Battle of Praga

The battles of Praga , in suburbs is of Warsaw, was held the November 4th 1794 and gave place to the one of the most terrible massacres of population of the history of Poland.

Context

Following a second division of Poland between Prussia and Russia, in September 1793, the Poles raise themselves under the direction of Tadeusz Kosciuszko and Ignacy Potocki. Kosciuszko takes the military command of the insurrection and gains initially some successes against the Russians, obliged to evacuate Warsaw and Vilnius.

The Austrians and the Prussians assist from the Russians and attack Poland by the west. Kosciuszko must be folded up on Warsaw and obliges, initially, besieging them Russian to release its capital. The October 10th 1794, however, it is beaten and wounded with the Bataille of Majociewice against the army of Alexandre Souvorov which makes it captive.

The fight for its succession and the demoralization of the population prevent her successor, the general Joseph Kajaczek, to finish the fortifications in the east and the west of the capital. At at the beginning of November, the Russian troops are again in front of Warsaw.

Involved forces

The Russian army is made up of two bodies of battle, one ordered by Alexandre Souvorov and the other by Ivan Fersen. Souvorov subdued the Confédération of Bar in 1768 and played a determining role in the last Russo-Turkish war, during which it seized the fortresses considered impregnable of Otchakov on the Dniepr and of Izmaïl on the the Danube. More recently, it is him which gained the Bataille of Macojiewice.

Fersen, knows Poland well to him because it has fought there for several months.

The Polish forces are formed of the remainders of the army of Kosciuszko as well as not formed militia coming from Warsaw, Praga and Vilnius. A Jewish regiment ordered by Berek Joselewicz is added to it.

Joseph Zajaczek, successor of Kosciuszko, organized its troops in three lines of defense. It directs that of the center, Jacob Jacsinski that of north and Vladislav Jablonovski that of the south.

The Polish army counts 20,000 men. Among Russians, Fersen and Souvorov order 11,000 men each one.

Course of the battle

The Russians thus reach the peripheries of Warsaw the November 3rd. The Poles try to push back them by an artillery stopping but it is a failure. Zajaczek and its seconds believe that the enemy troops will try to support a long seat, it in what they are mistaken. Souvorov rather recommends the surprised attack and the fast attack, tactic which made its chance against the Turks.

At three o'clock in the morning, the November 4th, the Russian forces settle very close to the fortifications. Two hours later, Souvorov orders the total attack. The Polish lines are quickly inserted. The Zajaczek general, wounded at the beginning of the combat, is evacuated, and its troops, without command, reprocess towards Praga and the the Vistula.

The combat continues in the city and lasts four hours. The Polish soldiers are killed or made captive. Very little of them succeeds in taking refuge on the other side of the river.

After the battle, Souvorov lets its men coldly plunder and burn entirely the town of Warsaw, thus wanting to avenge the massacre for the Russian garrison of the capital, at the beginning of rising in April 1794. It is the suburb of Praga, especially, which into sudden the maltreatment. It is believed that 20,000 civilians are massacred there by drunk soldiers of carnage. According to certain sources, not only Souvorov did not do anything to stop them but he would have encouraged them.

Consequences

The November 5th, the Polish troops, completely demoralized, are withdrawn towards the south. For them, it is the end of the war.

Souvorov sends a short report/ratio to the tsarina Catherine II: Hourrah - Praga - Souvorov . The empress also briefly answers him: Cheer, feldmaréchal, Catherine . As of his return to Saint-Pétersbourg, the general is indeed at once promoted marshal.

In 1795, rough negotiations take place between Russia, Prussia and Austria for a third division of Poland, which ceases existing like independent territory during more than one hundred twenty years.

Historiography

During the Soviet mode, the massacre of Praga becomes a subject taboo. The references to the event are censured handbooks, the courses of history do not make of it any more mention and research on the subject discouraged. The goal is not to harm the relations polono-Soviet. After the fall of Communism, the censure is raised but, even today, it is about a discussed and significant subject.

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