The Military History of Poland

Poland has had several states and, for 123 years, none. This page follows its wars era by era, names the state that fought each of them and tells the wars with its neighbors from more than one side. Its best-known battles include the Battle of Grunwald (1410), the relief of Vienna (1683), the Battle of Warsaw (1920) and Monte Cassino (1944), and every one of the 57 battles we cover is listed by era below. ²

Which states does Polish military history cover?

Polish statehood is dated to Mieszko I, the Piast ruler baptized in 966. The Piast kingdom was followed by the Jagiellonian union with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, agreed at Krewo in 1385, and in 1569 by the Union of Lublin, which turned the two states into one, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita). ³

The Commonwealth was a joint state, and its history is also Lithuanian, Belarusian and Ukrainian history. It was one of the largest states in Europe, and in the words of the Library of Congress country study it governed a populace of remarkable ethnic and religious diversity. When this page says Poland for the years after 1569, it means that Commonwealth; Lithuanian commanders such as the hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz served it as much as Polish ones. ⁴

Russia, Prussia and Austria divided the Commonwealth in three partitions, the last in 1795. For the next 123 years Polish armies fought under other flags or in risings: the Legions in French service, the Duchy of Warsaw that Napoleon created in 1807, the Congress Kingdom tied to Russia from 1815. Independence returned in November 1918 with the Second Polish Republic. After 1945 came the communist Polish People's Republic in the Soviet sphere. ⁵

The Piast kingdom, 966 to 1370

From the mid-12th century the Piast realm was divided among branches of the dynasty, and new enemies found it weak. Its main foes were the Teutonic Knights, invited in 1226 by a Polish duke to fight the pagan Prussians, and the Mongols and Tatars. In 1241 the Mongol invasion swept through the country, and on 9 April Duke Henry II the Pious was killed at Legnica as his army was routed. ⁶

By 1320 Władysław I the Short had reunited enough of the kingdom to be accepted abroad as king of an independent Poland; our article on Płowce (1331) covers his war with the Teutonic Knights. His son Casimir III the Great preferred diplomacy and concessions toward Bohemia and the Knights and expanded to the east instead. The Piast line ended with his death in 1370. ⁷

The Jagiellonian union and Grunwald

The marriage of Queen Jadwiga of Poland to Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania, who took the name Władysław II Jagiełło, joined the two states against a common enemy, the Teutonic Order. Lithuania accepted Latin Christianity, which removed the Knights' main reason to crusade against it. ⁸

In July 1410 a Polish-Lithuanian army invaded Prussia and met the Order near Grunwald and Tannenberg on 15 July. The king and his Lithuanian grand duke led an army joined, as the chroniclers have it, by Tatar skirmishers and Bohemian soldiers; the Lithuanian national encyclopedia credits Grand Duke Vytautas with directing the battle in practice. The Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen was killed, his charge failed and the Order's army broke. Grunwald was a Polish-Lithuanian victory that halted the Knights' expansion. ⁹

The victors could not take the Order's stronghold at Marienburg (Malbork). In the Peace of Toruń of 1411 the Knights gave up only Samogitia and the Dobrzyń land, though, History Today notes, they had to pay a substantial indemnity, and their decline as a military power began. By the 16th century the Order had been reduced to vassalage, and Poland-Lithuania held its place among the largest states of Europe. ¹⁰

The Commonwealth at war, 1569 to 1648

After 1572 the nobles elected their kings, often foreigners. Sigismund III Vasa, elected in 1587, fought long wars against Muscovy and his native Sweden. Our guide to the Polish-Swedish War of 1600 to 1629 and our article on Kircholm (1605) cover the Swedish war in Livonia, where the Lithuanian hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz commanded; in 1610 Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski won at Klushino and then entered Moscow, where the boyars accepted Sigismund's son Władysław as tsar. The success did not last. ¹¹

The south brought defeats as well as victories. The Commonwealth suffered what the Polish History Museum calls an unexpected and overwhelming defeat at Cecora (Țuțora) in 1620. In 1621 its army, commanded by Chodkiewicz and joined by Ukrainian Cossacks under Petro Sahaidachny, withstood a grueling siege by Sultan Osman II at Khotyn (Chocim), and a peace compromise followed. Our articles on Cecora in 1595, Oliwa and Trzciana cover other fights with the Ottomans and Sweden in these decades. ¹²

