Talk:Battle of Komarów

Biggest?

The article says

It was the biggest cavalry battle in the history of war since 1813

Presumably the Battle of Leipzig is intended here (if so, the article should say). However, I wonder how it compares to the Battle of Waterloo? Gdr 09:47, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

This comment is from four years ago and I would be surprised if the author is still tracking it, however, just in case anyone else is confused: The word "cavalry" is an important part of the statement. Look at the numbers of troops involved -- under 20,000 for both sides combined. There were many battles after 1813 that were larger than that, but they were not "cavalry battles". The author does not define his terms, but in common usage it means battles where both armies are composed exclusively or primarily of cavalry. Neither Leipzig nor Waterloo fit this description. While plenty of cavalry were present at both battles, they were both combined arms actions with large numbers of infantry and artillery participating as well. In any case, just using Wikipedia's figures, the Battle of Brandy Station in the U.S. Civil War was a cavalry battle that was at least as large as Komarow, and it happened in 1863. Darkstar8799 (talk) 16:58, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

See my comment below. A review of other sources:

• Roman Johann Jarymowycz, Cavalry from hoof to track, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008, ISBN 0275987264, p.155: "The Battle of Komarów (August 1920) was heralded as the biggest cavalry battle since Napoleon." He gives Russians 4 cavalry divisions (17,000) and Poles, "6,000 Uhlans and supportin brigades".
• Przegląd historyczno-wojskowy, Tom 5,Wydanie 2, Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej, 2004: "This resulted in what is known as the battle of Komarów. It is considered to be the largest cavalry battle of the XX century. On the Polish side, six cavalry regiments and two mounted artillery units were engaged in the battle."
• Charles Casimer Krawczyk, Remembrance: As Long As We Live, AuthorHouse, 2006, ISBN 1420881183: "The greatest cavalry clash since 1813 was about to take place at the Battle of Komarow." (self-publishing company, so not really a reliable source, I wouldn't be surprised if the author took the claim from Wikipedia)
• Jeremy Black, Warfare in the Western world, 1882-1975, Indiana University Press, 2002, ISBN 0253340500: "Komarow, the last cavalry battle in Europe, led to a mistaken confidence in the continued value of the methods used then. The Poles did not match the mechanization of the German.."
• Adam Zamoyski, The battle for the marchlands, East European Monographs, 1981, ISBN 0914710826, p.165: "the cavalry battle of Komarow. Although its importance for the campaign is slight, this engagement cannot be overlooked, as it was the greatest cavalry-to-cavalry contest for over a hundred years, and the last of its kind in European history"
• Peter Piniński, The Stuarts' Last Secret, Dundurn Press Ltd., 2002, ISBN 186232199X, p.245: "Cavalry charges occurred later, however Komarow was the last full-scale battle in history in which only cavalry took part"
• Janusz Cisek, Kościuszko, we are here!: American pilots of the Kościuszko Squadron in defense of Poland, 1919-1921, McFarland, 2002, ISBN 0786412402, p.158: "At the small village of Komarow, at the end of August and beginning of September, the greatest cavalry battle of the war took place"

As such, I'd suggest revising the sentence as follow:

"It was the biggest cavalry battle of that war (Cisek 2002) and of the 20th century (Przegląd historyczno-wojskowy 2004); according to some sources, since 1813 and the Napoleonic Wars (Jarymowycz 2008) [a footnote can be added here if anybody wants to list some similr sized battles like the one mentioned above]. It was also the last great battle of any significance in which cavalry was used as such and not as mounted infantry (Black 2002, Zamoyski 1981, Piniński 2002)."

The only thing I am still puzzled is Black's and Zamoyski's qualification that it was the last such battle in Europe. Were there any large cavalry battles anywhere else in the war after 1920? I am also not sure how to add this qualification to the above sentence. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk} 23:27, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

GDR, I think your rewrite is a good one. It puts the emphasis on what is really different about this battle -- the use of cavalry on such a large scale in the mid-20th century. Impressive research, too. Darkstar8799 (talk) 15:48, 17 June 2011 (UTC)

Davies

Davies describes this battle on the pages 226-230 of WERS.-- _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus | talk}  21:40, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

From Polish edition, p.229: it's part of the battle of Zamość; Davies notes it was quite a confusing battle and descriptions of its various elements differ significantly, with Komarów being a perfect example. "Polish historians often declare the charge of the Polish uhlans at Komarówow, 29 August, as the most magnificent battle of the war. Recently it was called "the largest cavalry battle since 1813 and the only battle of its kind in Europe" [source: Kornel Kozakiewicz, Na 50-lecie bojów kawalerii i artylerii konnej w 1920 roku, London, 1970, p.11). But it is omitted completely from Budionny's memoires. Przybylski in his classic account confusingly states that Russian cavalry simply "gave field" ".-- _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus | talk}  12:36, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

Which hill?

The text reads:

At 6 o'clock in the morning 200 men strong Polish 2nd "Rokitna" Cavalry Regiment was ordered to capture the "Hill 255" to the north of the main lines of Polish cavalry. The hill was captured with no opposition. Soon afterwards a large Russian tabor was spotted, disorganised and mixed with a much larger unit of Bolshevik cavalry. With no time to hesitate, the Poles charged the enemy inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy rear units. Soon afterwards the Poles were successfully counter-attacked by Russian troops and forced to abandon the hill and retreat into the nearby village of Wolica Śniatycka. There the Russian advance was stopped by Polish heavy machine gun fire and at 10 o'clock Polish 9th "Lesser Poland" Uhlans Regiment under mjr. Dembiński charged on Russian positions and managed to recapture the "Hill 225". The Russians counterattacked several times, but to no effect.

Question: Is it Hill 255 (as the first sentence has it), or is it Hill 225 (as the penultimate sentence says)?

--Davecampbell 00:53, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

B-class review

Failed due to insufficient citations. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk to me} 21:55, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

No sources

Could someone please add some sources or references to this article, or else rewrite it using proper references?

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