Battle of Głębokie
The Battle of Głębokie took place during the Polish–Soviet War (1919–21). It took place near the town of Głębokie (modern Hlybokaye, Belarus)[a], 80 kilometres (50 mi) south-west of Polotsk, between July 4 and July 6, 1920. It was a part of a larger offensive by three armies of Red Army's Western Front, aimed at encircling the 1st Polish Army operating in central Belarus. In the battle both sides suffered heavy losses. While the town of Głębokie was captured by the Soviets, they failed at outflanking the Polish defenders. Because of that, the battle, being less decisive than the Soviets hoped for, was both a tactical victory and a strategic defeat for them.
| Battle of Głębokie | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Polish–Soviet War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Poland | Russian SFSR | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Lucjan Żeligowski Władysław Jędrzejewski Leonard Skierski |
E.N. Sergeyev August Kork | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1 army (4 divisions, 1 brigade) | 2 armies (7 divisions, 1 brigade) | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 1500 (on both sides) | 1500 (on both sides) | ||||||
Because the Polish defenders did not realise that the town of Głębokie was the focal point of the entire Soviet operation, the battle was initially known in Polish historiography as battle on the Avuta (Polish: bitwa nad Autą), after a small tributary of the Dysna River, where most of the fighting actually took place.