The Battle of Vilnius in January 1919 (Polish: Walki o Wilno, Russian: Сражения за Вильно) were a series of battles fought in Vilnius between the pro-Polish Self-Defence of Lithuania and Belarus who were initially against the Imperial German Army retreating from the city and the Bolshevik paramilitaries (December 31, 1918 – January 3, 1919) and then against the attacking Red Army (January 4–5, 1919). The fighting resulted in the temporary capture of most of the city of Vilnius by the Poles, who eventually had to retreat before the Red Army came. Some historians consider this as the beginning of the Polish–Soviet War.
Background
In the early 20th century, Vilnius (Polish: Wilno; Russian: Вильна, romanized: Vilna), was a part of the Russian Empire until 1915, when the city came under German occupation after a successful German offensive. In late 1918, German soldiers withdrew from the occupied lands of the former Russian Empire, and their place was taken by the Bolsheviks.
At that time, Vilnius was the subject of a territorial dispute between the newly emerging states of the region – Belarusian People's Republic, the Republic of Lithuania, and the Republic of Poland. From March 1918, the government of Lithuania resided in the city, and from early December also the government of the BPR. On December 15, the Vilnius Soviet of Workers Deputies was also established in the city. The Republic of Lithuania, which, considering it the heir to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, claimed the right to include the city within its borders "for historical reasons". At the beginning of December, the government of the Belarusian People's Republic, headed by Anton Lutskevich, also arrived in Vilnius, forced to leave Minsk due to its occupation by the Bolsheviks. The Belarusian government also considered Vilnius as part of its territory, but at that time it sought strategic rapprochement with Lithuania, considering the Belarusian-Lithuanian territorial disputes as a matter to be resolved later.
The dominant national group living in Vilnius, apart from Jews, were Poles. Even before Poland gained independence, part of the Polish population of the Vilnius region was preparing to join these lands to the emerging country. The formation of Polish military formations in Vilnius began on September 10, 1918, under the patronage of the Union of Military Poles (ZWP). A Citizens' Committee was established, which in turn appointed a Public Safety Committee. Capt. Stanisław Bobiatyński participated in its work on behalf of the ZWP in Vilnius. An attempt was made to bring together the Polish, Lithuanian, Belarusian and Jewish people to defend themselves against the approaching Bolsheviks, but it failed. Therefore, the newly established Polish Self-Defense of Lithuania and Belarus intended to defend the city on its own. From December 8, this formation was commanded by General Władysław Wejtko, who attempted to transform it into a regular army. It included the Vilnius Self-Defense, commanded by General Eugeniusz Kątkowski.
At the end of December 1918, it numbered approximately 1,200 volunteers, residents of the city and surrounding areas, from whom two infantry regiments and one uhlan regiment were formed. The Polish Military Organisation (POW) in Vilnius was active under the leadership of Witold Gołębiowski.
On December 29, 1918, the Polish authorities in Warsaw, as part of the reorganization, dissolved the Self-Defense of Lithuania and Belarus and invited its members to join the ranks of the Polish Army. Władysław Wejtko was appointed commander of the Military District of Lithuania and Belarus, Adam Mokrzecki – military commandant of Vilnius, Stanisław Bobiatyński – his deputy and Zygmunt Klinger – chief of staff. The Vilnius Self-Defense was transformed into the 1st Brigade, and General Bolesław Krejczmer became its commander. These formations, however, retained a character more similar to volunteer self-defence than a regular army. Polish troops in Vilnius were ordered to act independently in case the Red Army attempted to enter the city.
Preparation to the defense of Vilnius by Lithuanian-Belarusian forces
As the Bolsheviks were approaching Vilnius, Lithuanians and Belarusians made joint efforts to form troops to defend the city. The Lithuanian government appointed a Belarusian General Kyprian Kandratovich to the position of deputy minister of national defense, entrusting him with the task of creating a Lithuanian army with Belarusian troops in it. At the beginning of December, the formation of the 1st Belarusian Infantry Regiment (1 BPP) began in Vilnius, commanded by Col. M. Ławrentiew, battalion commanders – Col. Leniwow (a few days later dismissed from the 1st BPP) and Lt. Col. Uspensky, company commanders – Capt. Eugeniusz Hajdukiewicz, lieutenants Piatko, Żywotkiewicz and Talkowski. At the end of December, the following officers joined the regiment: Siatkowski, Hasan Konopacki, Dawid Jakubowski, Remiszewski and Łukaszewicz. The formation of the headquarters of the 2nd Belarusian Infantry Regiment also began. However, these actions turned out to be insufficient to defend Vilnius against the Bolsheviks. At the end of December, the Lithuanian army was just in the process of being formed, and its seeds were being formed in Kaunas, Alytus and Kėdainiai. The Belarusian troops in Vilnius had only officers and no privates. Therefore, on December 27, 1918, Belarusian military formations along with most members of the BRL government left Vilnius and evacuated to Grodno, which remained under German occupation.
Polish forces
At the end of December, the Polish 1st Brigade (self-defence) in Vilnius had the following structure:
- 1st Vilnius Uhlan Regiment (commander: Capt. Władysław Dąbrowski ; from November 30 to December 25, 1918, the Vilnius Self-Defense Uhlan Squadron)
- 1st Battalion (Commander: sub-captain Witold Szczerbicki)
- 2nd Bn. (commander : Mikołaj Zujewicz)
- 3rd Bn. (commander: Lieutenant Edward Kaczkowski; composed of Poles – former German soldiers)
- 4th POW Bn. (commander: Lt. Jan Gołębiowski)
- Recruit Bn. (commander: Capt. Władysław Piasecki).
They were soon joined by the Officers' Legion.
