Polish-Lithuanian War Totally Explained

Everything about Polish-lithuanian War totally explained

The Polish-Lithuanian War was an armed conflict between Lithuania and Poland, lasting from August 1920 to October 7, 1920, in the aftermath of World War I, not long after both countries had regained their independence. It was part of a wider conflict over disputed territorial control of the cities of Vilnius, Suwałki and Augustów. The conflict was claimed by Poland to be a victory, however within two days of signing a cease fire or agreement to halt the hostilities with Lithuania, Poland reneged on this temporary agreement before it formally took in force (the cease fire was to be started at October the 10th, Polish action started at October the 8th) and created the Republic of Central Lithuania.
While in Lithuanian historiography the conflict is considered a separate war or treated in the context of the Lithuanian Wars of Independence, in other historical traditions (including Polish and Soviet) it's almost always treated as part of the Polish-Soviet War.

Before the battle

Following the start of the Polish-Soviet war in 1919 the majority of Lithuanian territory was soon occupied by the Red Army which defeated and pushed back Polish and Lithuanian self-defence units, but shortly afterwards the Soviets were forced to retreat by the Polish Army. In 1920, April 19, Polish army captured Vilnius for the first time. Although Lithuania was neutral in the Polish-Soviet war, due to Polish army's forcing its way further to Lithuania, the encounters with Polish army started. Lithuania joined the Russian SFSR side in the Polish-Soviet War in July 1919. The decision was made because of the intention to have Vilnius, for Poland also claimed it as well as other lands of Lithuania, and to a smaller extent by Soviet diplomatic pressure backed by the threat of the Red Army stationed on Lithuania's borders. With the treaty of peace between Lithuania and Soviet Russia in 1920, July 12, the sovereignty of certain Lithuanian territories including Vilnius passed to Lithuania. After the treaty of peace between Lithuania and Soviet Russia in which Soviet Russia ceded Vilnius region to Lithania, Poland - Lithuanians claimed - de jure had never had right to Vilnius. This two-side treaty wasn't recognized neither by Poland nor by Belarus National Republic, and Lithuania itself wasn't yet recognized widely internationally. The Lithuanian government announced its plan to assign a status of the capital city of the country to the historical capital of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius. This was opposed by Poland which pointed that Vilnius was being populated at that time mainly by Poles and Jews and Lithuanians constituted only about 2-3% of the population in the city of Vilnius itself according to Russian census of 1897 and German census of 1915. In demographic terms Vilnius was the least Lithuanian of Lithuanian cities, divided near evenly between Poles and Jews, with ethnic Lithuanians constituting a mere fraction of the total population; the Lithuanians nonetheless believed that their historical claim to the city (former capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) had precedence and refused to recognize any Polish claims to the city and the surrounding area.. 1920 saw Vilnius region occupied by the Red Army for the second time, although de jure the territory belonged to Lithuania, which wasn't recognised internationally. When the Red Army was defeated in the Battle of Warsaw, the Soviets made the decision to hand over the Vilnius region back to Lithuania.

