4th Rifle Division (Poland)
Encyclopedia
The Polish 4th Rifle Division was a Polish
military unit, forming, together with the Polish 5th Rifle Division
of the Blue Army, the only part of the Polish military which took part in the Russian Civil War
. Under the command of General
Lucjan Żeligowski
, it operated as an ally of the White movement
from autumn 1918 to August 1919 in southern Russia
and Bessarabia
.
, which rebelled against the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
and decided to join the newly-forming Polish army and help secure the territories inhabited by the Poles in the Kresy
region. The Polish 5th Rifle Division
found itself fighting in the northern territories of the former Russian Empire
; the 4th, in its southern regions.
The ever-changing and chaotic currents of the Russian Civil War
, coupled with the weak chain of command
of the newly reborn Polish Army, meant that the local commanders had much autonomy; thus the 2nd Corps found it most useful to ally itself with the forces of the White movement
, even though Polish commander-in-chief
Józef Piłsudski declined to support the Whites with any other units after he had established firm control over the Polish forces in 1919. Nonetheless this meant that the soldiers of the 2nd Corps were fighting the Bolsheviks and their Red Army
even before the Polish-Soviet War
began in 1919.
After the Battle of Kaniów
on 11 May 1918, in which the forces of the 2nd Brigade broke through the front
and created the 2nd Corps, the Polish commanders entered the alliance with one of the White generals, Mikhail Alekseev
, and his Volunteer Army
in the northern Caucasus
near the Kuban River
. By September 1918 the Polish forces in the region, called the 'Polish Unit of the Volunteer Army', numbered over 700 people under the command of Col. Franciszek Zieliński, and were engaged in several battles with the Bolsheviks.
In October 1918 General Lucjan Żeligowski
assumed command of the Polish forces in the east from General Haller. At the same time, General Alekseev died, and General Anton Ivanovich Denikin
assumed the command of the White forces in the region. The local Polish forces were reorganized into the Polish 4th Rifle Division, subordinated to the 2nd Corps of the Blue Army of General Józef Haller. By the end of January 1919 the division numbered over 2800 men, including many from the now-disbanded Polish 1st Corps in Russia.
At that time Piłsudski ordered the Polish units in the far East to move close to the core Polish territory. Denikin, who received this order through French
General Ferdinand Foch
, ordered Żeligowski to move to Odessa
, a port in Crimea
. Żeligowski reorganized and strengthened the units in the area, and in December 1918 he found himself facing the Ukrainian
forces of Symon Petlura
. Reinforced by French and Greek
troops, it helped to secure Odessa as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War
and took part in the fights near Tiraspol
. In March 1919 the unit numbered about 3000 men, including a sizeable cavalry
contingent.
By the end of March the division, and the Allied forces, were no longer fighting the Ukrainians, but the Bolsheviks. Żeligowski was able to influence the placement of his unit, and until May the division successfully screened the retreat of Allied troops from Odessa towards the Romanian lines in Bessarabia
. Near the end of May the division was relieved and finally transported to Poland. It was the only major Polish military formation that took part in the Russian Civil War and managed to return to Poland as a functioning unit.
The division then took part in the last phase of the ongoing Polish-Ukrainian War
, starting from the area near Chernivtsi
and Stanyslaviv
. This time it was not fighting Petliura (who was soon to become a Polish ally), but one of the other Ukrainian factions, the West Ukrainian National Republic
. From 11 to 13 July the division fought its first (and victorious) battle near a town with a sizeable Polish population in the area - Jazłowiec.
On 19 July 1919 the division was reformed into the Polish 10th Infantry Division and took part in the major conflict of that time, the Polish-Soviet War
.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
military unit, forming, together with the Polish 5th Rifle Division
Polish 5th Rifle Division
Polish 5th Siberian Rifle Division was a Polish military unit formed in 1919 in Russia during World War I. The division fought during the Polish-Bolshevik War, but as it was attached to the White Russian formations, it is considered to have fought more in the Russian Civil War...
of the Blue Army, the only part of the Polish military which took part in the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
. Under the command of General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
Lucjan Żeligowski
Lucjan Zeligowski
Lucjan Żeligowski , was a Polish general, and veteran of World War I, the Polish-Soviet War and World War II. He is mostly remembered for his role in Żeligowski's Mutiny and as head of a short-lived Republic of Central Lithuania.-Biography:...
