The Battles of Parczew, Jabłoń and Milanów constituted one of the major battles between the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...

and the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

during the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military conflict by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Second Polish Republic, Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Polan ...

. They took place on September 29–30 of 1939 at the beginning of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. They resulted in a Polish victory, as the Polish units successfully broke through the Soviet forces near the town of

Parczew Parczew is a town in eastern Poland, with a population of 10,281 (2006). It is the capital of Parczew County in the Lublin Voivodeship. Parczew historically belongs to Lesser Poland (''Małopolska'') region. The town lies 60 kilometers north o ...

and progressed towards the

Świętokrzyskie Mountains The Świętokrzyskie Mountains (, ), often anglicized to Holy Cross Mountains, are a mountain range in central Poland, near the city of Kielce. The mountain range comprises several lesser ranges, the highest of which is Łysogóry (literally ...

Background

Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, marking the beginning of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. On 17 September 1939 the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, then an ally of Germany, invaded Poland from the east. They encountered only limited resistance, as the majority of Polish forces were thinly stretched against the German invaders. Despite the increasingly difficult situation, some Polish units continued to struggle against the advancing enemies; one of the units resisting the Soviets was the Independent Operational Group Polesie under General Franciszek Kleeberg.

Battles

The Polesie Group, about 18,000 strong, was followed by the Soviets, which planned to neutralize it before securing the Polesie region. The group encountered the Soviets on September 28 near the village of Jabłoń, while advancing south towards

. A number of smaller engagements took place over the next two days. The Soviet advance was interrupted by a successful Polish defense, and eventually a Polish counterattack pushed the Soviets back. As the Polish units advanced towards Milanów, they defeated another Soviet attack, inflicting significant casualties on the enemy and taking a number of prisoners.

Aftermath

Soviets took over 100 casualties near Milanów. Their casualties at Jabłoń were few dozen, with a tank captured and another few dozen POWs switching sides to join the Polish army. A couple of days later, Soviet troops defeated the Poles at Wytyczno; This was all the end of the campaign, after the German troops took part in the last major battle of the Polish campaign.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parczew, Jablon and Milanow

Battles of the Soviet invasion of Poland Lublin Voivodeship (1919–1939) September 1939 in Europe

Background

Battles

Aftermath

See also

Notes

References