Polish-Lithuanian War

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The Polish-Lithuanian War refers to the armed conflict between newly independent nations of Lithuania and the Second Polish Republic that lasted from August of 1920 to October 7, 1920. It was a part of a wider conflict for the control over the cities of Wilno (currently Vilnius), Suwałki and Augustów, that raged on between the end of World War I and October of 1920. The conflict was won by Poland, who controlled all the areas disputed by Lithuania and gained international recognition of its borders. It happened simultaneously to the Polish-Bolshevik War and sometimes is considered a part of it.

Before the Battle

Following the start of the Polish-Soviet war in 1919 the majority of Lithuanian territory was soon occupied by the Red Army which defeated and pushed back Polish and Lithuanian self-defence units, but shortly afterwards the Bolsheviks were forced to retreat by the Polish Army.

Lithuania joined the Soviet Union side in the Polish-Soviet War in July 1919. This decision was dictated by a desire to incorporate the city of Wilno (Vilnius) and the neighbouring areas into Lithuania and to a smaller extent by Soviet diplomatic pressure backed by the threat of the Red Army stationed on Lithuania's borders. The new Lithuanian government decided to make Wilno the capital of Lithuania (it was the historical capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania), despite it being populated mainly by Poles and Jews. (Lithuanians made about 2% of the population according to the Russian census of 1915. This percentage was higher in some of the neighbouring rural areas, where in some villages the Lithuanians or Belarusians were a majority.)

1920 saw Central Lithuania occupied by the Red Army for the second time, although Russia officially recognized the sovereignty of the Lithuanian Soviet Republic over the city. Lenin was probably waiting for the capture of Warsaw prior to occupying the remainder of Lithuania. However, when the Red Army was defeated in the Battle of Warsaw, the Soviets made the decision to hand over the city back to Lithuania.

Conflict

Early stage

In the end of June of 1920, during the Soviet summer offensive towards Warsaw, the Lithuanian authorities started to seek contact with the Soviet authorities. A diplomatic mission sent to Moscow signed an agreement on July 12, in which the Bolshevik Russia allowed the Lithuanian state to seize the territory of the region of Suwałki from the withdrawing Polish forces. Two days later the disputed area of Vilna was captured by the Red Army and handed over to the Lithuanian government. Following the Lithuanian-Soviet Alliance, the demarcation line between Bolshevik and Lithuanian troops ran north of Augustów (Orany-Merecz river-Augustów line). On July 19 the town of Sejny was seized by Marijampole Group under maj. Valevicius. On July 29 the Red Army seized Augustów and the following day Lithuanians captured Suwałki. The weak Polish units retreated towards Łomża, where they were surrounded by the Red Army and forces to cross the border with East Prussia, where they were interned.

The Lithuanian authorities started to organise themselves in the newly-conquered areas. However, after the Russian defeat in the Battle of Warsaw, the danger of losing them became apparent. The badly beaten Red troops started their withdrawal from the area, and their retreat exposed the area of Augustów, also claimed by Lithuania. Knowing that the Polish Army was occupied with preparations for the Battle of the Niemen River and pursuit after the fleeing Bolsheviks, the Lithuanian authorities decided to create fait accompli by capturing the town of Augustów, which happened on August 26. At the same time envoys were sent to the Polish troops, advising them not to cross the Grabowo-Augustów-Sztabin line, which was planned by the Lithuanians as a new demarcation line between Poland and Lithuania.

Although seizing the territory of Suwałki was crucial in further Polish operations against the Red Army, the Polish Army commanders did not want to engage in yet another armed conflict. The Polish Military Mission to Kaunas, as well as Polish diplomats at the Paris Peace Conference, started to put pressure on the Lithuanian government to return to the Status quo ante bellum borders between the two states. The Lithuanian authorities declined, but the Highest Council of the Paris Peace Conference accepted the so-called Foch Line (named after Marechal de France Ferdinand Foch), that was to divide Poland and Lithuania on an ethnic basis. According to that line, both the disputed city of Wilno (currently Vilnius) and the towns of Suwałki, Augustów and Sejny were to be left on the Polish side.

