Kiev Offensive (1920)
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| Polish Breguet 14 operating from Kyiv airfield | |||||||||||||||||
| Kiev Offensive (1920) | |||||||||||||||||
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| Conflict | Polish-Bolshevik War | ||||||||||||||||
| Date | April-June, 1920 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place | Ukraine | ||||||||||||||||
| Result | inconclusive | ||||||||||||||||
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The Kiev Offensive (or Kiev Operation) was an important military operation, carried out by Polish Army and allied Ukrainian forces during the Polish-Bolshevik War, from April 1920 to June of the same year. Its stated goal was to create an independent Ukraine, though many ethnic Ukrainians viewed it as a Polish act of aggression and rallied to fight in the ranks of the Red Army. With not enough support from the Ukrainian population and growing pressure from the Bolshevik counteroffensive, Polish and allied Ukrainian forces were forced, after initial successes, to retreat from Ukraine.
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Before the Battle
On April 24 Poland begun the Kiev Operation, aimed at creating an independent Ukraine, to become part of Piłsudzki's Międzymorze Federation. Poland signed a military alliance with the Ukrainian People's Republic of Symon Petliura, who had found asylum in Poland after the defeat of his government at the Bolsheviks' hands.
Petliura now headed the new Ukrainian Army. The joint Polish-Ukrainian political campaign depended on the creation of a strong Ukrainian army capable of defeating the Soviets in Ukraine. The campaign, while initially successful, had to be abandoned due to lack of time. The local population was tired of hostilities after several years of war and the Ukrainian Army never exceeded two divisions.
The plan of Kiev Operation was to defeat the Soviet troops on the Polish southern flank and establish a friendly government in Ukraine. The main task of the advancing Polish armies was to outflank the Bolsheviks and destroy them in a single battle. After winning the battle in the South, the Polish General Staff planned a speedy withdrawal of the 3rd Army and strengthening of the northern front where Piłsudski expected the main battle with the Red Army to take place. As is often the case, the actual course of events was different than envisioned.
Polish assault
The 3rd Army easily won border clashes with the Soviets and the combined Polish-Ukrainian forces captured Kiev on May 7, encountering only token resistance. However the Bolshevik army, although badly mauled, avoided total destruction. The Polish offensive stopped at Kiev and only a small bridgehead was established on the eastern bank of the Dnieper.
This military thrust soon met with a Red Army counterattack. On May 24, the Polish-Ukrainian force was engaged by the Semyon Budionny and his famous 1st Cavalry Army for the first time. Polish-Ukrainian forces succeeded in slowing and even defeating the Red Army on several occasions. Their morale was high, as Polish-Ukrainian forces were eager to defend Dnieper Ukraine and confident in their ability to withstand the Soviet offensive.
Bolshevik counter-attack
Polish intelligence was aware of the Russian preparations for an all-out offensive and the Polish commander-in-chief, Józef Piłsudski ordered the commander of all the Polish forces on the Ukrainian Front, General Antoni Listowski to prepare his forces for a strategic withdrawal. From the perspective of staff maps in Warsaw it was clear that the renascent Polish Army was too weak to withstand both the offensive in the southern sector of the front in Ukraine and the spring offensive prepared by the Bolsheviks in Belarus and to the north of the Prypeć Marshes. However, the commander of the Polish 3rd Army located around Kiev, General Edward Rydz, was seeking a way to repel the upcomming Russian assault rather than withdraw and even proposed the General Staff to regroup all of his forces to the city of Kiev and defend there until relieved. This plan was turned down by Piłsudski, who knew that no relief force could be prepared any time soon. He repeated his orders of withdrawal of the Polish 3rd and 6th Armies from the area of Kiev.
General Rydz organised a series of tactical counter-attacks which resulted in victories in the areas of Bila Tserkva, where the Bolshevik 44th Rifle Division lost the entire staff and one of its brigades and the Battle of Wołodarka, which routed the Bolshevik 4th Cavalry Division and made one of its cossack regiments switch sides. However, repeated attacks by the elite Budionny's cossack cavalry broke the Polish Ukrainian front on June 5th and on June 10th Polish armies were retreating along the entire front.