Conflict

Early stage

In the end of June of 1920, during the Soviet summer offensive towards Warsaw, the Lithuanian authorities started to seek contact with the Soviet authorities. A diplomatic mission sent to Moscow signed an agreement (Soviet-Lithuanian Treaty of 1920) on July 12, in which the Soviet Russia allowed the Lithuanian state to seize the territory of the region of Suwałki from the withdrawing Polish forces. Two days later the disputed area of Vilnius was captured by the Red Army and handed over to the Lithuanian government. Following the Lithuanian-Soviet treaty, the demarcation line between Soviet and Lithuanian troops ran north of Augustów (Orany-Merecz river-Augustów line). On July 19 the town of Sejny was seized by Marijampolė Group under maj. Valevičius. On July 29 the Red Army seized Augustów and the following day Lithuanians captured Suwałki. The weak Polish units retreated towards Łomża, where they were surrounded by the Red Army and forced to cross the border with East Prussia, where they were interned.
   The Lithuanian authorities started to organize themselves in the regained areas. However, after the Russian defeat in the Battle of Warsaw, the danger of losing them became apparent. The badly beaten Red troops started their withdrawal from the area, and their retreat exposed the area of Augustów, also claimed by Lithuania. Knowing that the Polish Army was occupied with preparations for the Battle of the Niemen River and pursuit after the fleeing Bolsheviks, the Lithuanian authorities decided to create fait accompli by capturing the town of Augustów, which happened on August 26. At the same time envoys were sent to the Polish troops, advising them not to cross the Grabowo-Augustów-Sztabin line, which was planned by the Lithuanians as a new demarcation line between Poland and Lithuania.
   Although seizing the territory of Suwałki was crucial in further Polish operations against the Red Army, the Polish Army commanders didn't want to engage in yet another armed conflict. The Polish Military Mission to Kaunas, as well as Polish diplomats at the Paris Peace Conference, started to put pressure on the Lithuanian government to return to the Status quo ante bellum borders between the two states. The Lithuanian authorities declined, but the Highest Council of the Paris Peace Conference accepted the so-called Foch Line (named after Marechal de France Ferdinand Foch), that was to divide Poland and Lithuania on an ethnic basis. According to that line, both the disputed city of Vilnius and the towns of Suwałki, Augustów and Sejny were to be left on the Polish side.
   Wanting to by-pass the disputed area and outflank the withdrawing Red Army, the commander of the Polish 2nd Army general Edward Rydz-Smigly (later Marshal of Poland) ordered on August 27 that the Lithuanian forces be pushed out of the disputed area to the other side of the line supported by the Entente. He didn't expect any serious opposition, but in case the Lithuanian units wanted to put up a fight, they were to be encircled, disarmed and sent home. The Cavalry Operational Group under Adam Nieniewski was ordered to secure the area as soon as possible.
   The following day the Group started its advance towards Augustów in two columns from the area of Białystok. At the same time the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Polish 1st Legions Infantry Division took the Lithuanian defenders of the town by surprise and disarmed a company of the Lithuanian 10th Infantry Regiment, securing the city. Also the Nieniewski's forces were not opposed and the Lithuanian forces withdrew northwards when asked by the Polish officers. In the evening of August 30, a recce squadron of the so-called Piasecki's Cavalry Brigade under Zygmunt Piasecki reached the city of Suwałki and asked the Lithuanian forces to withdraw. The following day in the morning colonel Nieniewski entered the city, together with the his staff, 7th Uhlans Regiment and two battalions of the 41st Suwałki Infantry Regiment.
   At the same time in the area of the village of Giby, between the Gieret and Pomorze lakes and south of Sejny, a well dug-in company of Lithuanian infantry, reinforced with three machine guns, refused to withdraw and responded with fire. Unwilling to spill the blood of his men, the Polish commander asked a member of the French Military Mission to Poland general Manneville to mediate and, after a short conference, the Lithuanians withdrew. On August 31 the town of Sejny was finally captured by the 16th Uhlans Regiment. The withdrawing Lithuanian forces were allowed to by-pass the town and the Foch Line was manned from both sides. To avoid conflicts with the Lithuanian forces, the Polish commander refused to send further patrols and reconnaissance squads were ordered not to reach the demarcation line.
   On September 1, 1920, the Suwałki-based provisional governing body (Rada Ludowa Okręgu Suwalskiego - Popular Council of the Suwałki Area) was reestablished and all the courts and facilities closed down by the Lithuanian authorities were reopened. Until the authorities chosen in the 1919 elections were able to return, the cities and villages were to be governed by provisional starosts.

Lithuanian offensive

The area of Suwałki, lost in the effect of the Polish withdrawal, was regained with negligible losses on both sides. The Polish diplomats in Paris and Kaunas tried to reach an agreement with the Lithuanians on the recognition of the Foch Line as the future Polish-Lithuanian border. However, the Entente planned to leave the city of Vilnius on the Polish side, while the Lithuanian state saw it as its capital. The future of Central Lithuania was no clear and the Lithuanian authorities decided to use the area of Suwałki as a trading card in negotiations with the Poles and the French. On September 2, 1920, a Lithuanian offensive towards the recently-lost towns of Suwałki and Augustów started.
   The Augustavas Operation, as it was nick-named by the Lithuanian commanders, was carried over by forces of the Lithuanian 2nd Infantry Division, some 7000 soldiers altogether, with a 120-strong cavalry detachment, 100 machine guns and 12 pieces of artillery. The assault was planned along three main lines: Kalvarija-Suwałki, Sejny-Giby-Augustów and Lipsk-Augustów. Its purpose was to strike a wedge between the Polish troops and cut out the Polish units of Nieniewski's group from the rest of Polish Army fighting in the Battle of the Niemen River further southwards.
   After a series of skirmishes in the area of the villages of Żubryn, Kleszczówek and Gulbieniszki, the Lithuanian assault towards Kalwaria was repelled and driven northwards. However, the south-eastern front was broken in the area of Sztabin and Kolnica and by September 4 the Lithuanian army reached the outskirts of Augustów. Also the assault towards Sejny, a town located only some two kilometres from the Foch Line, was successful. By noon of September 2 near Berżniki the first skirmish was reported. A commander of Polish cavalry reconnaissance troop operating in the area was confident that the Lithuanian unit he encountered simply lost its way and approached it. However, his unit was quickly surrounded and disarmed. Soon afterwards a general assault on Sejny started. After several hours of heavy artillery barrage and fights on the outskirts of the town, it was repelled with negligible losses on both sides. Commander of the defending Polish 16th Uhlans Regiment, major Skrzyński, was confident that the fight around the city was a misunderstanding, so he asked for a cease fire. After conferring with the Lithuanian officers, these asked Kaunas for confirmation of their orders. After it was given, the Poles decided they were outnumbered and left the city towards Krasnopol and Krasne without further opposition. In the fights for the city Poles lost 3 cavalrymen killed, several soldiers wounded and 8 POWs. The Lithuanian losses are unknown, except for 21 prisoners taken by the withdrawing Polish cavalry.
   The following days, the Polish forces from Sejny withdrew further southwards, to the area of Nowa Wieś and Wigry lake. At the same time a counter-offensive along the Augustów-Sejny road was prepared. The operation started on September 5 and was a success. The Lithuanian forces advancing from Sejny were scattered and Augustów was secured. Three battalions of Lithuanian infantry were surrounded and almost completely destroyed, while the remaining forces sounded the retreat. The counter-offensive was successful and on September 9 the Polish forces recaptured Sejny. The following day the Lithuanian forces were forced out to the other side of the Foch Line.
   The fights continued until September 27, but the Polish lines were kept intact. At the same time diplomatic negotiations were resumed in Suwałki and on October 7, 1920, a cease fire agreement was signed. The Suwałki Agreement was a military agreement which temporarily accepted a modified Foch Line as the basis of future Polish-Lithuanian talks on the border question in Sudovia.

