The Papal Consequences of the ‘Miracle of the Vistula’
National Catholic Register, 14 August 2020
Poland credits the intercession of the Virgin Mary for its 1920 victory over Russia’s communist forces.
Many countries have a day to honor to their armed forces. Fewer have holidays to mark Marian feast days. Only one combines the two; in Poland the solemn feast of the Assumption is also Armed Forces Day. The reason lies in events that took place exactly 100 years ago, but reverberate even today.
Poland had disappeared from the map of Europe in 1795, carved up and occupied by its neighbors — Prussia, Russia and the Empire of Austria-Hungary. After the Great War led to the fall of all three monarchies — German Kaiser, Russian Tsar and Habsburg Emperor — Poland regained its independence with the armistice of November 1918. But the newly-reborn Poland was soon fighting for its life. Lenin’s expansionist project of communism was moving westward, and by 1919 Polish forces were battling the Red Army. It was not going well, and by August 1920 it looked as if Poland would be defeated and Lenin would have pushed communism to the border of Germany.
The Red Army advanced toward the Vistula River and the city of Warsaw. It was expected that Warsaw would fall within days. Instead, brilliant maneuvering by Marshal Józef Piłsudski turned the tide. On the verge of defeat, the Polish Calvary rode strong into battle and defeated Lenin’s forces. The Polish-Soviet War had been won; Lenin conceded that it was a devastating defeat.
The various battles that made up the Battle of Warsaw took place from Aug. 12-25, 1920, but the key turning point came on Aug. 15.
It became known as the Miracle of the Vistula, and the coincidence with the feast of the Assumption was taken as a sign of the protection of Mary, Queen of Poland. Hence Armed Forces Day is celebrated in Poland on the day of Mary’s Assumption.
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