4th Regiment of Line Infantry The 4th Regiment of Line Infantry ( ) was a military unit of the Kingdom of Poland . Formed in 1815 , the regiment distinguished itself in the battles of the November Uprising and remains one of the best - known units of the Polish Army of the epoch . The soldiers of the regiment are collectively known in Polish historiography as Czwartacy . The regiment was not related to earlier 4th Regiment of Front Guard ( established in 1733 ) . However , it was a direct descendant of the Napoleonic - era 4th Infantry Regiment of the Duchy of Warsaw . Despite the fact that in 1812 Napoleon lost control over Poland , the regiment remained loyal to the emperor and fought in , among others , the bloody Battle of Leipzig and the Battle of Arcis - sur - Aube , the penultimate battle of Napoleon Bonaparte . After his abdication and exile to the Elbe , the remnants of the regiment returned to Russian - controlled Poland with their banners and flags , swore an oath to the Russian tsars and formed the core of a newly created infantry regiment . The regimental banner is preserved in the Warsaw - based Museum of the Polish Army . Officially named the " 4th Regiment of Line Infantry " , the soldiers of the new unit inherited the nickname of Czwartacy , roughly translated as " Those of the Fourth " , under which both the Napoleonic and the new unit was best known . Like its ' predecessor , the new regiment was based in Warsaw and its ' main barracks was located in the Sapieha Palace . The regiment was composed of a mixture of people roughly reflecting the wide social spectrum of contemporary Warsaw : it include both the Szlachta , or Polish gentry , and the burghers , but also a large number of serfs and peasants . Because of the proximity of the barracks to the palace of Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia , the 4th Regiment became one of his favoured military units and its ' soldiers enjoyed the status of his personal guard . In practice this often meant that the Grand Duke , very fond of his military units , but also very cruel and brutal in their treatment , was very keen on marching the soldiers of the regiment days and nights , regardless of the weather . The morale in the maltreated regiment was low , yet any sign of discontent was brutally repressed : among the people to be the most repressed was Major Walerian Łukasiński . Denounced as the founder of a secret society , he was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment , but eventually was held for 46 years in Russian prisons , most of the term in solitary confinement and without a trial . Following the outbreak of the November Uprising , the regiment rebelled against the Russian tsars along with most of the army of the Kingdom of Poland . It fought from the very first day of the uprising and distinguished itself in the First and Second Battle of Wawer , as well as the battles of Dębe Wielkie , Ostrołęka and the final Battle of Warsaw . During the war the regiment received 214 Virtuti Militari crosses : five 3rd class , 55 fourth class and 154 fifth class . This made it one of the most highly - decorated Polish units of the epoch . During the uprising the unit also was often referred to as " Tysiąc Walecznych " ( " A Thousand Brave Men " ) both by the press and general populace . This nick - name was popularised in Europe by a German poet Julius Mosen , who published in 1832 a popular poem idealising the regiment and its ' actions during the war of 1830 - 1831 .