Battle of Węgrów 1863
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 3 February 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 |
| War / conflict | January Uprising | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 52.4000, 22.0167 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
Battle of Węgrów was one of the most important skirmishes of January Uprising in the Russian Partition of Poland. It took place February 3, 1863, near Węgrów in east Masovia. On January 22, Polish partisans liberated a town from Russian forces. Here Poles established a military base, in a few days gathering almost 3,500 soldiers.
The Russians decided to recapture Węgrów by rapid attack force composed of a 1,000-strong unit with artillery, led by colonel Georgi Papaafanasopulo. The Poles were threatened by encirclement, and Polish commander Jan Matliński ordered a retreat from the town. He left about 500 scythemen to cover the retreat of the main forces. Scythemen attacked the Russian left flank and routed Russian cavalry squadron and cannons, ensuring the safe retreat of the Polish forces from the town. Almost all attacking scythemen were killed by Russian infantry fire. Russians entered the town, but most of the Polish forces had already left it.
The Polish attack was heard of throughout Europe. French poet Henri Auguste Barbier wrote a poem Attack at Węgrów, comparing the Polish fighters to Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae. The Polish poet Cyprian Kamil Norwid, writing in France, also compared the battle to Thermopylae.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Węgrów (revision 1370594705), 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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Other battles of the January Uprising
- Battle of Biržai 1863
- Battle of Chroberz 1863
- Battle of Ciołków 1863
- Battle of Genėtiniai 1863
- Battle of Grochowiska 1863
- Battle of Huta Krzeszowska 1863
- Battle of Kobylanka 1863
- Battle of Krasnobród (1863) 1863
- Battle of Krzykawka 1863
- Battle of Krzywosądz 1863
All 36 battles of the January Uprising →
Browse more: battles in Poland · Europe · 19th century battles