Warmatrix

The the Battle of Warsaw of 1920 CE was one of the most important battles fought in the period between the two world wars.
After the communist revolution of 1917 CE the new Russian state was plunged into a civil war between communist Red Army and the Russian White Movement, a coalition of rival factions, many of whom were supported by foreign powers. In about two years time the Red Army gained the upper hand and then became strong enough to go on to the offensive itself. Soon it clashed with Poland, which had just regained its independence after World War I. The two sides battled over the Ukraine, which sought independence for itself. After a year the communists broke through the Polish lines and headed for Warsaw, aiming to export the communist revolution to Poland and Germany. It looked like the Poles were broken, but back in their heartland they rallied and prepared for a last defense.
The Russian army, under command of Mikhail Tukhachevsky, was around 120,000 men strong. It had gained experience in the Russian civil war and had the advantage of good machine guns, some of them mounted on "tachanka", horse-carts. It suffered from three weaknesses: overstretched supply lines, which relied on horse carts too; long lines of communication, stretching all the way back to Minsk; inadequate reserves. Tukhachevsky did not realize them at the time and because of incomplete intelligence underestimated his opponent. He planned to encircle Warsaw, with the main attack in the north.
The Poles, commanded by general Pilsudski, withdrew to the Vistula river and aimed to launch a counteroffensive with encirclement themselves. The details of that plan were worked out sloppily, so much so that when the Russians obtained a copy, they discarded it as a ruse. The Polish soldiers, about as many as the Russians, consisted of a small nucleus of veterans surrounded by a large number of volunteers. They came from several different ethnic groups, were armed with a hodgepodge of imported weapons, but were held together by feelings of nationalism.
The main Soviet thrust was to the north of Warsaw. A single Polish army barely held out against three Russian ones. Tukhachevsky, confident of victory, let them continue to attack, yet in doing so fell for the Polish trap. After three days, the latter counterattacked the forward Russian units from the south and broke them very fast. The battered Russian units retreated quickly and were chased by the Poles, who gave them no rest and rushed forth at a pace of 40 kilometers per day. Tukhachevsky tried to reorganize his forces, but the cohesion of his army crumbled too rapidly and the maneuvers turned into a complete rout.
The Red Army suffered 15,000 dead, 500 missing, 10,000 wounded, 65,000 captured and lost many weapons. The Polish losses were approximately 4,500 killed, 22,000 wounded, and 10,000 missing. In several weeks the Poles drove the Russians back to the Szczara River, but by then both sides were exhausted and soon after a peace was signed.
The Battle of Warsaw stopped the westward expansion of the communist revolution. Without it, the stage for World War II might have looked quite different.