September 12 is the Day of the Land Forces. The roots of that day stem from the last great victory of the First Republic - the Vienna victory in 1683. Although this battle is commonly associated with the most famous hussar charge, its course reflected great bravery of our forces and remarkable skills of our commanders.

When the uprising against the reign of the Habsburgs broke out in Hungary in 1682, Turkey began the preparations for the war with Austria. The threat of the Turkish invasion led Austria to look for allies. As Poland was perceived as the most reliable ally, in winter 1682/1683 the Austrian deputy began the efforts to enter into alliance with Poland. King Jan III Sobieski realised that the Turkish capture of Hungary would be a danger for the southern borders of Poland.

At the Seym session in 1683 the noble deputies supported the proposal of the Polish -Austrian alliance, which was signed on April 1, 1683 (the date of the documents was changed to March 31 to avoid a bad omen). In early spring 1683 large Turkish forces of 200 000 soldiers set out from Adrianopol through Hungary to Austria. The vizier Kara Mustafa led them from Belgrade. The Turkish command designed a part of the forces for supporting efforts and for occupation of numerous citadels. The army of about 140 000 soldiers marched directly towards the capital of Austria - Vienna.

The imperial forces led by Prince Karol Lotaryński consisted of only 30 000 soldiers. His attempts to resist the Turks were not successful - the invaders' main forces approached Vienna with no obstacles; moreover, great areas of the empire were being destroyed by the Tatars. Austria was not prepared for defence. The emperor relied only on foreign help, especially on Poland. In such a situation, Prince Karol supported the commander of Vienna - Prince Ernst Rüdiger Stahremberg with his infantry units and withdrew beyond the Danube with the remaining forces to defend this part of Austria. On July 7, 1683 the Emperor Leopold I with his family escaped from Vienna, on July 14 the Turkish army reached Vienna.

On July 16 the emperor's deputy came to Wilanów where King Jan III Sobieski stayed. The deputy begged the Polish king on behalf of the Emperor Leopold I for help for the besieged Vienna. Sobieski, obliged by the treaty signed with the empire on April 1, 1683 began his preparations for the Vienna mission. On July 16, 1683 he sent his orders to Mikołaj Sieniawski and Stanisław Jabłonowski, to assemble all the forces in Cracow. Sobieski came there soon. On August 2, Grand Hetman Jabłonowski with the army reached Cracow. The King assembled about 27 000 soldiers and almost twice more of camp servants.

The forces set out from Cracow to Silesia, first Mikołaj Sieniawski with 20 troops of cavalry and then the King with the main forces led by Jabłonowski. The army was followed by a train of about 8000 carriages with the food supply for half a year. At the same time, the reinforcements from the German Reich set out to Vienna. In Tarnowskie Góry Sobieski reviewed the army, then the forces went two different ways which joined in Ołomuniec. Sieniawski set out towards Biała, Cieszyn, Ołomuniec, Wischau, Nikolsburg; Jabłonowski towards Gliwice, Racibórz, Opawa, Ołomuniec and from Ołomuniec he followed Sieniawski. In Racibórz Sobieski with three thousand of cavalry separated from the main forces. He intended to march quickly and to join Sieniawski who on August 25 appeared in Nikolsburg, having covered 321-km distance within 12 days. On August 31 the king joined Sieniawski outside Nikolsburg.

On September 3, the session of the great war council took place in Stettelsdorf. Apart from King Jan III Sobieski and Prince Karol Lotaryński, the commanders of the Polish forces (both hetmans: Stanisław Jabłonowski and Mikołaj Sieniawski, the artillery general Marcin Kątski), Sass elector Jan Jerzy III, Bavarian elector and the emperor's generals participated in that session. Jan III Sobieski assumed command of the allied forces. The plan of the relief submitted by the Polish king was accepted then. Sobieski's plan assumed crossing the Danube to the right bank. Having crossed the river, the allied forces were to make a careful reconnaissance of the enemy and then to march along the Danube through the mountain area of the so-called Vienna Forest. The most important role during the march was allocated to the infantry whose task was to prevent the army from being surprised by the enemy. The allied forces were to attack the enemy just after passing through the Vienna Forest and having crushed the enemy - pass on to the pursuit.

After the consultation, Sobieski launched the arranged operation. At night of 4/5 September the Polish and Austrian forces crossed the Danube on the pontoon bridges and reached the right bank of the river near Tulnn. Then German reinforcements, which came from Krems, crossed the river. The allies marched towards Vienna in three columns; the left one consisted of the Austrian forces which moved along the Danube bank; the middle one was made up of the German forces, and the right one - of the Polish ones. On September 11 the allied forces approached the flat area and took positions opposite the Turkish army. Sobieski estimated the terrain, enemy's strength and location from the top of Kahlenberg.

The relation of forces was following: the army participating in the relief consisted of 70 000 soldiers (about 30 000 cavalry and 40 000 infantry) and 140 cannons, including 27 000 Polish soldiers. The Turkish forces positioned to fight with the allied forces numbered 85 000 soldiers, and in the suburbs - about 25 000 soldiers.

