Battle of Wołodarka - Misplaced Pages

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The Battle of Wołodarka was a clash between the Polish Army and Siemion Budionnyi's First Cavalry Army. It took place May 29, 1920, near the Ukrainian village of Volodarka, in the course of the Polish Offensive on Kiev 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 to fight a major battle against the Soviet armies in Ukraine had failed. The Soviets avoided battle, withdrew from all of right-bank Ukraine, and also gave up its capital. At the same time, Red Army headquarters ordered Siemion Budionnyi's battle-proven First Cavalry Army to relocate to Ukraine, begin an offensive, and outflank the overstretched Polish forces and Semen Petlura's small contingent of Ukrainian People's Republic troops.

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

However, apart from the fresh and battle-proven units of the First Cavalry Army, the Russian commander of the Southwestern Front, Komandarm Aleksandr Yegorov, had only the 12th Red Army, reinforced with fresh, untrained recruits, which had been badly beaten during the Soviet retreat from Ukraine only a month earlier. Due to this, the planned offensive could not begin on all fronts at once, and the mobility of the troops was limited. On May 29, 1920, the commander of the Polish 3rd Army ordered a counterattack. 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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