The Deluge and the Cossack war, 1648 to 1667

In 1648 a Cossack rising under Bohdan Khmelnytsky began in Ukraine and became a war of the Ukrainian people against the Commonwealth's nobility. Our article on Berestechko (1651) covers one of its great battles. The war went on, and when the rebels won Muscovy's intervention, the Pereiaslav agreement of 1654 placed the Cossack Hetmanate under the tsar's protection. Ukrainian and Polish memory of these years differ, and both belong to the story. ¹³

Muscovy then conquered much of the east, and in 1655 Charles X Gustav of Sweden invaded and overran most of the rest. King John Casimir fled the country. This was the Deluge (Potop). The defense of the Jasna Góra monastery at Częstochowa became its symbol, and under Stefan Czarniecki the Poles and Lithuanians drove the Swedes out, by 1657 in the Library of Congress country study, though the war ended only with the Peace of Oliwa in 1660 (our article on the siege of Kolding follows Czarniecki's later campaign in Denmark). The Truce of Andrusovo in 1667 still left Smolensk, Ukraine east of the Dnieper and Kyiv to Muscovy; the Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine calls it the first partition of Ukraine, while Russia’s Presidential Library describes the return of Smolensk and the reunification of Left-Bank Ukraine with Russia. ¹⁴

Sobieski and the relief of Vienna

John III Sobieski won fame against the Ottomans at Khotyn in 1673, and the victory helped carry him to the throne; he was elected king in 1674 and reigned until 1696 (see our biography of Jan III Sobieski). ¹⁵

In 1683 he led a relief army to Vienna, then besieged by the Ottomans. The Battle of Vienna on 12 September was a coalition victory: the relief force combined Polish troops with Imperial forces under Charles of Lorraine and contingents from Bavaria, Saxony and other German states. Sobieski held the supreme command, though Austrian historians stress that Charles of Lorraine drew up the battle plan. It was followed by the long war that pushed the Ottomans back, the Great Turkish War. ¹⁶

Our separate guide to the wars of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth follows these wars in more detail, and the ranking of the winged hussars' greatest battles picks out the most famous fights of the hussars.

Reform, partitions and Kościuszko, 1764 to 1795

By the 18th century the Commonwealth had become a Russian protectorate in all but name. Our guide to the Great Northern War (1700 to 1721) follows the Swedish, Saxon and Russian armies that fought across it in the first decades of that century. Russia, Prussia and Austria took their first slice of it in 1772. The reformers answered with the Constitution of 3 May 1791, but conservative nobles formed the Confederation of Targowica and called in Russia. Russia invaded, the king went over to Targowica, and Russia and Prussia carried out the Second Partition in 1793; our article on Zieleńce covers a Polish victory in that war of 1792. ¹⁷

In 1794 Tadeusz Kościuszko, a veteran of the American Revolution, led a national uprising. His insurgent army, which included peasants, won some early successes, among them Racławice, but fell before superior Russian and Prussian armies, in the words of the IPN guide (the Library of Congress country study names the forces of the Russian general Alexander Suvorov), and in 1795 the Third Partition wiped the Commonwealth from the map. See our biography of Kościuszko. ¹⁸

Legions, the Duchy of Warsaw and the uprisings, 1797 to 1864

In 1797 Jan Henryk Dąbrowski raised Polish Legions in Italy, in the service of the Lombard republic allied to France; Józef Wybicki wrote for them the song that became the Polish national anthem. Volunteer legions attached themselves to Bonaparte's armies in the hope of a restored Poland, so these were French wars rather than Polish ones; our articles on the Trebbia in 1799, Somosierra and Tarutino follow Polish troops in Italy, Spain and Russia, and our guide to Napoleon's invasion of Russia covers the campaign of 1812. ¹⁹

In 1807 Napoleon created the Duchy of Warsaw from Prussian lands, and in 1809 its army under Prince Józef Poniatowski won back land taken by Austria (our article on Raszyn covers that war). After Napoleon's fall the Congress of Vienna replaced the Duchy with the Congress Kingdom of Poland, tied to the Russian Empire, in 1815. ²⁰

In November 1830 Polish troops in Warsaw rose against Russian rule, and the November Uprising became a Polish-Russian war. After hard fighting, among others at Olszynka Grochowska and Ostrołęka, Russian troops stormed Warsaw in September 1831. The January Uprising of 1863 ended in another defeat, after which, in the words of the Library of Congress country study, Russia revoked the separate status of the Polish lands; our article on Iłża covers one of its fights. ²¹

