The Battle of Kobyłka took place between the Russian Empire's armed forces under the leadership of

Suvorov Count Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov-Rymniksky, Prince of Italy () was a Russian general and military theorist in the service of the Russian Empire. Born in Moscow, he studied military history as a young boy and joined the Imperial Russian ...

and

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

rebels under

Stanisław Mokronowski Stanisław Mokronowski (1761-1821) was a prominent member of the Polish landed gentry of Bogoria coat of arms. A general of the Polish Army and a royal Chamberlain Mokronowski took part in both the Polish–Russian War of 1792 (War in the Def ...

north-east of

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

(at

Kobyłka Kobyłka is a town of almost 22,000 inhabitants in Poland within the Warsaw metropolitan area, located right outside of the Warsaw, near Wołomin in the Wołomin County in the Masovian Voivodeship. History Located in a densely forested area, Kob ...

), on 26 October 1794. It was part of the

Kościuszko Uprising The Kościuszko Uprising, also known as the Polish Uprising of 1794, Second Polish War, Polish Campaign of 1794, and the Polish Revolution of 1794, was an uprising against the Russian and Prussian influence on the Polish–Lithuanian Common ...

and ended with the rebels' defeat.

Battle

When Suvorov received information from Stanisławów that the insurgent detachments were at Kobyłka and

Okuniew Okuniew is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Halinów, within Mińsk County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It lies approximately north-west of Halinów, north-west of Mińsk Mazowiecki, and east of Warsaw W ...

, he immediately sent General Fersen's cavalry to Okuniew, and himself with 10,000 moved to Kobyłka. Polish forces of the Mokronowski's

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

were under General Meyen's command, but Meyen left his detachment at the very beginning and go to

; the Poles remained under the command of General Byszewski, adjutant-general of the Polish king. Russian General forced the Polish column to retreat in two separate sub-columns, which both laid down their arms; one of them,

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), 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 colon ...

Wolan's, followed the forest road (the right flank; it surrendered first), and the other, Byszewski's own, the great road to Warsaw. Particularly noteworthy on the Russian side was the saber strike from the dismounted

light cavalry Light cavalry comprised lightly armed and body armor, armored cavalry troops mounted on fast horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the mounted riders (and sometimes the warhorses) were heavily armored. The purpose of light cavalry was p ...

and carabineers; Suvorov later said to a French emigrant who had joined the

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

service: "If you were at Kobyłka, you would see things ''I have never seen either''". Fersen, on the other hand, found no Poles in Okuniew, however, he sent to Suvorov 2

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

cavalry

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

s in support, who took part in a

flanking manoeuvre In military tactics, a flanking maneuver is a movement of an armed force around an enemy force's side, or flank, to achieve an advantageous position over it. Flanking is useful because a force's fighting strength is typically concentrated i ...

against Wolan. This battle is also notable for being won by the Russians almost exclusively by

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

, with the exception of one jaeger

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...

. In this battle, captured Polish officers asked Suvorov to feed them, as being in constant and hurried movement for several days, they were always hungry. Suvorov ordered to feed them as well as the captive soldiers with anything possible, which was performed by the Pereyaslav Horse-Jaeger Regiment, and the soldiers willingly shared with the prisoners of the meagre stock, which they had with them.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * Battles involving the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Battles involving the Russian Empire {{Poland-battle-stub