TWENTY YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE 295causes neither the excitement nor the alarm which would be produced in a less ex-
perienced city.^5
As it happened, D'Abernon's worst fears were not realized. At the very moment
when the enemy was pausing to deliver the final blow, the Polish Army re-
formed in a'manoeuvre of daring complexity. Exhausted divisions were pulled
from the line, and were transferred to new positions, one, two, or even three
hundred miles distant. An assault force was hurriedly assembled to the south on
the River Wieprz. Providentially for the Poles, the overconfident Tukhachevsky
did not press his advantage until 13 August. Then, to his surprise, Warsaw's
fragile defences held firm. Although the wire encirclement was pierced by the
first rush of enthusiasm at Radzymin, the initial attack on the Vistula bridge-
head was repulsed. The main Soviet force was contained to the north by the skil-
ful operations of Sikorski's Fifth Army on the Wkra. On 16 August, to
Tukhachevsky's dismay, the Polish assault force sliced through his rear, sever-
ing all lines of communication. To his total confusion, on 18 August he realized
that his entire army was encircled. The Soviet rout was complete. A hundred
thousand Russians were taken prisoner. Forty thousand fled into East Prussia.
Three Soviet armies were annihilated. The rest struggled eastwards in total dis-
array. This was the 'Miracle of the Vistula'. In the following weeks, Pilsudski
scored success after success. At Komarow near Zamosc on 31 August,
Budyonny's Cavalry Army was caught in a pocket, and nearly trapped. The
charges and counter-charges of the Polish and Soviet cavalry on that day have
been claimed as the last great cavalry battle of European history. Izaak Babel'
served in the rear of Budyonny's Red Cossacks, and related how they were
chased back out of Poland in the direction from which they had come:
We reached Sitanets in the morning. I was with Volkov, the quartermaster. He found us
a hut on the edge of the village. 'Wine,' I said to the old woman, Vine, meat, and bread'.
'There ain't none here', she said, 'and I don't remember the time when there was.' With
that, I took some matches from my pocket and set fire to the rushes on the floor. The
flames blazed up. The old woman rolled on the fire and put it out. 'What are you doing,
sir,' she cried, recoiling in horror. Til burn you, old hag,' I growled, 'together with that
calf of yours which you have obviously stolen.' 'Wait,' she said. She ran into the passage
and brought a jug of milk and some bread. We had not eaten half of it when bullets began
to fly outside. Volkov went to see what was happening. 'I've saddled your horse,' he said;
'mine has been shot. The Poles are setting up a machine-gun post only one hundred paces
away.' There remained only one horse for the two of us. I mounted in the saddle, and
Volkov clung on behind. "We've lost the campaign', Volkov muttered. 'Yes,' I replied.^6Budyonny was obliged to retire altogether. On the Niemen in the north,
Tukhachevsky was treated to another lesson in mobile tactics. By the end of
September, the Red Army began to disintegrate; mutinies broke out in the
garrison towns of Byelorussia; disorderly troops and deserters were running
amok among the jews and peasants of the countryside; the Poles looked set to
march on Moscow unopposed. Suddenly, Lenin sued for peace. All former