The Miracle of Komarowo

SteveW

The Battle of Warsaw, or 'The Miracle of the Vistula', was an incredible event in military history, with Poland saving itself from Soviet aggression against the odds. But it is mainly forgotten that nearly two weeks later, the Soviets came close to another blow nearly as crushing, with Budyonny himself nearly being captured and in the event losing much heavy equipment and his own staff car. The POD is therefore that, on the morning of 31st August 1920, the Soviet troops (4th Cavalry Division in particular) at Wolica Syniatycka is overrun before it can retreat- IOTL, they stood their ground briefly before retreating quickly.

The day was turning out to be a disaster of epic proportions for Semyon Budyonny and his 1st Cavalry Army, both strategically and personally. The charge by the Polish 8th Uhlans had been met with an initial stand followed by utter chaos, as the Uhlans overran the Soviet troops and cut their ranks to ribbons. In fact, the speed of the collapse had been such that Budyonny himself had been unable to escape, and was captured whilst trying to escape in his staff car. The Poles, however, carried on chasing the remnants of the Soviet 4th Cavalry Division. The 4th however were now to play another crucial role- they sowed utter chaos as they fled, hindering the 11th Division as they hurried to fill the gap. Polish Uhlans ruthlessly exploited the gap, and charged as soon as the opportunity arose, sandwiching the Soviet 4th between them and the 11th. By now, the 1st Cavalry was in outright chaos, as Budyonny (and several other senior officers) had been captured. To add to the chaos, one of the two senior political commissars, Kliment Voroshilov, had also been captured. The 11th and 4th Cavalry Divisions were by now utterly, hopelessly routed, and Budyonny and Voroshilov were being carted off to Warsaw. The entire Soviet 6th Cavalry Brigade was encircled several miles away, and by 3p.m. Soviet troops had been driven from around Wolica and were being chased in all directions imaginable.

Around 5p.m., still without orders, Bolshevik cavalry units moved back towards Wolica, hoping to stem the flow of Polish cavalry. In fact, it was the worst move possible- Colonel Juliusz Rommel threw his cavalry at the Soviet flanks, and destroyed an entire regiment. The remaining senior political commissar, Joseph Stalin, was attempting in vain to keep some form of order, but these last events of the day caused a mass retreat- ending that night as midnight when the 6th cavalry brigade broke through Polish infantry lines, only to find that the battle was lost.

The only success for the Soviets was that a minor office, Georgy Zhukov, led a tidy withdrawal of his own men and others who had rallied, ignoring Stalin's own orders.
 

SteveW

Budyonny and Voroshilov were taken to Warsaw and there divided. Budyonny was imprisoned at an undisclosed location in relative comfort with the status of a POW- Voroshilov was treated as a war criminal non-combatant, and was taken to Pawiak gaol to await punishment. Indeed, that punishment came on 4th September 1920, when he was hanged on the orders of the Polish military top brass.

Meanwhile, his partner in crime Stalin was in deep trouble. The 1st Cavalry Army was now scattering to the wind, with an attempted attack on Polish lines by the incompetent Grigory Kulik having been rebuffed. Most of those who remained in some form of order had retreated with Timoshenko or Zhukov, who both pulled back and headed to try and join the Soviet troops under Tukhachevsky who had been repulsed so violently at Warsaw. The main bulk of the army however was surrounded at Laszczow and forced to surrender- Stalin himself had by now fled and was on the coat-tails of Timoshenko's ragged band. But the worst for him was that news of his failings, as well as those of Voroshilov and Budyonny, had already started making its way back to Moscow. Trotsky in particular was looking forward to exploiting the events. To this day, historians wonder what might have happened if Stalin had not been so horribly embarassed at Komarow, Budyonny captured and equally embarassed, and Voroshilov executed- all three might well have ended up leading the Soviet Union.
 

SteveW

Stalin had now not been seen for several days, but the fallout from the Komarowo disaster was widening. Zhukov and Timoshenko's men had both reached Tukhachevsky's forces, but were in too poor a state to re-enter combat.

In Moscow, the fallout was even worse for Stalin. The Central Committee was called to an emergency meeting on 12th September, where Trotsky manoeuvred to have Stalin removed from the Politburo, much to Lenin's distaste- but it was difficult to defend him when he had gone missing and was so obviously now the scapegoat (along with Budyonny). The committee duly agreed to remove Stalin.

However, from Trotsky's perspective, the vote was a disaster. He had hoped to place a supporter, such as Yevgeni Preobrazhensky, into the Politburo- but instead, in a slight expansion, Bukharin and Zinoviev were elected as additional full members, mainly as they were pro-Lenin and Lenin had leaned on a number of committee members. Preobrazhensky was elected as a candidate member, but was cancelled out by the similar elevation of Molotov.

This now pitted Lenin, Bukharin, Zinoviev and Kamenev against Trotsky and Krestinsky.

Lenin meanwhile knew that the war was effectively lost, and despatched Adolphe Joffe to sue for peace. An offer was made on 1st October 1920, recognising Polish control over a fairly sizeable area. [1] In addition, the Soviets agreed to demilitarise a strip of land 40 miles deep from near Polotsk down to the Romanian border. An armistice was agreed, and Soviet troops began to evacuate the agreed lands over the next week, in advance of a coming peace treaty and to lick their wounds. Pilsudski wanted more, but for now he was happy to accept the armistice and await a more uneven peace.

[1] This corresponds to exactly the same area as was received IOTL.
 
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