, it operated as an ally of the White movement
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
from autumn 1918 to August 1919 in southern Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
.
History and operations
The 4th Rifle Division could trace it origins to the Polish 2nd Corps in Russia. The 2nd Corps was formed from various Polish units, but primarily the 2nd Brigade of the Polish Legions in World War IPolish Legions in World War I
Polish Legions was the name of Polish armed forces created in August 1914 in Galicia. Thanks to the efforts of KSSN and the Polish members of the Austrian parliament, the unit became an independent formation of the Austro-Hungarian Army...
, which rebelled against the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, mediated by South African Andrik Fuller, at Brest-Litovsk between Russia and the Central Powers, headed by Germany, marking Russia's exit from World War I.While the treaty was practically obsolete before the end of the year,...
and decided to join the newly-forming Polish army and help secure the territories inhabited by the Poles in the Kresy
Kresy
The Polish term Kresy refers to a land considered by Poles as historical eastern provinces of their country. Today, it makes western Ukraine, western Belarus, as well as eastern Lithuania, with such major cities, as Lviv, Vilnius, and Hrodna. This territory belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian...
region. The Polish 5th Rifle Division
Polish 5th Rifle Division
Polish 5th Siberian Rifle Division was a Polish military unit formed in 1919 in Russia during World War I. The division fought during the Polish-Bolshevik War, but as it was attached to the White Russian formations, it is considered to have fought more in the Russian Civil War...
found itself fighting in the northern territories of the former Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
; the 4th, in its southern regions.
The ever-changing and chaotic currents of the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
, coupled with the weak chain of command
Chain of Command
Chain of Command may refer to:* Chain of command, in a military context, the line of authority and responsibility along which orders are passed* "Chain of Command" , the fifth episode of the first season of Beast Wars...
of the newly reborn Polish Army, meant that the local commanders had much autonomy; thus the 2nd Corps found it most useful to ally itself with the forces of the White movement
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
, even though Polish commander-in-chief
Commander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
Józef Piłsudski declined to support the Whites with any other units after he had established firm control over the Polish forces in 1919. Nonetheless this meant that the soldiers of the 2nd Corps were fighting the Bolsheviks and their Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
even before the Polish-Soviet War
Polish-Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War was an armed conflict between Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine and the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic—four states in post–World War I Europe...
began in 1919.
After the Battle of Kaniów
Battle of Kaniów
Battle of Kaniów took place during World War I on the night of 10–11 May 1918 near Kaniv between the Polish II Corps in Russia under general Józef Haller de Hallenburg and the German Imperial Army under general Zierhold...
on 11 May 1918, in which the forces of the 2nd Brigade broke through the front
Front (military)
A military front or battlefront is a contested armed frontier between opposing forces. This can be a local or tactical front, or it can range to a theater...
and created the 2nd Corps, the Polish commanders entered the alliance with one of the White generals, Mikhail Alekseev
Mikhail Alekseev
Mikhail Vasiliyevich Alekseyev was an Imperial Russian Army general during World War I and the Russian Civil War. Between 1915 and 1917 he was Chief of Staff to Tsar Nicholas II, and after the February Revolution, March–July 1917 the commander in chief of the Russian army...
, and his Volunteer Army
Volunteer Army
The Volunteer Army was an anti-Bolshevik army in South Russia during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1920....
in the northern Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
near the Kuban River
Kuban River
The Kuban River is a river in Russia, in the North Caucasus region. It flows mostly through Krasnodar Krai but also in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Stavropol Krai and the Republic of Adygea....
. By September 1918 the Polish forces in the region, called the 'Polish Unit of the Volunteer Army', numbered over 700 people under the command of Col. Franciszek Zieliński, and were engaged in several battles with the Bolsheviks.
