Battle of Racławice

The Battle of Racławice , one of the first at the time of the Polish Insurrection carried out by Kościuszko against the imperial Russia, was held the April 4th 1794 close to the village of Racławice in the voïvodie of Small-Poland.

Countryside preceding the battle

Kościuszko, proclaimed in March 1794 with Cracow chief of the armed forces of the insurrection, had succeeded in gathering 9 battalions with 1.400 men armed with bayonets and 26 squadrons with 1.040 men armed with sabers. Moreover the Voïvodie of Petite Poland had provided 11 guns and 2.000 peasants armed with false and Pique S (reapers) whose role in the battle was determining.

Involved forces

Polish battle order

Course of the battle

With the head of higher forces of number the Tormasov general tackled face the Polish troops. According to the practice the Russian soldiers were held side by side and in several lines. A similar provision ensured a heavy and continuous fire, but made it possible with difficulty to operate. Kościuszko, which had taken part in the Guerre of independence of the United States of America of 1775 with 1783, there had learned a tactic better than it applied on the battle field: the Poles drew on the contrary with cover, by using the advantages which the ground could give them (tactical Tirailleur S). At this moment the reapers, led by Kościuszko itself, managed to circumvent without being shown the Russian troops and attacked them by the back. This fast attack as the flash was crowned success because the reapers seized all the pieces of artillery and forced the Russian troops to be withdrawn.

The forces of Kościuszko were however @trop weak to continue those of Tormasov, and the Russians after the defeat remained in Petite Poland.

Consequences

The victory of Racławice was only one success tactical, but it stimulated moral insurrection, to which new territories united: majority of the Polish grounds, the Lithuania, the Western Bielorussia and the Courlande. The victory was also the signal of the insurrection of Warsaw which it April 17th obliged the Russian troops to leave the city. To celebrate this victory, Kościuszko conferred on certain volunteer peasants and who had been especially distinguished the title from second lieutenant, and to pay homage to their heroism, it ravelled in front of them wearing some their clothing: the coarse caftan of the peasants.

The red hat of the peasants and the two intersected forgeries became during the Second world war the emblem of the 303 {{E}} Polish flotilla of hunting.

See too

Scenes of the battle are reproduced on the panorama of the battle of Racławice

Sources

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