Independence and the wars for the borders, 1914 to 1921

In World War I Poles fought in the armies of all three partitioning powers. Estimates of how many served range from about 2 million, in the Library of Congress country study, to more than 3 million, in figures published with the Museum of Polish History’s 2014 exhibition; about 450,000 died. Józef Piłsudski formed Polish legions on the side of the Central Powers against Russia on the Eastern Front. When those empires collapsed in November 1918, he returned to Warsaw from German internment, and the Regency Council handed him command of the army on 11 November and full authority on 14 November. Poland, absent from the map for 123 years, was independent again, and it marks 11 November as its Independence Day; our guide tells the whole story. ²²

The frontiers were settled by force. In the east, the Library of Congress country study notes, Piłsudski hoped for Polish dominance in western Ukraine, which set Poland against the Ukrainians as well as Soviet Russia; the fighting for Lwów (Lviv) began on 1 November 1918. In the west the Greater Poland Uprising broke out against German rule on 27 December 1918, and early in January 1919 the insurgents took the Ławica airfield near Poznań. Both struggles are also part of Ukrainian and German history. ²³

The Polish-Soviet War turned on a Polish and Ukrainian offensive that began on 25 April 1920 and took Kyiv on 7 May, and a Red Army counterattack that drove almost to Warsaw. On 16 August Piłsudski struck from the Wieprz river into the Soviet flank; both Norman Davies and M. B. B. Biskupski stress that he was helped by the Soviet decision to send Budyonny’s cavalry against Lwów instead of Warsaw. The Battle of Warsaw was followed in September by the Niemen, and the compromise Peace of Riga of 18 March 1921 ended the war. ²⁴

The battle is popularly called the Miracle on the Vistula, but the historian Norman Davies calls it a hard-fought battle, not a miracle, and rejects the later claims that the French General Weygand or Providence won it. Our articles on Zadwórze and Komarów cover the cavalry fighting of that summer, and a separate guide collects the battles that secured independence. ²⁵

How Poland fought in World War II: 1939

Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, after the staged Gleiwitz incident, with about 1.5 million men; the National WWII Museum counts 2,750 tanks and 2,315 aircraft, while the German Historical Museum gives the two supporting air fleets 1,107 aircraft. Its superiority in equipment and mobility was overwhelming. Our articles follow the Polish defense at Westerplatte, Mokra, Mława and Wizna. Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September but gave no effective help in the field. ²⁶

Our article on the Battle of the Bzura covers the Polish counteroffensive of mid-September. On 17 September the Red Army crossed the eastern border under the secret protocol of the German-Soviet pact (our article: the Soviet invasion of Poland). Warsaw surrendered on 27 or 28 September, depending on the source, and the two invaders fixed their partition line in a treaty of 28 September (the US Holocaust Memorial Museum dates the partition to the 29th); the last operational Polish unit surrendered on 6 October (see the defense of Hel and the Battle of Kock). ²⁷

Occupation, the Holocaust and the Warsaw Uprising

Both occupiers set out to destroy Polish society. In 1940 the Soviet security police murdered thousands of captured Polish officers and members of the intelligentsia, the crime known as the Katyn massacre. Germany made occupied Poland the main killing ground of the Holocaust: the Germans murdered at least 3 million Jewish citizens of Poland, almost the whole Jewish community, and, by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s estimate, 1.8 to 1.9 million non-Jewish Polish civilians; the Library of Congress country study puts the non-Jewish dead at roughly as many as the Jewish, and The Holocaust Explained at three million. ²⁸

On 1 August 1944 the Home Army (Armia Krajowa) began the Warsaw Uprising, meaning to free the city before the Red Army, then on the east bank of the Vistula, entered it. Soviet forces did not intervene; historians still debate why, and the IPN says Moscow did all it could to make the uprising fail. After 63 days the insurgents capitulated on 2 October, and German troops destroyed most of the city during and after the fighting. The Rising remains significant but controversial in Polish memory. ²⁹

Polish forces in the West and the East

Poland's armed forces fought on in exile under the government in London. The Highland Brigade fought at Narvik in 1940, Polish pilots flew in the Battle of Britain, and the Carpathian Brigade held Tobruk in 1941. General Władysław Anders, freed from a Soviet prison, formed an army in the Soviet Union that left for the Middle East and became the Polish II Corps. ³⁰

