"Retreat" is too weak a word to describe the Soviet rout. Faced with the formidable Polish advance, there was panic, and soon collapse. It was not until the night of the 18th that Tukhachevsky, at his headquarters in Minsk, 480 km from Warsaw, learned that all he had to do was save the furniture and give the order for a general withdrawal.
The IIIrd and XVth Armies engulfed themselves in an increasingly narrow corridor, between the strike force and the border of East Prussia, leaving behind them the IVth Army and the Kavkor struggling with Sikorski and engaged too forward to be rescued.
The 15th armies fell 25 km per day, sometimes brushing against the Poles who were pursuing them; they thus succeeded in avoiding the encirclement. Things were not so simple for the XVI Army and for the remnants of the Mosyr Group (the siege artillery destined for Warsaw was lost).
At Wegrow, Bielsk and Bialystok, the Soviets clashed very violently with the Polish IN Army and the 1st Legion Division of the strike force (August 19-22). In still coherent formations, they managed to break free after suffering heavy losses.
The Soviet Fourth Army and the Kavkor at least seemed well and truly taken, but the latter attempted a sortie. Ghai marched his men by night in hopes of escaping the Poles through forests and lakes. In the early hours of August 21, he encountered a large force of Polish cavalry which avoided combat due to darkness.
On the 22nd, cornered by four divisions at Mlawa, he managed to escape after a ferocious night attack. On the 23rd, he ran into Sikorski's volunteer squad. During the fight on
the Wkra these apprentice soldiers had earned the title of "terror of Russia" but, in Grabow, they did not scare the Kavkor.
The Red Cavalry broke through but was roughed up by the Polish Siberian Brigade at Chorzele. On August 24, it joined the Soviet 53rd Infantry Division and the fight continued for two more days. But the ammunition ran out and the Red cavalry was forced to cross the border into East Prussia where it was disarmed and interned in German territory.
With an escort of 2,000 prisoners and 11 guns, the men of the Kavkor crossed the border singing the "Internationale", which proved that it took a lot to break the morale of the "Horde of Gay-Khan". The Fourth Army did not reach East Prussia and had to surrender to the Poles.
Speaking of the Battle of Warsaw, d'Abernon described it as one of the 18 decisive battles in world history. The fortunes of arms certainly operated, in the circumstances, a very spectacular reversal. At first, the Polish cause seemed hopeless to everyone in Europe.
By the end of the war, Tukhachevsky's 5 armies had lost two-thirds of their forces (Polish figures indicated 231 cannons, 1,023 machine guns, 10,000 vehicles and 66,000 prisoners plus 44,000 internees).
The Poles made no mistakes in carrying out their attacks.
Pilsudski gave Sikorski in the south the long-awaited order to deal with Budenny and the hated Konarmiya. The opportunity presented itself in the ring from Zamosk to Komarow on August 31; in one of the most extraordinary battles of the 20th century, Polish spearmen charged into the mass of Cossack horsemen.
The lancers had the upper hand and, with the help of other units, gave Budenny the opportunity to demonstrate his terrible courage and determination; the latter managed to avoid the complete annihilation of the Konarmiya.
In the north Pilsudski prevented Tukhachevski from reforming; the latter had to leave Poland as soon as he entered it.
Poland returned to its former border positions – even recapturing Lithuanian-occupied Vilna. But the Soviet defeat also had important consequences in the U.S.S.R.
The Russians had to recognize that the revolution could not be exported only with bayonets; henceforth the Soviets thought less of making the revolution triumph outside their frontiers than of ensuring its success within the country. Thus the battle of Warsaw protected Europe from communist aims for twenty years.
The war was followed by an armistice and it was in March 1921 that the Treaty of Riga consecrated the eastern border of Poland.