In October 1918 General Lucjan Żeligowski
Lucjan Zeligowski
Lucjan Żeligowski , was a Polish general, and veteran of World War I, the Polish-Soviet War and World War II. He is mostly remembered for his role in Żeligowski's Mutiny and as head of a short-lived Republic of Central Lithuania.-Biography:...
assumed command of the Polish forces in the east from General Haller. At the same time, General Alekseev died, and General Anton Ivanovich Denikin
Anton Ivanovich Denikin
Anton Ivanovich Denikin was Lieutenant General of the Imperial Russian Army and one of the foremost generals of the White movement in the Russian Civil War.- Childhood :...
assumed the command of the White forces in the region. The local Polish forces were reorganized into the Polish 4th Rifle Division, subordinated to the 2nd Corps of the Blue Army of General Józef Haller. By the end of January 1919 the division numbered over 2800 men, including many from the now-disbanded Polish 1st Corps in Russia.
At that time Piłsudski ordered the Polish units in the far East to move close to the core Polish territory. Denikin, who received this order through French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
General Ferdinand Foch
Ferdinand Foch
Ferdinand Foch , GCB, OM, DSO was a French soldier, war hero, military theorist, and writer credited with possessing "the most original and subtle mind in the French army" in the early 20th century. He served as general in the French army during World War I and was made Marshal of France in its...
, ordered Żeligowski to move to Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, a port in Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
. Żeligowski reorganized and strengthened the units in the area, and in December 1918 he found himself facing the Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
forces of Symon Petlura
Symon Petlura
Symon Vasylyovych Petliura was a publicist, writer, journalist, Ukrainian politician, statesman, and national leader who led Ukraine's struggle for independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917....
. Reinforced by French and Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
troops, it helped to secure Odessa as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War
Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War
The Allied intervention was a multi-national military expedition launched in 1918 during World War I which continued into the Russian Civil War. Its operations included forces from 14 nations and were conducted over a vast territory...
and took part in the fights near Tiraspol
Tiraspol
Tiraspol is the second largest city in Moldova and is the capital and administrative centre of the unrecognized Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic . The city is located on the eastern bank of the Dniester River...
. In March 1919 the unit numbered about 3000 men, including a sizeable cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
contingent.
By the end of March the division, and the Allied forces, were no longer fighting the Ukrainians, but the Bolsheviks. Żeligowski was able to influence the placement of his unit, and until May the division successfully screened the retreat of Allied troops from Odessa towards the Romanian lines in Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
. Near the end of May the division was relieved and finally transported to Poland. It was the only major Polish military formation that took part in the Russian Civil War and managed to return to Poland as a functioning unit.
The division then took part in the last phase of the ongoing Polish-Ukrainian War
Polish-Ukrainian War
The Polish–Ukrainian War of 1918 and 1919 was a conflict between the forces of the Second Polish Republic and West Ukrainian People's Republic for the control over Eastern Galicia after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary.-Background:...
, starting from the area near Chernivtsi
Chernivtsi
Chernivtsi is the administrative center of Chernivtsi Oblast in southwestern Ukraine. The city is situated on the upper course of the River Prut, a tributary of the Danube, in the northern part of the historic region of Bukovina, which is currently divided between Romania and Ukraine...
and Stanyslaviv
Ivano-Frankivsk
Ivano-Frankivsk is a historic city located in the western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast, municipality....
. This time it was not fighting Petliura (who was soon to become a Polish ally), but one of the other Ukrainian factions, the West Ukrainian National Republic
West Ukrainian National Republic
The West Ukrainian People's Republic was a short-lived republic that existed in late 1918 and early 1919 in eastern Galicia, that claimed parts of Bukovina and Carpathian Ruthenia and included the cities of Lviv , Przemyśl , Kolomyia , and Stanislaviv...
. From 11 to 13 July the division fought its first (and victorious) battle near a town with a sizeable Polish population in the area - Jazłowiec.
On 19 July 1919 the division was reformed into the Polish 10th Infantry Division and took part in the major conflict of that time, the Polish-Soviet War
Polish-Soviet War
The Polish–Soviet War was an armed conflict between Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine and the Second Polish Republic and the Ukrainian People's Republic—four states in post–World War I Europe...
.