At Monte Cassino in May 1944 the II Corps made the fourth Allied attempt on the abbey after Indian and New Zealand units had failed; its renewed assault took the ruins on 18 May. By the count of the Museum of the Polish Second Corps, it lost 860 dead and 2,822 wounded at Monte Cassino and Piedimonte, and it went on to Ancona and Bologna. In Normandy General Stanisław Maczek's 1st Armoured Division helped close the pocket at Falaise, and Stanisław Sosabowski's paratroopers dropped in Operation Market Garden. ³¹

Our article on the Seelow Heights covers the Polish units that fought alongside the Red Army in 1945.

After 1945

Poland came out of the war as a communist state in the Soviet sphere, its borders moved west: the Allies gave it German lands up to the Oder and Neisse rivers, while about 3 million Poles, by the Library of Congress country study’s count, were moved from the eastern lands annexed by the Soviet Union. Germany lost these eastern territories, from which millions of Germans were expelled. ³²

Polish commanders

The Commonwealth's hetmans included Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, the Lithuanian who commanded at Kircholm and Khotyn, Stanisław Żółkiewski of Klushino, Stanisław Koniecpolski and Stefan Czarniecki; its warrior kings were Stefan Batory and Jan III Sobieski. In the partition era Tadeusz Kościuszko and Józef Poniatowski led armies, and in the 20th century Józef Piłsudski, Władysław Anders, Stanisław Maczek and Stanisław Sosabowski. Our guide to the greatest Polish commanders ranks them. ³³

Poland's battles, era by era: all 57

Every battle we have written up in which the Kingdom of Poland, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Duchy of Warsaw, the Polish insurgents or the Polish Republic took part, in date order. For a short ranking, see the greatest Polish battles; to test yourself, take the Polish battles quiz.

The Middle Ages 476 to 1500 · 4

1. 1241
   Battle of Legnica, 1241Mongol Empire vs Poland and allies

   How a Mongol army crushed Henry the Pious at Legnica in 1241, the furthest west the Mongols won in Europe.

   
2. 1331
   The Battle of Płowce, 1331Kingdom of Poland vs Teutonic Order

   King Władysław the Elbow-high caught part of the Teutonic army on the march.

   
3. 1410
   The Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg), 1410Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania vs Teutonic Order

   One of medieval Europe's largest battles. How a Polish-Lithuanian alliance shattered the Teutonic Knights, and why the Grand Master lay dead by evening.

   
4. 1444
   Battle of Varna, 1444Kingdom of Hungary, Kingdom of Poland and Wallachia vs Ottoman Empire

   Who won at Varna in 1444? Murad II's Ottomans crushed the crusade of Władysław III and John Hunyadi. Armies, the king's fatal charge, losses and legacy.

   

The early modern era 1492 to 1789 · 18

1. 1514
   The Battle of Orsha, 1514Poland and Lithuania vs Grand Duchy of Moscow

   A false retreat and hidden guns: Ostrogski's great victory on the Dnieper.

   
2. 1531
   The Battle of Obertyn, 1531Kingdom of Poland vs Moldavia

   Outnumbered three to one, Tarnowski built a fortress of wagons.

   
3. 1595
   Battle of Cecora, 1595Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth vs Crimean Khanate and Ottoman troops

   In October 1595 Jan Zamoyski's army held a fortified camp on the Prut against the Crimean khan, and the khan agreed to recognize Poland's candidate as ruler of Moldavia.

   
4. 1605
   Battle of Kircholm, 1605Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth vs Sweden

   How ~3,600 Polish-Lithuanian troops and their winged hussars annihilated a Swedish army three times their size at Kircholm in 1605.

   
5. 1610
   Battle of Klushino, 1610Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth vs Tsardom of Russia

   How the outnumbered winged hussars won at Klushino in 1610 and opened the road to Moscow.

   
6. 1619
   Battle of Humenné, 1619Lisowczycy (Polish light horse in Habsburg service) vs Transylvania

   In November 1619 Polish Lisowczyk horsemen routed Rákóczi's Transylvanians near Humenné, and Bethlen lifted his siege of Vienna: the first relief of Vienna.

   
7. 1621
   Battle of Khotyn, 1621Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Cossacks vs Ottoman Empire

   How a Polish-Lithuanian and Cossack army held Khotyn in 1621 against Sultan Osman II, and how the failure cost him his throne.

   
8. 1627
   The Battle of Oliwa, 1627Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth vs Sweden

   The Commonwealth's small navy breaks the Swedish blockade of Gdańsk.

   
9. 1629
   The Battle of Trzciana, 1629Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Holy Roman Empire vs Sweden

   The day the hussars almost captured the Swedish king.

   
10. 1644
    Battle of Okhmativ, 1644Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth vs Crimean Khanate

    On 30 January 1644 Hetman Koniecpolski and Prince Wiśniowiecki routed Tuhaj Bey's Tatar raid at Okhmativ, before it could plunder the Commonwealth.

    
11. 1651
    The Battle of Berestechko, 1651Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth vs Zaporozhian Cossacks and Crimean Khanate

    King John II Casimir against Khmelnytsky and the Crimean khan.

    
12. 1655
    The Siege of Jasna Góra, 1655Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (garrison of Jasna Góra) vs Sweden

    A small garrison of monks and soldiers turned back the Swedes.

    
13. 1656
    Battle of Warsaw, 1656Swedish Empire and Brandenburg vs Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Crimean Khanate

    Who won the Battle of Warsaw in 1656? Charles X Gustav and the Great Elector beat John Casimir in three days of fighting, yet it changed little. See why.

    
14. 1657
    Battle of Czarny Ostrów, 1657Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth vs Principality of Transylvania and allies

    On 20 July 1657 Polish armies caught George II Rákóczi of Transylvania at Czarny Ostrów in Podolia and forced him to capitulate and leave Poland.

    
15. 1658
    Siege of Kolding, 1658Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (allied with Denmark) vs Sweden

    At Christmas 1658 Czarniecki's Polish cavalry, sent to help Denmark against Sweden, stormed the Swedish-held castle of Kolding at the third attempt.

    
16. 1673
    The Battle of Khotyn, 1673Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth vs Ottoman Empire

    After a freezing night, the hussars rode through the breach.

    
17. 1683
    The Siege of Vienna, 1683Poland, Holy Roman Empire and German states vs Ottoman Empire

    A starving city, then the winged hussars came down the mountain. The day the Ottoman advance into Europe turned.

    
18. 1694
    The Battle of Hodów, 1694Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth vs Budjak Horde (Tatars)

    About 400 Polish cavalrymen hold a village against a vast Tatar army.

    

The Napoleonic era 1789 to 1815 · 9

1. 1792
   The Battle of Zieleńce, 1792Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth vs Russian Empire

   The battle that gave birth to Poland's highest military order.

   
2. 1794
   The Battle of Racławice, 1794Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Kościuszko Uprising) vs Russian Empire

   Peasants with scythes stormed the Russian guns.

   
3. 1794
   Battle of Kobyłka, 1794Polish-Lithuanian insurgents vs Russian Empire

   On 26 October 1794 Suvorov's Russians caught the Lithuanian corps retreating to Warsaw at Kobyłka. The last battle of the Kościuszko Uprising before the storming of Praga.

   
4. 1799
   Battle of the Trebbia, 1799Russian Empire and Habsburg Monarchy vs French Republic and the Polish Legion

   From 17 to 19 June 1799 Suvorov's Russians and Austrians beat Macdonald's French on the Trebbia, and Dąbrowski's Polish Legion was nearly destroyed.

   
5. 1808
   Battle of Somosierra, 1808French Empire (Polish light horse) vs Kingdom of Spain

   How Napoleon's Polish light horse charged the guns at Somosierra in 1808 and opened the road to Madrid.

   
6. 1809
   The Battle of Raszyn, 1809Duchy of Warsaw (with Saxon troops) vs Austrian Empire

   The Duchy of Warsaw's army stood its ground against a far larger enemy.

   
7. 1809
   Battle of Almonacid, 1809French Empire and the Duchy of Warsaw vs Kingdom of Spain (Army of La Mancha)

   On 11 August 1809 Sébastiani's corps, with the Polish Division taking the key hill, broke Venegas's Spanish Army of La Mancha at Almonacid south of Toledo.

   
8. 1810
   Battle of Fuengirola, 1810Duchy of Warsaw and France vs Britain and Spain

   In October 1810 a Polish garrison in Sohail Castle beat off an Anglo-Spanish landing on the Spanish coast and captured its commander, Lord Blayney.

