Battle of Bystrzyk happened on May 31, 1920, near the village of Bystrzyk near Kiev. It was a part of the ill-fated offensive of the Budionny's Cavalry Army assault on the Polish-Ukrainian troops defending Kiev after their successful offensive on Kiev a month earlier, during the Polish-Bolshevik War. May 31 is the 151st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (152nd in leap years), with 214 days remaining, as the last day of May. ... 1920 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... A monument to Archangel Michael, the protector of Kiev, with todays city center in the background. ... The Kiev Offensive (or Kiev Operation) was an important military operation, carried out by Polish Army and allied Ukrainian forces during the Polish-Bolshevik War, from April 1920 to June of the same year. ... Polish-Bolshevik War Conflict Polish-Bolshevik War Date 1919–1921 Place Central and Eastern Europe Result Polish victory The Polish-Soviet War (also known as the Polish-Bolshevik War or the Polish-Russian War) was the war (February 1919 – March 1921) that determined the borders between the Russian Soviet Federated...

The Bolshevik assault started on May 26, with the aim of cutting off the Polish 2nd and 3rd Armies and encircling them in a huge pocket. One of the assaulting divisions of the Cavalry Army, the Soviet 11th Cavalry Division, managed to break the front line between the two Polish armies and assaulted a fortified village of Bystrzyk, defended only by a single infantry company of the Polish 50th Kresy Rifles Regiment. After a short skirmish, the Poles were defeated. As the Cossack cavalry took no prisoners, all 75 Poles were killed, including prisoners and wounded in action. The exact Russian losses are unknown. Shortly after the skirmish, the commander of the Polish 13th Infantry Division, Gen. Franciszek Paulik, dispatched the reserve Polish 40th Infantry Regiment, but it was too late to relieve the defenders of Bystrzyk and the regiment lacked enough firepower to defeat an entire division. Because of that, the Polish tactical counter-offensive was repelled. The following day, the Russian division expanded the gap, broke through to the other side of the front and managed to drive approximately 15 kilometres towards the rear of the Polish forces. May 26 is the 146th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (147th in leap years). ... A company in the broadest sense is an aggregation of people who stay together for a common purpose. ...

This created a gap in the Polish front and endangered the rear of the Polish 13th division. The commander of the Polish 6th Army, Gen. Wacław Iwaszkiewicz, ordered a counter-assault group to be created out of all available reserves. The group, commanded by Jerzy Sawicki, was composed of two regiments of his 3rd Cavalry Brigade, as well as two infantry battalions from the 19th Infantry Regiment and two batteries of field artillery. The Polish counter-assault started at 1 o'clock in the morning of June 1, 1920. The Poles caught the 11th Cavalry Division by surprise in the village of Starościńce. Although the forces of both sides were more or less equal, the surprise was decisive and the Russians sounded a retreat after a short skirmish. After a successful pursue, the 11th Division was forced back to its original positions from before the offensive started. June 1 is the 152nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (153rd in leap years), with 213 days remaining. ... 1920 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ...