In the south Pilsudski's armies made good progress. The blow against the left of the Soviet i6th Army came as a complete surprise and they offered little resistance. During Aug. 16 and 17 the Poles covered over so miles. By Aug. 18 the 3rd Soviet Army, which lay between the 15th destroyed by Sikorski, and the i6th broken by Pilsudski, turned also in hopeless confusion.
On the extreme Soviet right their 4th Army, containing some of the picked Communist regiments, together with the cavalry corps, had reached the Vistula between Torun and Plock in their great turning movement when Sikorski suddenly advanced. Had they advanced resolutely even then, all might have been well, but they hesitated and were lost. Their half-hearted attacks against Sikorski's left had little effect. It was not till Aug. 20 that the order for a general retreat reached them. On Aug. 22, at Mlawa, and Aug. 23 at Chorzele they were successful in cutting them selves a passage, but on Aug. 24 at Kovno they ran up against Pilsudski's 4th Army blocking the way. Almost without making an effort to attack they passed ignominiously over the East Prussian border to internment.
The pace of the Polish pursuit was remarkable. From Aug.
16 to Aug. 25 the advanced units of the 2nd army had covered 200M. as the crow flies. The 4th Army averaged 25m. a day in their advance. The service of supply was left far behind. The troops existed as they could upon the exhausted country. Luckily the Soviet resistance was so completely broken that there was no further fear of counter-attack and the Polish units had ample time in which to reorganize.
Conclusion.—The results of the battle of Warsaw, as it has been named, are only exceeded by those of Tannenberg. The Poles captured 70,00o prisoners, 200 guns and i,000 machine guns. From 5o,000 to Ioo,000 Soviet troops passed over into East Prussia. The victory of the Poles was due to the adoption of a determined offensive based upon a sound plan. The raising of the morale of the beaten troops by the Polish authorities, roused to enthusiasm themselves by the inspiring presence of Gen. Weygand, is little short of miraculous. The crisis of the battle was undoubtedly Aug. 15-16, when Sikorski's 5th army cleared its front. If it was Pilsudski's force which completed the Soviet defeat, it was undoubtedly the magnificent fighting of Sikorski and his men which made victory possible.