Wanting to by-pass the disputed area and outflank the withdrawing Bolsheviks, the commander of the Polish 2nd Army general Edward Rydz (later Marshal of Poland) ordered on August 27 that the Lithuanian forces be pushed out of the disputed area to the other side of the line supported by the Entente. He did not expect any serious opposition, but in case the Lithuanian units wanted to put up a fight, they were to be encircled, disarmed and sent home. The Cavalry Operational Group under Adam Nieniewski was ordered to secure the area as soon as possible.

The following day the Group started its advance towards Augustów in two columns from the area of Białystok. At the same time the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Polish 1st Legions Infantry Division took the Lithuanian defenders of the town by surprise and disarmed a company of the Lithuanian 10th Infantry Regiment, securing the city. Also the Nieniewski's forces were not opposed and the Lithuanian forces withdrew northwards when asked by the Polish officers. In the evening of August 30, a recce squadron of the so-called Piasecki's Cavalry Brigade under Zygmunt Piasecki reached the city of Suwałki and asked the Lithuanian forces to withdraw. The following day in the morning colonel Nieniewski entered the city, together with the his staff, 7th Uhlans Regiment and two battalions of the 41st Suwałki Infantry Regiment.

At the same time in the area of the village of Giby, between the Gieret and Pomorze lakes and south of Sejny, a well dug-in company of Lithuanian infantry, reinforced with three machine guns, refused to withdraw and responded with fire. Unwilling to spill the blood of his men, the Polish commander asked a member of the French Military Mission to Poland general Manneville to mediate and, after a short conference, the Lithuanians withdrew. On August 31 the town of Sejny was finally liberated by the 16th Uhlans Regiment. The withdrawing Lithuanian forces were allowed to by-pass the town and the Foch Line was manned from both sides. To avoid conflicts with the Lithuanian forces, the Polish commander refused to send further patrols and reconnaissance squads were ordered not to reach the demarcation line.

On September 1, 1920, the Suwałki-based provisional governing body (Rada Ludowa Okręgu Suwalskiego - Popular Council of the Suwałki Area) was reestablished and all the courts and facilities closed down by the Lithuanian authorities were reopened. Until the authorities chosen in the 1919 elections were able to return, the cities and villages were to be governed by provisional starosts.

Lithuanian offensive

The area of Suwałki, lost in the effect of the Polish withdrawal, was regained with negligible losses on both sides. The Polish diplomats in Paris and Kaunas tried to reach an agreement with the Lithuanians on the recognition of the Foch Line as the future Polish-Lithuanian border. However, the Entente planned to leave the city of Wilno on the Polish side, while the Lithuanian state saw it as its capital. The future of Central Lithuania was no clear and the Lithuanian authorities decided to use the area of Suwałki as a trading card in negotiations with the Poles and the French. On September 2, 1920, a Lithuanian offensive towards the recently-lost towns of Suwałki and Augustów started.

The Augustavas Operation, as it was nick-named by the Lithuanian commanders, was carried over by forces of the Lithuanian 2nd Infantry Division, some 7000 soldiers altogether, with a 120-strong cavalry detachment, 100 machine guns and 12 pieces of artillery. The assault was planned along three main lines: Kalwaria-Suwałki, Sejny-Giby-Augustów and Lipsk-Augustów. Its purpose was to strike a wedge between the Polish troops and cut out the Polish units of Nieniewski's group from the rest of Polish Army fighting in the Battle of the Niemen River further southwards.

