Battle of Warsaw (1920)
The battle of Warsaw was fought from August 12–25, 1920 as Red Army forces commanded by Mikhail Tukhachevsky approached the Polish capital of Warsaw and the nearby Modlin Fortress. On August 16, Polish forces commanded by Józef Piłsudski counterattacked from the south, disrupting the enemy's offensive, forcing the Russian forces into a disorganized withdrawal eastward and behind the Neman River. Estimated Russian losses were 10,000 killed, 500 missing, 30,000 wounded, and 66,000 taken prisoner, compared with Polish losses of some 4,500 killed, 10,000 missing, and 22,000 wounded.
Wacław Stachiewicz
However, in the effect of the Oath Crisis of 1917 he was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian Army, demoted to sergeant and sent to the Italian Front. In March of the following year he defected from the army, returned to Poland and joined the secret Polish Military Organization. He headed that organization's central branch based in Warsaw. After Poland regained her independence, Stachiewicz's organization became one of the cores of the reborn Polish Army. Initially serving as the head of the I Detachment of the General Staff and the deputy chief of staff of the Warsaw military district, Stachiewicz soon became a staff officer of General Stanisław Haller's Army. He also served in a number of roles in the Polish Ministry of War Affairs. During the battle of Warsaw of 1920 he served as a deputy chief of staff and chief of operations of Gen. Kazimierz Sosnkowski's Volunteer Army. After the end of hostilities and the Peace of Riga, Stachiewicz returned to the ministry.
In 1921 he was sent to Paris, where he graduated from Ecole Supérieure de Guerre in late 1923. Upon his return he became a professor of tactics at the "Wyższa Szkoła Wojenna" in Warsaw. In April 1926 he started a year of practice at the post of head of 1st detachment of the Polish General Staff and in June of the following year he became the 1st Officer of the Staff of the General Inspectorate of Armed Forces. In January 1928 he completed his practice as the commanding officer of the Częstochowa-based 27th Infantry Regiment. Finally, after a year of training there he became the chief of infantry in the elite 1st Legions Infantry Division in Wilno. In December 1933 he returned to Częstochowa, this time as a commanding officer of the entire 7th Infantry Division and in 1935 he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. After the death of Marshal of Poland Józef Piłsudski, his place was taken by General Edward Rydz-Śmigły who nominated Stachiewicz for the post of the Chief of Staff of the Polish Army.