The Battle of Żyrzyn took place on August 8, 1863 in or near the village of

Żyrzyn Żyrzyn is a village in Puławy County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Żyrzyn. It lies approximately north-east of Puławy and north-west of the regional capital Lubli ...

Puławy County __NOTOC__ Puławy County ( pl, powiat puławski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lublin Voivodeship, eastern Poland. It was first established in 1867, but its current borders were established on January 1, 1 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, between a small detachment of

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

troops and a force of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

troops under the command of

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

Michal Heidenreich. The Russian force of 500 soldiers and two cannon were escorting a load of 200,000

ruble The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union. , currencies named ''rub ...

s for the Russian army, 140,000 of which was captured by the Polish forces, along with 282

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

. Of the remaining Russian troops, 181 were killed, and 87 men escaped along with the remaining 60,000 rubles. The embarrassing defeat was widely reported on by the European press, and throughout the

January Uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...

s the Polish insurgents counted the engagement, one of many similar small battles, as a "great victory".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of Zyrzyn Zyrzyn Zyrzyn Zyrzyn August 1863 events