The Battle of Ostrołęka is the second biggest clash of the November Uprising, and at the same time the battle, which changed the faith of this national uprising. Everything happened on 26 May 1831, almost half a year after the famous November Night.
A Road to Battle
Over a month has passed since the Battle of Iganie (10 April 1831). It was a pause in hostilities. Ignacy Prądzyński was a Polish commander who wanted to continue the fighting and use the initiative to destory the Russian forces. This nearly thirty-nine-year-old general became known as a determined supporter of offensive maneuvers against tsarist troops. However, his previous efforts have been met with the refusal of the Commander-in-Chief, General Jan Skrzynecki. Until now…
The operational plan prepared by General Wojciech Chrzanowski assumed the destruction of the Russian guard stationed between Łomża and Ostrołęka, which consisted of 30,000 soldiers and 80 cannons. Polish troops in the number of more than 50,000 soldiers, were formed into three columns. Moreover, 19,000 soldiers were appointed to estimate the main Russian forces stationed near Siedlce under the command of Field Marshal Ivan Dibich. Their presence was intended to convinve the Russian commander that the main forces of the Congress Poland were standing in his way and to prevent him from providing any suport to the Guard.
Meanwhile, the Polish columns marched against the guards on 15 May and three days later engaged in a fight. The Russians began to retreat and General Skrzynecki’s actions turned out to be very helpful here. He commanded to stop the pursuit of the guards until May 20, allowing them to escape towards Białystok. In the meantime, alerted troops of Field Marshal Dibich decided to cut the Poles from Warsaw. In this situation Skrzynecki deciced that the pursuit, which was already in Tykocin, should be stopped. Together with his soldiers, he marched towards Ostrołęka to cross the western bank of the Narew River.
The indecisive or lost battle?
In the morning of 26 May, when Polish soldiers were crossing the river near Ostrołęka, they were attacked by the Ivan Dibich’s soldiers. The quick appearance of the Russians and another mistakes commited by the commanding General Skrzynecki, could have led to the total defeat of the Polish army. The salvation was the daring chargé of the light horse artillery battery under the command of General Józef Bem, who prevented the Russians from making further attaks with grapeshot fire. Thanks to those actions Polish troops managed to retreat towards Warsaw. In the evening the battle was finished.
As a result of the clashes, the Polish army lost 6,000 soldiers, of which 2,000 failed (among them were 2 generals – Henryk Kamieński and Ludwik Kicki). It also has to be noted that the losses in buildings in Ostrołęka, which were destroyed by all day fires. But the losses incurred by Russians were not small – they lost about 5700 people.
The Battle of Ostrołęka, although not so much lost as indecisive, was a crucial moment of the uprising. Since then the Russian army dealt the cards on the war map. Strategically this battle was a failure of the army of the Congress Poland.