   
9. 1812
   Battle of Tarutino, 1812Russian Empire vs France and the Duchy of Warsaw

   On 18 October 1812 Kutuzov's army surprised Murat's vanguard at Tarutino, south of Moscow. Murat escaped, but the next day Napoleon began his retreat from the city.

   

The industrial age 1815 to 1914 · 6

1. 1831
   The Battle of Stoczek, 1831Kingdom of Poland (November Uprising) vs Russian Empire

   The uprising's first victory in the field.

   
2. 1831
   The Battle of Olszynka Grochowska, 1831Kingdom of Poland (November Uprising) vs Russian Empire

   The Polish army stopped the Russians at the gates of Warsaw.

   
3. 1831
   The Battle of Ostrołęka, 1831Kingdom of Poland (November Uprising) vs Russian Empire

   One of the bloodiest battles of the November Uprising.

   
4. 1831
   Battle of Rajgród, 1831Polish insurgent army vs Russian Empire

   Three days after Ostrołęka, Giełgud's Polish corps caught Osten-Sacken's Russians near Rajgród, took the town after four hours and opened the road to Lithuania.

   
5. 1831
   Battle of Paneriai, 1831Polish and Lithuanian insurgents vs Russian Empire

   On 19 June 1831 Giełgud's Polish and Lithuanian insurgents attacked the Russian lines on the Paneriai hills outside Vilnius and were thrown back after four hours.

   
6. 1864
   Battle of Iłża, 1864Polish insurgents (3rd Stopnica Infantry Regiment) vs Russian Empire

   On 17 January 1864 Karol Kalita Rębajło's insurgents ambushed a Russian column in deep frost near Iłża and fought their way into the town, a rare late win of the January Uprising.

   

World War I 1914 to 1919 · 4

1. 1914
   The Polish Legions in World War I, 1914 to 1918Polish Legions vs Russian Empire

   Piłsudski's volunteers, from the First Cadre Company to Kostiuchnówka and the oath crisis.

   
2. 1918
   The Greater Poland Uprising, 1918 to 1919: Poznań risesGreater Poland insurgents vs German Empire

   On 27 December 1918 Poznań rose against German rule; seven weeks later the Armistice of Trier froze the front and Versailles gave Greater Poland to Poland.

   
3. 1918
   The Polish-Ukrainian WarPoland vs West Ukrainian People's Republic

   From the Ukrainian rising in Lwów on 1 November 1918 to the Zbruch in July 1919: how Poland won Eastern Galicia, and why the Allies took until 1923 to agree.

   
4. 1918
   The Defence of Lwów, 1918Poland vs West Ukrainian People's Republic

   Schoolboys and students held the city for three weeks.

   

World War II 1939 to 1945 · 16

1. 1939
   Battle of Wizna, 1939Poland vs Nazi Germany

   How a few hundred Poles held Wizna for three days against a German corps in 1939, the Polish Thermopylae.

   
2. 1939
   The Defence of Hel, 1939Poland vs Germany

   Cut off on a Baltic sandbar, the garrison held for 32 days.

   
3. 1939
   The Battle of Mokra, 1939Poland vs Germany

   On the first day of the war, a cavalry brigade held off a panzer division.

   
4. 1939
   The Battle of Mława, 1939Poland vs Germany

   Polish bunkers stopped the German 3rd Army at the border.

   
5. 1939
   The Battle of Westerplatte, 1939Poland vs Nazi Germany

   Told to hold for twelve hours, Westerplatte held for seven days.

   
6. 1939
   Battle of Kałuszyn, 1939Poland vs Nazi Germany

   How the Iron Division retook Kałuszyn east of Warsaw in a night attack, and the famous, contested uhlan charge of 1939.

   
7. 1939
   Soviet invasion of Poland, 1939Soviet Union vs Poland

   On 17 September 1939, with Poland still fighting Germany, the Red Army crossed the eastern border under the secret Nazi-Soviet protocol. The invasion, the resistance and the cost.

   
8. 1939
   The Battle of the Bzura, 1939Poland vs Nazi Germany

   The largest battle of September 1939, and Poland's great counterstroke.

   
9. 1939
   The Battle of Kock, 1939Poland vs Germany

   Undefeated in the field, General Kleeberg ran out of ammunition.

