The Battle of Mołotków (Polish: Bitwa pod Mołotkowem) took place on October 29, 1914, near the village of Mołotków ( Molotkiv), Austrian Galicia (current

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds, The Second, or (The) 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Minute and second of arc, ...

and 3rd Infantry Regiments of Polish Legions clashed with units of the

Russian Imperial Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

, which had invaded Galicia (see

Russian occupation of Eastern Galicia, 1914–15 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 ...

). Polish forces were part of Tactical Group of General Karol Durski-Trzaska. On October 29, the Group of Durski-Trzaska attacked Russian positions in the outskirts of Mołotków. Polish 4th Battalion commanded by

Bolesław Roja Brigadier General Bolesław Jerzy Roja (4 April 1876 − 27 May 1940) was an officer of the Polish Legions in World War I, a general, and a politician in the Second Polish Republic, recipient of some of the highest Polish military awards includi ...

managed to reach the center of the village, but was then stopped and forced to retreat. Meanwhile, the bulk of both 2nd and 3rd Regiments, with some 6000 soldiers, fiercely resisted 12 battalions of Russian infantry (15 000) soldiers, supported by 24 machine guns and 16 cannons. The Russians broke through Polish positions, forcing both regiments to retreat, in order to avoid encirclement. Polish losses amounted to 200 dead, 300 wounded and 400 captured by the enemy. The Russians lost 100 dead. The Battle of Mołotków was commemorated in the interwar period on

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Warsaw The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier () is a monument in Warsaw, Poland, dedicated to the unknown soldiers who have given their lives for Poland. It is one of many such national tombs of unknowns that were erected after World War I, and the most imp ...

, with inscription “MOŁOTKÓW 29 X 1914”. The inscription was removed by

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

authorities, and returned after 1990.

Sources

* Mieczysław Wrzosek, Polski czyn zbrojny podczas pierwszej wojny światowej 1914-1918, Państwowe Wydawnictwo "Wiedza Powszechna", Warszawa 1990

External links

Battle of Mołotków
on polskieradio.pl {{DEFAULTSORT:Battle of Molotkow Mołotkow Mołotkow Mołotkow Conflicts in 1914 1914 in Austria-Hungary 1914 in Ukraine 1914 in Poland 1914 in the Russian Empire