Battle of Mełchów 1863
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 30 September 1863 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1863 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | Poland | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| Coordinates | 50.7194, 19.5994 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Mełchów, one of many clashes of the January Uprising, took place on September 30, 1863, in the village of Mełchów (near Lelów), which at that time belonged to the Russian-controlled Congress Poland. A party of 800 Polish insurgents, commanded by Zygmunt Chmieleński, clashed with soldiers of the Imperial Russian Army. Russian losses were estimated at 100 killed, while Polish losses totaled 70 killed and wounded.
After skirmishes near Cierno, Warzyn and Czarnca, Chmieleński concentrated insurgent units in Drochlin, where he was joined by some riflemen of Captain Albert Esterhazy. When Russians found out about the insurgent camp, they sent there infantry, dragoons, Cossacks and two cannons. Polish forces had some 800 men, and the battle began with the Russian barrage of the village, after which infantry entered the fray. The Russian objective was to seize the local forest and then destroy the insurgent party. Chmieleński ordered his forces to halt the enemy and then sent the Polish cavalry in to counterattack. Due to the subsequent Russian artillery fire, the Polish advance was stopped. However, the insurgents regrouped and attacked again, this time with bayonets. Among those wounded during the cavalry charge was Adam Chmielowski.
The left insurgent wing under Captain Esterhazy repelled several counterattacks, but after Esterhazy's death, his units dispersed and began a retreat towards main insurgent forces.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Mełchów (revision 1370449690), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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