The Battle
The Polish capture of the city
By the end of 1918, regular Polish Army units failed to reach Vilnius. The reason was the difficulties created by the Germans in the territory they occupied, separating Vilnius from Poland. Polish self-defence units in Vilnius, anticipating that the Germans would hand over Vilnius to the Bolsheviks on January 5, decided to independently take control of the city and remove German troops from it. On December 31, 1918, the commander of the Military District of Lithuania and Belarus, General Władysław Wejtko, issued a mobilization order in which he said:
all Poles capable of arms, from the age of 17, immediately report to the recruitment office – Užupis (Zarzecze) 5, and all Lithuanians join the Lithuanian army. I leave it to Belarusians and Jews to choose the military formation they want to join.
On the same day, the first fighting broke out in Vilnius. The 3rd Bn. captured the Vilnius Town Hall. Skirmishes also took place in other parts of the city, in the area of the Gate of Dawn, where Polish soldiers began disarming German soldiers. As a result of the negotiations, the German command agreed to hand over part of the city to the Polish formations, while retaining control over the street Wielka Pohulanka (now Jono Basanavičiaus Street) and the Vilnius railway station. On January 1, 1919, the Polish-German demarcation line was established. On the same day, the Polish military commandant of Vilnius, General Adam Mokrzecki, who took power in the city, issued a proclamation to the inhabitants calling for order, and also:
guaranteeing the security of life and property of all people residing in Vilnius, regardless of nationality, ensuring freedom of existence for political parties.
The Lithuanian government limited itself to the symbolic gesture of hanging Lithuanian flag over the Vilnius Castle Hill, and then on January 1 it also evacuated with the Germans by train to Kaunas. The reason for the evacuation of the Lithuanian government was not only the approach of the Bolsheviks to the city but also the fear that after the Poles established themselves there, its further work would be very difficult or impossible.
Władysław Dąbrowski became the actual commander of the Polish self-defence forces on his initiative and only later formally received this position from General Wejtka. The Germans decided to evacuate the city and did not resist the Polish forces. On the night of January 2–3, Polish scouts, railway workers and POW members took over the Vilnius railway station.
Siege of the Vilnius Soviet on Jakšto Street
As German soldiers evacuated from Vilnius, the socialist movements attempted to take power in the city and held elections to the Vilnius Soviet of Workers Deputies in mid-December. In the last days of the German occupation, the Soviet held two sessions, and declared itself the only legal authority in the city and issued the first decrees; its headquarters was in a building at Wronia Street. The Soviet preparing for an armed confrontation with the Polish self-defence, proceeded to organize a workers militia. The chairman of the Council was Kazimierz Cichowski, former secretary of the Petrograd group of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL), and the secretary of the praesidium was Jan Kulikowski, a Pole from Trakai County, member of SDKPiL and the Communist Workers' Party of Poland; its headquarters was in a building at Crow (now Jakšto) Street. The Soviet was of a mixed nature; the largest but not dominant faction was the Bolsheviks, balanced by Mensheviks, Bundists, Lithuanian Social Democrats and other groups.
On January 1, 1919, Polish self-defence units under the command of Capt. Dąbrowski (2nd Bn. and about 30 soldiers from the 3rd Bn.) surrounded the Soviet, which had barricaded the Workers' Club building at Jakšto Street 5. At around 11 pm the leader of the Polish forces, General Władysław Wejtko, issued an ultimatum to surrender which the Soviet refused. The fight lasted for over twelve hours, which ended with the surrender of the Vilnius Soviet at 2 pm. As a result of the siege on the Polish side, 1 soldier was killed and 4 were wounded. On the defenders' side, 3 combatants died, 5 committed suicide, and 76-100 were taken prisoner. The suiciders included: the commandant of the people's militia, Leonas Čaplinskis, Antanas Liaudanskas, Jankelis Šapira, Julius Simelevičius (Brother of Boris Shimeliovich) and the Vilnius shoemaker, Bonifacas Verbickas. Roman Pilar attempted to shoot himself, but survived. Moreover, Polish self-defence soldiers captured over 1,000 rifles and 600 grenades, mainly German ones. On January 9, 1919, after the Red Army captured Vilnius, a ceremonial burial for the deceased members of the Vilnius Soviet was organized at the Cathedral Square. During the post-World War II Soviet era, Wronia Street (Later Dąbrowski Street) was renamed Komunarų Street in memory of the five men.
The first attack of the Red Army on Vilnius
On January 2, the Soviet Western Army approached Vilnius from three directions: from Nemenčinė, Maladzyechna and Lida. The commander of the Polish self-defence forces, Władysław Wejtko, led some of the forces (part of the Vilnius Uhlan Regiment, the 3rd Bn. and the Officer's Legion) to the area of Naujoji Vilnia to block the enemy's movement there. Meanwhile, the rest of the Vilnius Uhlan Regiment, the 1st Bn., the 4th POW Bn. and other small units remained in Vilnius, under the command of Capt. Władysław Dąbrowski.
The order to capture Vilnius was given to the Pskov Rifle Division's 2nd Rifle Brigade, which was in Pabradė on January 1. For this task, it was reinforced with the Zienkowicz's 5th Vilnius Rifle Regiment. Simultaneously, the 144th and 146th Regiments of Grigory Borzinsky's 17th Rifle Division and a unit separated from the Vladimir Yershov's Western Rifle Division were heading from Molodechno to Vilnius. To complete the task of capturing Vilnius, the 2nd Rifle Brigade's command sent the 4th Regiment through Pabradė to Mickūnai, so that, together with the 1st Regiment, it occupied the railway station in Naujoji Vilnia. In turn, the 5th Vilnius Regiment was sent from Pabradė through Nemenčinė to Vilnius. Bolshevik troops were ordered to suppress Polish resistance by force.