XVIII.
XIX.
To follow up the pursuit [See Plan XIX] of the fragments of the two Russian corps, general Skrzynecki designated the division of cavalry (A) under general Lubinski, with a battery of light artillery. This detachment set out during the night, sending reconnoissances to the right and left, to see that the enemy did not prepare ambuscades. The army followed this advanced guard, which soon overtook the enemy (B), who was still in great disorder. Infantry, cavalry, artillery, and vehicles, were mingled together, pressing their retreat. At each step, our cavalry took up prisoners. Upon some positions the enemy attempted to make a stand, but every such attempt was thwarted, and he was carried along before our troops. This was the case in the position of Minsk and of Jendrzeiow, where two regiments of Russian cavalry were routed by the second regiment of chasseurs. It was the same case in the forest of Kaluszyn, where our artillery approached the Russian rear-guard, and poured upon them a fire of grape, which scattered death among their ranks. The Russians, being no longer in a state to make any stand whatever, fell into a panic, and commenced a general flight. They were pursued by general Lubinski as far as Kaluszyn, where night closed upon the scene of destruction.
This day cost the enemy nearly as much as the preceding. Besides their loss in dead and wounded, 3,000 prisoners fell into our hands, with three standards, four pieces of cannon, and a hundred vehicles of baggage, ammunition, &c.,—in fact, the whole baggage of the corps. But the most agreeable success of our army, on that day, was the taking possession of the hospitals of Minsk and Jendrzeiow, in which as many as two hundred of our comrades were lying wounded. To witness the joy of those brave sufferers was recompense enough for all our fatigues. The impetuosity of our attack was such, that the enemy had not time to burn the magazines of Milosna, Minsk, and Kaluszyn, which fell into our hands. To make a recapitulation of the loss of the enemy on those two days—it was as follows:—Two of their generals, Lewandowski and Szuszerin, taken prisoners, with as many as sixty officers, of different grades, 15,000 soldiers in killed, wounded and prisoners; 26 pieces of cannon, seven standards, 1,500 horses, a great quantity of different kinds of arms and implements, and as many as 100 vehicles of various kinds.
The disasters of these two Russian corps were the cause of the abandonment of the plan which had been adopted by marshal Diebitsch, of passing the Vistula between Pulawy and Maceiowice, opposite Kozienice, with the greater part of his army; and to execute which he had left his position on the latter days of March, and had reached the environs of Ryk. [See Plan XVI.] The fear of losing those two corps, together with the guard, had led him to return in the direction of the town of Kock, to afford them succor.
After these days, so fortunate for us, in which the Russian forces were again driven from before the walls of Warsaw, the position of their army was as follows. Their right wing, formed of the remains of the corps of Giesmar and Rosen, was at Boimie; detachments being also placed in the environs of Wengrow. The main body, under Diebitsch, was at Kock. His advanced posts extended to Wodynie, Seroczyn, and Zelechow. The Russian guard, which, as we have said, had formed the plan of joining their main body, and had left Ostrolenka by the road through Wengrow, was obliged, in consequence of the successes of our army, to abandon that plan, and to retire again to the environs of Ostrolenka, where they now were posted. In the palatinate of Lublin was the Russian corps under general Witt.
The position of our army was as follows. Our left wing was opposite Boimie. It sent out its reconnoissances along the river Kostrzyn, as far as Grombkow, Zimna-woda, and even beyond. The head-quarters of the general in chief were with the main body, at Latowicz. Our right wing was at Siennica. Its reconnoissances were sent out as far as Zelechow, at which place was a detached corps, under the command of general Pac. In this manner, the marshy rivers, Kostrzyn and Swider, covered our front. [Refer to Plan VI.] General Uminski, with his detached corps, was at Rozany, in the palatinate of Plock, opposed to the Russian guard. In the environs of the fortress of Zamosc in the palatinate of Lublin, opposed to the Russian corps of general Witt, was the corps of general Dwernicki. Besides this, a small corps was placed in the environs of the town of Granica, upon the left bank of the Vistula, under the command of general Sierawski.
While the main forces were acting with such success, the two detached corps, under generals Uminski and Dwernicki, had also fought gloriously, and gained important advantages. The corps of general Dwernicki spread terror in its vicinity, and the Russians were compelled to send a new corps against him, under the command of general Kreutz; so that the combined Russian forces opposed to him amounted to 20,000 men. Greatly superior as this force was, they did not dare to attack general Dwernicki, who, reinforced every day by volunteers coming from Galicia and Volhynia, soon found himself at the head of 4500 men, and 20 pieces of cannon. This corps, in concert with the garrison of Zamosc, was sufficient to hold in check all the operations of the enemy in that quarter.