It was a bitter day for the Poles and Ukrainians on June 13 when Kiev was evacuated and left to the Soviets. Petliura's Ukrainians, although few in numbers, fought bravely and with fierce determination throughout the rest of the campaign. In the face of almost unlimited Russian reserves and the slow growth of the Ukrainian army, Polish and Ukrainian forces were ordered to retreat. While the units managed to withdraw in order and relatively unscathed, they were tied down in Ukraine and lacked sufficient strength to support the Polish Northern Front and strengthen defenses at the Auta River during the decisive battle that was soon to take place there.
However, the Bolshevik objectives were not accomplished either. Due to poor command and conflicts within the staff of the South-Western Front, the Polish 3rd Army managed to avoid encirclement and complete destruction and successfully retreated from Ukraine.
Opposing forces
The following is the Order of Battle of Polish and Bolshevik forces taking part in the struggles in Ukraine, as of April 25, 1920. It should be noted that the command structure changed during the operation.
Among Polish Airforce was the 7th Kosciuszko Squadron.
Poles
| Polish Army | Unit | Polish name | Commander | Remarks | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Command of the Polish Army - Gen. Józef Piłsudski | |||||||||||||
| supporting armies | |||||||||||||
| 6th Army Iwaszkiewicz | 5th Infantry | Jędrzejewski | |||||||||||
| 12th Infantry | Żegota-Januszajtis | ||||||||||||
| 18th Infantry | Krajowski | ||||||||||||
| 2nd Army Listowski | 13th Infantry | Paulik | |||||||||||
| 15th Infantry | Jasiński | ||||||||||||
| 6th Ukrainian | Bezruchko | ||||||||||||
| Assault Group - Józef Piłsudski | |||||||||||||
| Assault Group Piłsudski | 4th Infantry | Skierski | |||||||||||
| Cavalry Division | Romer | ||||||||||||
| Rybak Operational Group Rybak | 1st Mountain Bde | Wróblewski | |||||||||||
| 7th Cavalry Bde | Romanowicz | ||||||||||||
| Rydz-Śmigły Operational Group Rydz-Śmigły | 1st Legions | Rydz-Śmigły | |||||||||||
| 7th Infantry | Pogorzelski | ||||||||||||
| 3rd Cavalry Bde | Sawicki | ||||||||||||
Bolsheviks
| Red Army | Unit | Russian name | Commander | Remarks | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South-Western Front - Gen. Aleksandr Yegorov | |||||||||||||
| 12th Army Miezheninov | 7th Rifle | ||||||||||||
| 44th Rifle | |||||||||||||
| 47th Rifle | |||||||||||||
| 58th Rifle | |||||||||||||
| 17th Cavalry Division | |||||||||||||
| 14th Army Uborevich | 21st Rifle | ||||||||||||
| 41st Rifle | |||||||||||||
| 45th Rifle | |||||||||||||
| 60th Rifle | |||||||||||||
| 8th Cavalry Division | |||||||||||||
| 13th Army | unknown composition | ||||||||||||
References
- Lech Wyszczelski (1999). Kijów 1920. Warsaw: Bellona. ISBN 8311089639
- Norman Davies (2003). White Eagle, Red Star: The Polish-Soviet War, 1919-20. London: Pimlico. ISBN 0712606947
- Józef Piłsudski (1937 - 1991). Pisma zbiorowe (Collected Works). Warsaw: Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza (reprint). ISBN 8303030590
- Mikhail Tukhachevski (1989). Lectures at Military Academy in Moscow, February 7-10, 1923 in: Pochód za Wisłę. Łódź: . ISBN
Categories: Polish battles | Polish-Soviet War | Soviet battles | Ukrainian history | History of Kyiv city