   
10. 1940
    The Battle of Narvik, 1940Norway, Britain, France and Poland vs Germany

    Polish mountain troops among the fjords of northern Norway.

    
11. 1941
    The Siege of Tobruk, 1941Allies (Australia, Britain, Poland, Czechoslovakia and others) vs Germany and Italy

    The Carpathian Brigade holds the hardest sectors of the desert fortress.

    
12. 1944
    Battle of Monte Cassino, 1944Allies (incl. Polish II Corps) vs Nazi Germany

    How four battles, the last won by the Polish II Corps, took Monte Cassino in 1944 and opened the road to Rome.

    
13. 1944
    The Warsaw Uprising, 1944Poland vs Germany

    Warsaw rose against the German occupation and fought alone for 63 days.

    
14. 1944
    The Battle of Falaise, 1944Allies (USA, Britain, Canada, Poland, Free France) vs Germany

    The Polish armored division corked the Falaise Pocket.

    
15. 1944
    Operation Market GardenAllies (Britain, US, Poland) vs Germany

    The Allied airborne gamble of September 1944, a chain of Dutch bridges, and the bridge too far at Arnhem where the plan came apart.

    
16. 1945
    Battle of the Seelow Heights, 1945Soviet Union and Poland vs Germany

    On 16 April 1945 Zhukov's armies attacked the Seelow Heights, the last ridge before Berlin. Searchlights blinded the wrong side, and the breakthrough took four bloody days.

    

Other 5

1. 1919
   Battle of Ławica, 1919Greater Poland insurgents vs German Empire

   On 6 January 1919 Greater Poland insurgents cut the power, fired four shells and took the German air station at Poznań in about twenty minutes. The prize was the start of Poland's air force.

   
2. 1920
   The Battle of Zadwórze, 1920Poland vs Soviet Russia

   Young Lwów volunteers stood in the path of Budyonny's cavalry.

   
3. 1920
   Battle of Warsaw, 1920Poland vs Soviet Russia

   How Poland shattered the advancing Red Army at the gates of Warsaw in 1920, the Miracle on the Vistula.

   
4. 1920
   The Battle of Komarów, 1920Poland vs Soviet Russia

   Polish uhlans broke Budyonny's 1st Cavalry Army.

   
5. 1920
   Battle of the Niemen, 1920Second Polish Republic vs Soviet Russia

   In September 1920 Piłsudski's armies broke Tukhachevsky's new front on the Niemen at Grodno and Lida, taking tens of thousands of prisoners and ending the war.

   

Timeline

1. 966
   Mieszko I is baptized; Polish statehood is dated from here.³⁴
2. 1241
   Henry II the Pious is killed fighting the Mongols (Battle of Legnica).³⁵
3. 1385
   Union of Krewo: Jogaila of Lithuania agrees to marry Jadwiga and accept Latin Christianity.³⁶
4. 1410
   A Polish-Lithuanian army defeats the Teutonic Order (Battle of Grunwald).³⁷
5. 1569
   Union of Lublin creates the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.³⁸
6. 1610
   Żółkiewski wins at Klushino; Commonwealth forces enter Moscow.³⁹
7. 1655
   Sweden invades: the Deluge.⁴⁰
8. 1683
   A coalition army under Sobieski relieves Vienna (Battle of Vienna).⁴¹
9. 1795
   Third Partition: the Commonwealth disappears from the map.⁴²
10. 1807
    Napoleon creates the Duchy of Warsaw.⁴³
11. 1830
    The November Uprising breaks out in Warsaw.⁴⁴
12. 1918
    Poland regains independence in November.⁴⁵
13. 1920
    Polish victory over the Red Army (Battle of Warsaw).⁴⁶
14. 1939
    Germany invades on 1 September, the Soviet Union on 17 September.⁴⁷
15. 1944
    Monte Cassino falls on 18 May; the Warsaw Uprising lasts 63 days.⁴⁸

Memory and further reading

Grunwald has been ranked ever since among the most important battles in Polish history. The date of the Soviet invasion, 17 September 1939, is deeply anchored in Polish memory and is remembered by Polish communities abroad as well. ⁴⁹

For more, read Polish victories against the odds, the Polish heroes of the American Revolution and the battles that won Polish independence, and compare the neighbors' stories in the Germany and France hubs.