Siege of Warsaw (1831)

On June 25, a new commander, Count Paskevich , arrived at the Russian army, who ordered the crossing of the Vistula River in the Osieka area. On July 1, construction of bridges began, and from 4 to 8 the crossing of the main forces of the Russian army took place (about 50 thousand people). The commander of the Polish troops, Jan Skrzyński, was unable to organize counteractions against the Russian troops advancing to Warsaw from the north and east, and was replaced by Dembinsky , who pulled the troops back to Warsaw, where by then unrest had begun.

On August 19, the blockade of Warsaw began. The main forces of the Russian army were located in the Voly region, and Rosen's corps moved to Prague . In the Polish camp, Dembinsky was replaced by Malakhovsky . Ramorino managed to push Rosen to Brest, but was instructed not to leave Warsaw, and returned. Meanwhile, on August 30, Ridiger operating in the south sent the 10th Infantry Division to help the main Russian forces. As a result, the Russian forces against Warsaw grew to 86 thousand people, in the Polish troops defending Warsaw, there were 35 thousand people.

From the west, Warsaw was defended by two lines of fortifications: the first was a series of redoubts 600 meters from the city moat, stretching from the fortified suburb of Chiste to the village of Mokotow; the second, one kilometer from the first, relied on Fort Volya and the fortified village of Rakovets. The first line was defended by Heinrich Dembinsky , the second - by Joseph Boehm . Count Jan Krukovetsky , seeing the danger of the situation, entered into negotiations with Paskevich. The latter offered some guarantees and amnesty, which did not extend, however, to the Poles of the “ eight voivodships ”. On the contrary, Krukovetsky still put forward a demand for the return of Lithuania and Russia, saying that the Poles "took up arms to gain independence within the borders that once separated them from Russia."

At dawn on September 6, after fierce artillery shelling, the Russian infantry launched an attack and took the first line redoubts in bayonets. Volya resisted the longest, whose commander, General Sovinsky , responded to the offer to surrender: "One of your cores tore off my leg near Borodin, and now I can not take a step back." He was killed in a fierce assault; Vysotsky was wounded and captured. Dembinsky and Krukovetsky made a sortie , trying to return the first line, but were repulsed. Paskevich made his headquarters at Wola, and during the night bombarded the second line; Polish artillery responded weakly due to lack of charges.

On September 7, at 3 o’clock in the morning, Prondzinsky appeared in Volya with a letter from Krukovetsky, which contained a statement of humility to the “legitimate sovereign”. But when Paskevich demanded unconditional submission, Prondzinsky declared that it was too humiliating and that he did not have powers from the Sejm. In Warsaw, a diet was convened, which, however, attacked Krukovetsky and the government with charges of treason. At half past one Paskevich resumed the bombardment. The Russian army, having built in three columns, began an attack. The Polish bayonet counterattack was repelled by buckshot.

At 4 o'clock, Russian troops with music attacked the fortifications and took them. Paskevich himself was wounded in the arm. After this, Prondzinsky appeared again with a letter from Krukovetsky, who stated that he had received the authority to sign surrender. Paskevich sent his adjutant Berg to Warsaw, who finally accepted the surrender from Krukovetsky. However, the Sejm did not approve it by proposing other conditions. Krukovetsky resigned from the government and, taking advantage of the fact that the surrender was not approved, sent 32,000 army men out to the Vistula, saying to the deputies: "save Warsaw - it's my business to save the army." On the morning of September 8, Russian army troops entered Warsaw through an open gate, and Paskevich wrote to the Tsar: "Warsaw at the feet of Your Majesty."

The remnants of the Krukovetsky army retreated to Plock . Upon learning that the Polish army rejected surrender, Paskevich sent Berg to Modlin for negotiations in order to give Rosen and Ridiger time to end Ramorino and Rozhnetsky.