After a series of skirmishes in the area of the villages of Żubryn, Kleszczówek and Gulbieniszki, the Lithuanian assault towards Kalwaria was repelled and driven northwards. However, the south-eastern front was broken in the area of Sztabin and Kolnica and by September 4 the Lithuanian army reached the outskirts of Augustów. Also the assault towards Sejny, a town located only some two kilometres from the Foch Line, was successful. By noon of September 2 near Berżniki the first skirmish was reported. A commander of Polish cavalry reconnaissance troop operating in the area was confident that the Lithuanian unit he encountered simply lost its way and approached it. However, his unit was quickly surrounded and disarmed. Soon afterwards a general assault on Sejny started. After several hours of heavy artillery barrage and fights on the outskirts of the town, it was repelled with negligible losses on both sides. Commander of the defending Polish 16th Uhlans Regiment, major Skrzyński, was confident that the fight around the city was a misunderstanding, so he asked for a cease fire. After conferring with the Lithuanian officers, these asked Kaunas for confirmation of their orders. After it was given, the Poles decided they were outnumbered and left the city towards Krasnopol and Krasne without further opposition. In the fights for the city Poles lost 3 cavalrymen killed, several soldiers wounded and 8 POWs. The Lithuanian losses are unknown, except for 21 prisoners taken by the withdrawing Polish cavalry.

The following days, the Polish forces from Sejny withdrew further southwards, to the area of Nowa Wieś and Wigry lake. At the same time a counter-offensive along the Augustów-Sejny road was prepared. The operation started on September 5 and was a success. The Lithuanian forces advancing from Sejny were scattered and Augustów was secured. Three battalions of Lithuanian infantry were surrounded and almost completely destroyed, while the remaining forces sounded the retreat. The counter-offensive was successful and on September 9 the Polish forces recaptured Sejny. The following day the Lithuanian forces were forced out to the other side of the Foch Line.

The fights continued until September 27, but the Polish lines were kept intact. At the same time diplomatic negotiations were resumed in Suwałki and on October 7, 1920, a cease fire agreement was signed. The so-called Suwałki Agreement was a military agreement which temporarily accepted the Foch Line as the basis of future Polish-Lithuanian talks on the border question.

Aftermath

Although only a temporary solution, the Lithuanian government declined to sign any political agreements with Poland until 1938 and the document of October 7th remained one of the legal bases of the Polish-Lithuanian border in the area. The demarcation line running along the Foch Line was later accepted as a state border between the two states and remains the Polish-Lithuanian border ever since.

On the other hand the future of the city of Vilnius/Wilno was still unresolved and was handled by other measures. Lithuania declined to enter into any negotiations on the status of the Vilnius area, claimed it as its capital city and denied any Polish influence over it whatsoever. The Polish commander Józef Piłsudski ordered his subordinate, General Lucjan Żeligowski, to defect with his '1st Lithuanian-Belarusian Division' and capture the city, without formal declaration of war on Lithuania. With Lithuanians unwilling to enter into an alliance with Poland, and wishing to avoid a full-out conflict and international condemnation, Poland staged a fake rebellion by Polish army units (under command by gen. Lucjan Żeligowski) in the Wilno area, which allowed the Polish army to take control of the city in October 9, 1920. All fights between Poles and Lithuanians ended soon afterwards.

Despite Poland's claim to Wilno, the League of Nations chose to ask Poland to withdraw. Poland did not comply with the request. Theoretically, British and French troops could have been asked to enforce the League’s decision. France, however, did not wish to antagonize Poland, which was seen as a possible ally in a future war against Germany, and Britain was not prepared to act alone. Thus the Poles were able to keep Wilno, where a provisional government named Komisja Rządząca Litwy Środkowej (Governing Commission of Central Lithuania) was formed. Soon afterwards the parliamentary elections were carried out and the Wilno Diet (Sejm wileński) has voted on February 20, 1922, for incorporation into Poland as the capital of the Wilno Voivodship.

The League of Nations Conference of Ambassadors accepted the status quo in 1923, yet the Wilno region remained a disputed territory between Poland and Lithuania (the latter state still treated Vilnius as its constitutional capital and the capital of the claimed Vilnius region). It wasn't until the 1938 ultimatum that Lithuania established diplomatic relations with Poland and thus de facto accepted the borders of its neighbour. This contention worsened Polish-Lithuanian foreign relations for decades to come and was one of the reasons Józef Piłsudski's Międzymorze federation was never formed.

Opposing forces

Polish

See also

• Sejny Uprising
• Central Lithuania
• Wilno Voivodship
• Vilnius region
• Suvalkai regionpl:Wojna litewska

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