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Soldiers from the former Prussian Partition were also in the 2nd Army. One of the units comprising the Army was the 16th Uhlan Regiment, which on 16 August occupied Wisznice in a spectacular attack. On the next day, the regiment helped in occupying Biała, which contributed to the crushing of the Soviet 57th Rifle Division. Marching on as flank guard of the 4th Mounted Brigade, the regiment crushed the enemy’s column, taking 500 prisoners of war, 16 cannons and several hundred carts.

By 18 August, the enemy’s 16th Army was annihilated. On the same day, the 15th Infantry Division was assigned to the 4th Army. The new task of the 4th Army was to defeat the enemy’s 3rd Army. To cut off its escape route, General Leonard Skierski ordered a change in the direction of the strike from north to north-east. 

On 19 August, the 15th Uhlan Regiment broke the enemy’s resistance in the area of Karczewo, and the 66th Infantry Regiment entered Węgrów. Vanguards of the 15th Infantry Division occupied Brok. The division sent one of its brigades towards Ostrów Mazowiecki and Śniadowo. In the area of Siedlce and Mokobody, and near Grębków, the 14th and the 16th Infantry Divisions fought victorious battles with the enemy’s columns that had been cut off. Prisoners were taken and cannons and machine guns were seized.

On 20 August, the 15th ID occupied Ostrów after a “bloody battle”. During the fighting, the Bolsheviks counter-attacked five times. In the days that followed, the 4th Army continued the chase. Although the enemy’s 3rd Army managed to sneak out to the north-east, the morale of its soldiers was so low, that they were easily defeated in the region of Bielsk and Białystok by the Polish 2nd Army. Meanwhile, it was now also possible for the 4th Army to cut off the way back for the enemy’s 4th and 15th Armies. For this plan to succeed, the routes passing through Łomża and Kolno had to be blocked. 

On 21 August, the 59th Infantry Regiment, with the 15th Infantry division, fought a fierce battle with the retreating Bolshevik 5th Rifle Division. Both sides were surprised with the situation. It was close combat, and the enemy was pursued and surrounded. Despite tremendous fatigue, the soldiers from Greater Poland fought with “exceptional obstinacy”. On the next day, the regiment occupied Łomża “after heavy fighting” taking prisoners from five different divisions.

On 24 August, the 15th ID seized 14 cannons, nearly 30 machine guns, standards, ammunition and wagon forts near Kolno. It also took a thousand prisoners. To succeed, the division had to endure the enemy’s immense pressure. The 60th Infantry Regiment repulsed 9 attacks. Vanguards of the 4th Army stood at the Prussian border and tried to prevent the Red Army from entering, but the enemy’s large forces managed to survive. On the following day, on 25 August, Józef Piłsudski ended the pursuit of the enemy. 

The Neman operation

Victory in the Warsaw operation brought the initiative in the Polish-Bolshevik war back into Polish hands. The Red Army was retreating, although not entirely destroyed. Marshal Piłsudski was determined to bring it to a final defeat and, consequently, to force Russia to sign a peace treaty the terms of which would be favourable to Poland. 

Another great battle with the Bolsheviks required thorough preparation. An important role was played by the Cavalry Operational Group, which was a part of the 2nd Army. One of its regiments was the 16th Uhlan Regiment. At the turn of August and September, the regiment occupied Sejny, which it later fought for with the Lithuanians. Although Sejny was finally abandoned, in the following days the 16th UR demonstrated great courage, effectively attacking the enemy’s much greater forces. After a week, the regiment’s subunits returned to Sejny.

The Pomeranian and Poznań divisions of the 4th Army also had responsible tasks to complete. On 16 and 17 September, the 14th, the 15th and the 16th ID fought three heavy battles with three divisions and a brigade in the region of Kobryn, Lipovo, Ostromech and Kamen Shlahetsky. The 57th Infantry Regiment from Greater Poland fought with exceptional bravery. Regiment Commander Lieutenant Colonel Arnold Szyling, who personally led the soldiers on a counter-attack, was fatally wounded. The 55th and the 56th Infantry Regiments also fought effective defensive battles for many hours. 

On 19 September, the Commander-in-Chief gave the orders to proceed with the new operation. Two armies were delegated to the offensive. The 2nd Army was to surround the Bolshevik positions from the left flank (trespassing into Lithuanian territory), while the 4th Army was to initially cover the 2nd Army. 

On the left flank of the 4th Army, there was Second Lieutenant General Władysław Jung’s group, the core of which was the 15th Infantry Division. Jung's group included one more infantry brigade and the 215th and the 18th Uhlan Regiments. Jung was to lead his soldiers to Vawkavysk, and later maintain contact with the 2nd Army, continue the offensive towards Mosty and defend itself against a possible strike from Slonim. The remaining forces of the 4th Army were to go towards Byaroza. The 14th ID was to be grouped in the region of Ruzhany, while the 16th ID was to cooperate in the liquidation of the Soviet 4th Army and part of the 16th Army which were trapped on the Pinsk foreland. 

On 21 September, the soldiers of the 55th and 58th Infantry Regiment defeated the enemy and, after fierce fighting, forced their way through the Khoyevo Marsh passage. Two days later, the main offensive of the Polish Armed Forces started, and on the next day, the 14th ID “in a daring attack” occupied Ruzhany and left the enemy with heavy losses. After three hours of bloody fighting in the streets, the 16th ID occupied Horodec, located near the route towards Byaroza, and on the following day, after a fierce battle, it entered Antopal. In the meantime, on 25 September, the 59th Infantry Regiment along with the 15th Infantry Division fought savage battles for Izabelin, which changed hands five times. The 61st and the 62nd Infantry Regiments from the same division repulsed nine attacks of the Red Army. The units that stood out in these fights were the artillery and the sapper battalion from this division.

On 27 September, the Pomeranian soldiers showed their best once again. “In a daring attack”, the 63rd Infantry Regiment occupied Drohiczyn. Meanwhile, the 16th ID pressed on against the Bolshevik 4th Army and caused its total destruction.

The soldiers from Greater Poland demonstrated their battle skills once again on 30 September, when the 14th Infantry Division occupied Baranavichy in another “daring attack”. On the next day, its 55th Infantry Regiment, despite heavy fire from the enemy cannons and machine guns, with the use of bayonets and hand grenades broke the Bolshevik positions along the line of trenches built by the Russians during World War I and started the chase towards the east. The 57th and the 56th Infantry Regiments also had to fight their way through. The 18th and the 215th Uhlan Regiments were active at the rear of the enemy’s armies. The latter was even surrounded near Tsaryn, but managed to break out. In the meantime, the 18th Uhlan Regiment rose to fame with its effective charge through four lines of barbed wire. 

On 2 October, the 15th Uhlan Regiment demonstrated its creativity when, while pursuing the enemy, it seized an artillery battery, blew up the railway track which then contributed to the seizure of an armoured train, and finally stormed into Snov. While doing all this, the regiment was cut off by the enemy, but it defended itself so effectively that the infantrymen from the 56th Infantry Regiment managed to support it. 

As well as the 4th Army, the 2nd Army also played an immense role in bringing the Bolsheviks to a defeat. Two of its units were squadrons from Greater Poland: the 12th Intelligence Squadron and the 13th Fighter Squadron which was moved close to the border with Upper Silesia. The commander of the army, Lieutenant General Edward Rydz-Śmigły, thanked them later for their “dedicated and bodacious work.”. Another element of the 2nd Army was also the 17th Infantry Division, which was given the task of surveilling the Polish-Lithuanian border.