On 6 October 1939 the soldiers of the Independent Operational Group “Polesie” laid down their arms near Kock, in the Lublin region. Their commander, Brigadier General Franciszek Kleeberg, had built the group in September from reserve units, garrison troops and remnants of other formations, and led it toward Warsaw, which capitulated before it arrived. From 2 October it fought the German XIV Motorized Corps around Kock and Wola Gułowska. On 5 October, with the ammunition exhausted, Kleeberg ordered the fighting to stop. Kock was the last battle of the 1939 campaign, and Kleeberg the last Polish general to lay down his arms. On 6 October 1973 Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on Yom Kippur.
Near Castricum in North Holland, Guillaume Brune's French and Batavian troops fought the Duke of York's Anglo-Russian army in the war against the Second Coalition. The invaders were beaten, which ended their hopes in Holland and led them to agree to leave the country.
1973: Egypt and Syria attacked Israel on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Gawrych writes that a warning from Ze’ira of Israeli Military Intelligence reached Meir, Dayan and Elazar “shortly after 0430” that day, naming 1800 as the hour of attack; the CIA's 1975 report says the Sinai commander, General Gonen, “was told to expect an attack at 1800 local time”. In a call FRUS times at 6:40 a.m. (Kissinger was in New York, Dobrynin in Washington), Kissinger told the Soviet ambassador, Dobrynin, of Israeli information that an attack was planned “within the next 6 hours”, and at 7 a.m. in New York he told Egyptian Foreign Minister Zayyat of “an appeal from the Israelis to the effect that your forces and the Syrian forces are planning attacks within the next several hours”.1
According to the CIA report, “shortly before 1400 Israeli time” Syrian and Egyptian forces “simultaneously launched artillery and air strikes across the cease-fire lines”; Gawrych gives 1405. He writes that the first wave, 8,000 commandos and infantrymen in 1,000 rubber rafts, crossed the Suez Canal at 1420 and the first units reached the east bank at 1430; the CIA puts the first Egyptian tanks on the east bank “at about 1600 local time”, and 100 tanks across by 2100. At a meeting of the Washington Special Actions Group in Washington, which FRUS times at 9:01 to 10:06 a.m., Roy Atherton of the State Department said of the Israelis: “all the evidence is that they were caught by surprise. This is the last day in the year (Yom Kippur) when they would have started something”.2
Frequently asked questions
When was the Battle of Kock?
The fighting began on 2 October 1939. The IPN biography and Kowalski date the battle 2 to 5 October, Tyszuk 2 to 6 October. Kleeberg ordered the fighting to stop on 5 October, and his troops laid down their arms on 6 October.
Who commanded the Polish forces at Kock?
Brigadier General Franciszek Kleeberg, commander of the Independent Operational Group “Polesie”. Estimates of its strength range from about 17,000 men (Kowalski) to about 20,000 (Gąsiorowski).
Why did Kleeberg surrender at Kock?
His troops had run out of ammunition and had no dressings for the wounded. In his order of the afternoon of 5 October he wrote that they were surrounded and that further fighting offered no hope and would only spill soldiers' blood that might yet be needed.
How many Poles were taken prisoner at Kock?
Kowalski and Tyszuk give 16,860, including four generals; Kennedy gives 17,000.
What happened to General Kleeberg?
He died in German captivity on 5 April 1941 and was buried at Neustadt. In 1969, on the battle's thirtieth anniversary, his remains were brought back to Poland and laid in the cemetery at Kock.
Notes
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