The anniversary of the Battle of Warsaw was on August 15th. The battle lasted until August 25th, 1920, and was a very important event during the war between Poland and Red Russia.

Initially, following the invasion of the newly created independent Poland by the Bolshevik Red Army, the defending Poles retreated in complete disarray. However, on the 16th, re-grouped Polish forces commanded by Field Marshall Josef Pilsudski counterattacked in force.

Having conducted a largely fighting withdrawal from their eastern frontier to Warsaw the Field Marshall conceived a plan of action. This halted the Soviet advance, and resulted in the capture of 66,000 Soviet prisoners, and 10,000 dead, compared with 4,500 Polish fatalities.

This was the decisive turning point of the Bolshevik Polish War, or the Soviet Polish War as it is sometimes known, which began on February 14th, 1919 and ended with the Peace of Riga on March 18th, 1921.

The outcome was a slightly enlarged Poland to the east, the acquisition of some territory from Lithuania, and forestalling a planned Soviet invasion of newly independent Lithuania. It enabled both countries to remain independent of Soviet domination until 1939.

It also stopped the spread of Communism until 1945. This was one of many wars caused by the political vacuum created by the destruction of the Austro-Hungarian, German, and Ottoman Empires in the Great War.

The Society’s meetings, held in Linton Village Hall, will recommence on October 3rd. For more information, contact Dorian Osborne on 01989 780634, e-mail [email protected] this week’s paper for more stories like this, available in shops and as a Digital Edition now