Battle of Ostrołęka
Ostrołęka, Poland
What happened
The Polish army of the November Uprising under General Jan Skrzynecki fought a Russian army under Field Marshal Hans von Diebitsch. During the November Uprising against Russian rule, Polish forces fought to hold the town of Ostrołęka. There the Russians broke into the town, and Polish infantry fought hard to hold it. That evening a charge by Polish artillery under Józef Bem steadied the Polish line, and the Russians pulled back from the river.
Why it matters
Why it matters: The town stayed in Polish hands that day, but the Poles abandoned it that night, and the battle is usually seen as a Polish defeat. It became one of the symbols of the failed uprising.
What came next
The Polish army withdrew toward Warsaw. Józef Bem later became a hero in Hungary too, fighting in its 1848-49 revolution.
Did you know?
Józef Bem is a national hero in both Poland and Hungary, and the Hungarian poet Sándor Petőfi praised him as the hero of Ostrołęka.
Timeline
- 14 March 1794Józef Bem is born.
- 26 May 1831The Battle of Ostrołęka.
- 1848-1849Bem fights in the Hungarian Revolution.
- 10 December 1850Bem dies in Aleppo.