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Battle of Wołodarka was a clash between the Polish Army and Siemion Budionnyi's 1st Cavalry Army. It took place May 29, 1920, near the Ukrainian village of Volodarka, in the course of the Polish Offensive on Kyiv during the Polish-Soviet War.

Before the battle

After the Polish Army Captured Kiev on May 7, 1920, it became apparent that Józef Piłsudski's plan of fighting a major battle with the Soviet armies in the Ukraine had failed. The Soviets avoided a fight and withdrew from whole right-bank Ukraine, and also gave up its capital. At the same time the headquarters of the Red Army ordered the battle-proven 1st Cavalry Army under Siemion Budionnyi to be relocated to Ukraine and start an offensive and outflank the overstretched Polish forces and the small Ukrainian contingent of the Ukrainian People's Republic under Semen Petlura.

The Soviet advance finally started on May 26, 1920, with the forces of Red 12th Army and the Corps of Komdiv Iona Yakir crossing the Dnieper and attacking exactly in the weakest part of Polish defences. The assault started the same day as the reorganisation of the Polish forces in the area and was initially aimed at the position of Polish 7th Infantry Division, the weakest and least battle-proven Polish unit in the area. In addition, the defences were weakened by relocation of a large part of Polish troops to northern Polesie, where Piłsudski was preparing defences against the possible Russian attack. The following day the 1st Cavalry Army of Semion Budionnyi joined the assault and attacked the positions of Polish 13th Infantry Division of the 6th Army. The Soviet forces were to outflank the Poles and Ukrainians by forming two giant pincers advancing separately towards Bila Tserkva and Khvastiv.

However, apart from the fresh and battle-proven units of the 1st Cavalry Army, the Russian commander of the South-Western Front, komandarm Aleksandr Yegorov had only the 12th Red Army, reinforced with fresh, untrained recruits and badly beaten during the Soviet retreat from Ukraine only a month earlier. Because of that the planned offensive could not start on all fronts at once and the mobility of the troops was limited. On May 29, commander of the Polish 3rd Army ordered a counter-attack. The newly-formed Wasilków Group under lt. col. Stefan Dąb-Biernacki was to attack the Yakir's Group before it is able to start an assault on the weakened 7th Division. The assault was successful and the group composed of a single infantry regiment (5th Legions), reinforced with one battalion of the elite 1st Legions infantry regiment, two groups of artillery and two squadrons of cavalry was able to take the Soviets by surprise. After the first assault, the Bolshevik 44th Rifle Division lost one of its brigades and the entire staff, which postponed the Soviet assault on the Polish northern flank and secured it. However, at the same time the southern flank, between the Polish 3rd and 6th Armies, was endangered by the 1st Cavalry Army, which had crossed the Dnieper and started concentrating near Uman. From there it easily broke the thin line of Polish defences and started a fast advance towards the strategically-important railway node of Koziatyn.

Battle

On May 29, 1920, the Soviet 4th Cavalry Division of the 1st Cavalry Army attacked the Polish positions in the area of the villages of Volodarka, Berezno and Novokhvastiv. The area was defended by Polish 44th Kresy Rifles Regiment, 16th Uhlans Regiment, elements of 1st Uhlans Regiment and the 7th Group of Mounted Artillery. The Polish defenders formed strong pockets of resistance in the villages, since it proved to be a better tactic than the defence of all of the frontline.

Because of this, the Soviet forces could not fully use their numerical supperiority. In addition, poor command made the attacking cavalry regiments start their attacks on Polish positions one by one. Also, instead of simply bypassing the Polish positions, the Russian commander decided to attack them frontally. After the initial assault by Cossack cavalry was repelled with heavy machine gun fire, the Polish cavalry counter-charged the Cossacks and a heavy hand-to-hand cavalry battle with sabres ensued. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. For instance the third squadron of the Polish 1st Uhlans Regiment lost 30 of 72 men and a similar number of horses. On the Russian side, among the dead was Kuzma Kruchkov, a famous veteran of World War I and a national hero of both tsarist and Soviet Russia.

The charge proved to be successful. When additional reinforcements arrived to the area and started a charge, the cossacks fled the battlefield.

After the Battle

The following day the 3rd Cavalry Brigade composed of Cossacks formerly serving in the White Russian army of General Anton Denikin and forcibly drafted into the Red Army, approached Polish positions and after short negotiations switched sides and since then fought against the Bolsheviks on the Polish side. Yesaul Yakovlev remained its commander until the unit was disbanded in 1923.

Due to heavy Polish resistance and high mobility of Polish forces, the assault of the 1st Cavalry Army was repelled. Only the 6th Cavalry Division managed to break into the lines of Polish 13th Infantry Division, but was repelled the following day and on May 31, after three days of heavy fighting, forced to retreat to its initial positions near Human.

References

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• Polish battles
• Polish-Soviet War
• Soviet battles