Battle of Cedynia In the Battle of Cedynia or Zehden , an army of Mieszko I of Poland defeated forces of Hodo or Odo I of Lusatia on 24 June 972 , near the Oder river . Whether or not the battle actually took place near the modern day town of Cedynia is disputed in modern scholarship . Mieszko I , Poland ' s first documented ruler based in Greater Poland , had successfully campaigned in the Cedynia area , then a West Slavic tribal territory also coveted by Holy Roman Emperor Otto I and German nobles . While Mieszko ' s differences with Otto I were settled by an alliance and payment of tribute to the later , the nobles whom Otto I had invested with the former Saxon Eastern March , most notably Odo I , challenged Mieszko ' s gains . The battle was to determine the possession of the area between Mieszko and Odo . Records of the battle are sparse , it was briefly described by the cronicler Thietmar of Merseburg ( 975 - 1018 ) , whose father participated in the battle ( Chronicon II . 19 ) , and mentioned by Gallus Anonymus in the 12th - century Gesta principum Polonorum . Largely unknown in Poland before World War II , the battle was instrumentalized by post - war Polish propaganda to justify the Oder - Neisse line , which in 1945 made former German Cedynia Poland ' s westernmost town , and rendered into a German - Polish battle to underline the doctrine of " eternal German - Polish enmity " . Several memorials were erected in Cedynia to that effect , including a tall concrete statue of a Polish eagle on a sword overseeing town and Oder river from a hilltop . With the fall of Communism , the propagandistic approach was discarded , yet the battle retained some prominence and is included in modern Polish curricula . Background . About 937 the Saxon margrave Gero had conquered vast territories east of the Elbe river , where he subdued the tribes of the Polabian Slavs . The German forces thereby reached the Oder river and the western border of the young Polish country . After several clashes of arms the conflict for the present was settled by an agreement in 963 whereafter Duke Mieszko had to pay a recurrent tribute to Emperor Otto . Upon Gero ' s death in 965 , his vast Marca Geronis was divided into several smaller marches , while the power in the area was exercised by unchecked warlords . Duke Mieszko took the occasion to capture the lightly defended and economically important estuary of the Oder on the Baltic Sea , in order to secure his influence in Pomerania up to Wolin . In turn Odo I had been vested with the Saxon Eastern March ( the later March of Lusatia ) by Emperor Otto I and was responsible for gathering tribute of the tribes which were Mieszko ' s point of interest . The margrave wanted to extend his territory and influence , he finally gathered his forces and decided to attack . He was sure of victory ; his raid was a private conflict , against the agreements made by the Emperor , who at the same time struggled to secure his rule in the Kingdom of Italy . However , against Odo ' s expectations , the battle was won by Mieszko . The battle as reported by Thietmar . The only more or less contemporary account of the battle is chapter 19 of the second book of Thietmar of Merseburg ' s Chronicon , consisting of three sentences : The battle in modern literature . The battle was assessed by Rafał Korbal in his 1997 book " Słynne bitwy w historii Polski " ( Famous battles in Polish history ) . Korbal ' s assessment is as follows : The sources of information on the actual battle operations are at best scarce . The numbers of the fighting parties are unknown , apart from folk tales of the Ursidae cavalry . However , the military readiness , ability to field soldiers and the rank of opponents indicate that there could not have been more than 4 , 000 men on each side . Margrave Odo was supported by the Saxon count Siegfried of Walbeck , father of the medieval chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg . The German forces most likely fielded more heavy cavalry , while the Polish side ' s advantages came from the use of quite mobile infantry , well - suited to fighting in uneven terrain , as well as archers . The duke of the Polans wanted to avoid a long campaign on his territory and stopped the enemy on his borders . The fight was on one of the fords crossing the Oder river opposite the later town of Oderberg , just north of Frankfurt ( Oder ) . The location had been chosen carefully . The only other available pass was next to a high hill , covered with trees and replete with swamps . Further down the Oder was the settlement of " Cidini " . The Polish duke , with a part of his forces ( likely to have been most of the horsemen ) , headed for the river in order to defend the passage while leaving the rest of army under command of his brother Czcibor , in the hills not far from Cedynia . During the initial phase of the battle , Odo broke through Oder and pursued Mieszko , who fled to Cedynia , luring Odo into a trap . While Odo ' s forces were preparing to assault the town , Czcibor ' s army attacked them from the hills on their flanks . Soon after , another strike came from the fortifications and the margrave ' s soldiers were surrounded and getting overrun . The battle turned into a slaughter , Siegfried and Odo escaped . Aftermath . After Emperor Otto I returned to Germany , he mediated a truce between the belligerents at the " Hoftag " diet of 973 in Quedlinburg , according to which Mieszko was obliged to transfer his minor son Bolesław as a hostage to the Imperial court . Nevertheless the Emperor died a few weeks later and the conflict with the Saxon margraves continued to smoulder . After Mieszko had interfered in the conflict of Otto ' s son and successor Emperor Otto II with the Bavarian duke Henry the Wrangler , German forces again attacked Poland without success in 979 . The relations with the Empire improved upon Mieszko ' s marriage with Oda of Haldensleben , daughter of Margrave Dietrich of the Northern March . Modern era . In 1945 , the implementation of the Oder - Neisse line resulted in the transfer of the town of " Zehden " from the German province of Brandenburg to the People ' s Republic of Poland . The town was renamed Cedynia . Contemporary Polish historiography , tasked to justify the post - war borders , turned the encounter of 972 into the first medieval battle between Poles and Germans . Several battle memorials were installed in the small town : walls were covered with mosaics depicting medieval battle scenarios , wooden statues of knights were placed in the town , the hotel was named " Piast " after the dynasty founded by Mieszko I . A hill near the town was converted into the battle memorial " Victory at Cedynia " , with a tall concrete statue on the hilltop , showing a Polish eagle sitting on a sword rammed in the hill , the face turned west overseeing town and Oder river . The mosaics on the hill ' s foot show white knights encircling and defeating black knights . The monument was erected in 1972 to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the battle , which was celebrated in the town by people from all regions of Poland , including high - ranking politicians , and accompanied by a large youth festival , " Cedynia 72 " . The lower Oder area , Cedynia and the associated battle in particular , had also played a prominent role in the 1000th anniversary of the Polish state in 1966 . The story of the battle was popularized by various means : rallies , monuments , press reports , popular science , travel guides , prosaic and lyrical works , movies , a dedicated medal , post stamps and envelope editions , even special match box designs . Recent reassessment has resulted in doubts whether the battle had taken place near modern day Cedynia . According to Pawel Migdalski , " Cedynia has lost its propagandistic value and is now just one of several small border towns " . The memory of the battle is now upheld in a non - political fashion , by an annual festival and re - enactments .