually in reorganizing his eastward - retreating forces , but not in regaining the initiative . In September he established a new defensive line near Grodno . In order to break it , the Polish Army fought the Battle of the Niemen River ( September 15 – September 21 ) , once again defeating the Red Army . After the Battle of the Szczara River , both sides were exhausted and on October 12 , under heavy pressure from France and Britain , a ceasefire was signed . By October 18 , the fighting was over , and on March 18 , 1921 , the Treaty of Riga was signed , ending hostilities . Bolshevik propaganda before the Battle of Warsaw had described the fall of Poland ' s capital as imminent , and the anticipated fall of Warsaw was to be a signal for the start of large - scale communist revolution s in Poland , Germany , and other European countries , economically devastated by the First World War . For example , the Soviet attempts to overthrow the government of Lithuania ( planned for August ) had to be canceled after the loss of this battle . The Soviet defeat was therefore considered a setback for Soviet leaders supportive of that plan ( particularly Vladimir Lenin ) . A National Democrat Sejm deputy , Stanisław Stroński , coined the phrase , " Miracle at the Wisła " ( Polish : " " Cud nad Wisłą " " ) , to underline his disapproval of Piłsudski ' s earlier " Ukrainian adventure . " Stroński ' s phrase was adopted with approval by some patriotically or piously minded Poles unaware of Stroński ' s ironic intent . Breaking of Russian ciphers . According to documents found in 2005 at Poland ' s Central Military Archives , Polish cryptologists broke intercepted Russian ciphers as early as September 1919 . At least some of the Polish victories , not only the Battle of Warsaw but also other battles , are attributable to this . Lieutenant Jan Kowalewski , credited with the original breakthrough , received the order of Virtuti Militari in 1921 .