Aftermath

The future of the city of Vilnius/Wilno was still unresolved by the Suwałki Agreement and was handled by other measures. Lithuania declined to enter into any negotiations on the status of the Vilnius area, claimed it as its capital city and denied any Polish influence over it whatsoever. The Polish commander Józef Piłsudski ordered his subordinate, General Lucjan Żeligowski, to defect with his 1st Lithuanian-Belarusian Division and capture the city, without formal declaration of war on Lithuania. With Lithuanians unwilling to enter into a federation with Poland, and wishing to avoid a full-out conflict and international condemnation, Józef Piłsudski staged a fake rebellion by Polish army units (under command by gen. Lucjan Żeligowski) in the Vilnius area, which allowed the Polish army to take control of the city in October 9, 1920. Both were ethnic Poles from Vilnius area. Although the Polish side officially didn't take part in the conflict between "Kaunas Lithuania" and "Central Lithuania", it provided limited logistic support to the Central Lithuanian units of Żeligowski. Neither side was able to gain significant advantage, and with the mediation from the League of Nations, ceasefire was signed on November 21 and truce on November 27.
   Despite Poland's claim to Vilnius, the League of Nations chose to ask Poland to withdraw. Poland didn't comply with the request. Theoretically, British and French troops could have been asked to enforce the League’s decision. France, however, didn't wish to antagonize Poland, which was seen as a possible ally in a future war against Germany, and Britain wasn't prepared to act alone. Thus the Poles were able to keep Vilnius, where a provisional government named Komisja Rządząca Litwy Środkowej (Governing Commission of Central Lithuania) was formed. Soon afterwards the parliamentary elections were carried out and the Wilno Diet (Sejm wileński) has voted on February 20, 1922, for incorporation into Poland as the capital of the Wilno Voivodship.
   Ironically, the loss of Vilna might have safeguarded the very existence of the Lithuanian state in the interwar period. Despite an alliance with Soviets (Soviet-Lithuanian Treaty of 1920) and the war with Poland, Lithuania was very close to being invaded by the Soviets in summer 1920 and having been forcibly converted into a socialist republic. It was only the Polish victory against the Soviets in the Polish-Soviet War (and the fact that the Poles didn't object to some form of Lithuanian independence) that derailed the Soviet plans and gave Lithuania an experience of interwar independence.
   The League of Nations Conference of Ambassadors accepted the status quo in 1923, yet the Wilno region remained a disputed territory between Poland and Lithuania (the latter state still treated Vilnius as its constitutional capital and the capital of the claimed Vilnius region). Although only a temporary solution, the Lithuanian government declined to sign any political agreements with Poland until forced by the 1938 Polish ultimatum to Lithuania and the document of October 7th remained one of the legal bases of the Polish-Lithuanian border in the area. The Polish-Lithuanian relations begun to normalize after League of Nations negotiations in 1927, but it wasn't until the 1938 ultimatum that Lithuania established normal diplomatic relations with Poland and thus de facto accepted the borders of its neighbour (based on the demarcation line running along the Foch Line). This contention worsened Polish-Lithuanian foreign relations for decades to come and was one of the reasons Józef Piłsudski's Międzymorze federation was never formed.

Opposing forces

Polish

Józef Piłsudski HQ in Białystok	2nd Army Edward Rydz	Cavalry Operational Group Adam Nieniewski	IV Cavalry Brigade Adam Nieniewski	3rd Uhlans Regiment
				7th Uhlans Regiment
				16th Uhlans Regiment
				Combined Uhlans Regiment	march squadrons of 2nd Cavalry Regiment, 5th, 8th, and 9th Uhlans Regiments
			Artillery
				2nd Mounted Artillery Detachment
				7th Mounted Artillery Detachment	elements, only one battery
				9th Artillery Regiment	elements, two batteries attached to the 41st Regiment
			Support units
				Maj. Jaworski's Cavalry Group Jaworski	volunteers
				41st Suwałki Infantry Regiment	reinforced with artillery
				211th (26th) Uhlans Regiment Dąbrowski	arrived later

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