Battle of Racławice

Battle of Racławice

Part of: Kościuszko Uprising

The Battle of Racławice, historical painting by Józef Chełmoński (1906)

date	April 4, 1794
place	Racławice , Lesser Poland
output	Polish victory

Parties to the conflict
Poland-Lithuania	Russia
Commander
Tadeusz Kościuszko	Alexander Tormasov
Troop strength
4440 soldiers 11 cannons	2900 soldiers 12 cannons
losses
500 dead and wounded	1100 dead and wounded 12 cannons

The Battle of Racławice took place on April 4, 1794 near the village of Racławice in Lesser Poland . It was one of the first clashes between the armed forces of Russia and Poland during the Kościuszko uprising .

Troop strength and composition

The Polish armed forces under the command of Tadeusz Kościuszko were relatively small. They comprised only seven battalions of line infantry , a total of 1400 soldiers, 24 squadrons of hussars , a total of 960 cavalrymen, and 2 cavalry squadrons of the Duke of Württemberg , 80 men. This army of around 2,400 men was joined by reinforcements set up by the Province of Lesser Poland: eleven artillery pieces and 1920 local peasants who went into battle armed only with scythes and pikes .

Opposite them are the Russian troops consisting of six and a half battalions of infantry, 1700 men, 22 cavalry squadrons and 120 Cossacks , a total of 1200 cavalrymen, and twelve cannons.

Course of the battle

The militarily superior troops of the Russian General Tormassow opened the battle and attacked the Polish lines head-on. The Russian soldiers advanced in dense, deep ranks. This tactic made it possible to advance continuously and keep the enemy ranks permanently under fire, but was not flexible and hindered maneuvering. Kościuszko, however, let his Poles shoot out of cover and skillfully used the advantages that the terrain offered.

While the main forces clashed, Kościuszko at the head of his peasant soldiers bypassed the Russian flank and fell surprisingly in the rear, whereupon he captured the entire Russian artillery in one fell swoop.

In the end, however, the Polish troops were too weak to pursue the Russians and drive them out of Lesser Poland.

Consequences of the battle

Due to the small number of troops, the Battle of Racławice was of purely tactical importance. Kościuszko could not drive the Russian army out of Poland. But the psychological impact of this victory, which encouraged the rest of Poland to revolt, should not be underestimated. During the following uprising in Warsaw , the Russian troops could be forced to withdraw from the city.

In the end, however, Poland was defeated by the armies of Russia and Prussia. In 1795 the Third Partition of Poland took place .

For the 100th anniversary of the Victory, a huge panorama painting was painted in Lviv in 1894 , which was moved to Wroclaw after the Second World War .

literature

• Joint work: 4 IV 1794 In: Jan Lubicz Pachoński (Ed.): Od Racławic do Maciejowic. Arsenał Polski KAW, Cracow 1988
• Mała Encyklopedia Wojskowa. Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej, Warsaw 1967, ( Wydanie I Tom II).
• Andrzej Grabski, Jan Wimmer and others: Zarys dziejów wojskowości polskiej do roku 1864. Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej, Warsaw 1966
• Marian Kukiel: Zarys historii wojskowości w Polsce. Puls, London 1993, ISBN 0907587992 .
• Andrzej Zahorski: Wypisy źródłowe do historii polskiej sztuki wojennej. Polska sztuka wojenna w okresie powstania kościuszkowskiego. - tenth issue, Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej, Warsaw 1960
• Bolesław Twardowski: Wojsko Polskie Kościuszki w roku 1794. Księgarnia Katolicka, Poznań 1894

Web links

Commons : Battle of Racławice  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Panorama Racławicka - What are we going to visit? . Retrieved May 13, 2012.