The allied forces took up the positions to the north of the city, at the Vienna Forrest. The Polish forces took the positions of the right flank, reaching from Rosskopf to Dreimarkstein. The forces were arranged in such a way that both hetmans with the cavalry and infantry units took up the side positions, in the middle there were royal hussars and infantry. The central positions of the allied forces' formation situated in the vicinity of Vogelsang took up the troops of the Bavarian elector - Prince Waldeck. The left flank on Kahlenberg consisted of the forces of the Sass elector and Prince Karol Lotaryński. The forward left flank was to launch the attack. Despite the fact that the whole Vienna was surrounded, the Turkish concentrated their main forces to the north of the city, as they were afraid of the attack from that side. The Turkish positions ranged from Schönbrunn to Döbling. The Tatars took up the positions beyond the Wiedenka.

At 6 o'clock in the morning of September 12 the left flank of the allied forces launched the attack. The infantry moved from Kahlenberg towards the Turkish positions on Nussberg. It was followed by the artillery, which halted every now and then to treat the enemy with the cannon's fire. The infantry halted at the same time awaiting loading of the cannons by the artillery. Sobieski ordered the batteries of the Kahlenberg slopes to support the attack with fire. At 8 o'clock Nussberg was conquered. The left flank forces kept on attacking. At noon Heiligenstadt defended fiercely by the Turkish was conquered. At about noon the units of that flank approached Vienna. To prevent their entering the city, the majority of the Turkish forces gathered there, preparing for counter-attack.

Sobieski decided to attack the Turkish left flank from Severing and Dornbach. He led the Polish infantry units reinforced by artillery out of the woods. The units were commanded by General Kątski. They were followed by the hussar troops - the major strike forces of the Polish army. The Polish had a very difficult task to fulfil. The infantry attacked through a range of lower hills separating the Polish formation from the Vienna Plain. The Turkish commander - Kara Mustafa, envisaging imminent threat, directed the best infantry regiments supported by the Turkish artillery fire against them. The fierce, arduous fight for every hill, vineyard and grove began. The right flank of the allied forces from Vogelsang and the forces deployed in the centre attacked simultaneously. The Turks managed to suppress the attack of the German infantry in the centre but Sobieski supported the Germans with his own infantry and broke the enemy's resistance. The allied forces were moving forward.

At about 5 o'clock in the afternoon the Turkish forces were dislodged to the plain. To discover weather the area was not too difficult for the cavalry, Sobieski directed a hussar troop to attack the enemy. This troop caused confusion in the Turkish arrays and moved back to the initial position. Sobieski deduced at 6 o'clock that it was a decisive time of the battle and ordered the hussar and armoured troops to form for attack. In the meantime, Kara Mustafa gathered 75% of his forces against the Poles and supported the main Turkish camp on Schmelz with the right flank units. The Turkish cavalry arranged in three lines took the positions to the north-west of the camp. The Turks assembled a great number of cannons there.

Sobieski led 20 000 cavalry to attack which was to determine the battle result and the Vienna fate. It was the most famous charge of the Polish hussars. They gathered greater and greater momentum attacking on the sloping terrain. The cavalry of the left flank and the allied forces centre followed them. During the attack the Turkish artillery opened fire and the Turkish heavy cavalry moved forward to encounter the galloping hussars. The Turkish cavalry fell in a row during the head-on clash; then the hussars attacked the next arrays. The Turks were seized with fear and panic. A great number of Kara Mustafa cavalry fell dead, the rest escaped to save their lives. They were followed by the infantry. Kara Mustafa hardly saved his neck. The great Turkish army was completely defeated. The infantry left in the suburbs of the city tried to defend themselves but the forces of Karol Lotaryński dislodged them. Sobieski took over the Turkish camp - Vienna was free. "It was a great battle, lasting from the noon till the sunset, it reminded the Last Judgement - wrote the Turkish chronicler. Finally, shortly before the dusk, the Muslim army had lacked the strength to fight, thus it was defeated and escaped. (.)".

Although the Vienna battle ended in a great attack of the Polish hussars, infantry and artillery units contributed mainly to the victory over the Turks. Moreover, the involvement of engineers in building pontoon bridges before the battle should be mentioned. The Vienna battle is an interesting example of the allied forces' skilful adaptation of the operations to the terrain. The infantry supported by the artillery was especially effective in the first phase. When the enemy had been dislodged to the plains, cavalry could have been used. King Jan III Sobieski proved to be a very talented commander. He directed the course of the battle so skilfully that the major Turkish forces were conquered and the siege of Vienna was relieved.

The traditions of the Land Forces Day celebrations stem from the times of the Second Republic. At the beginning that day was celebrated by infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineers signal regiments etc. of the land forces and some forces' branches (artillery, air artillery, engineers). Such a situation lasted until 1948 when the Ministry of National Defence established the Day of the Land Forces and Land Officer's Colleges by the decree no. 115 of July 19 ("The Journal of Orders of the Ministry of National Defence", no. 12 of 1948, pos.121). The day falls on the anniversary of the Oder and the Neisse forcing. It was implemented to commemorate the most glorious moments of the units' combats, to venerate solemnly comrades who died for liberation of our fatherland and to deepen the relation between the Nation and the Polish Army. Thus, for the first time in the history of the Polish Army, the major armed forces branch had its own celebration day. It resulted mainly from the creation - by the decree of the Ministry of National Defence (no. 0271/org. of November 29, 1947) - the Land Forces Command.

The celebration day was planned for the first Sunday after April 15. Solemn celebrations with the civil authorities and representatives of political parties, trade unions and local community invited to participate in the festivities were recommended. The example schedule of the Land Forces Day comprised: a tattoo and a solemn assembly memorising the soldiers died on the eve of the Land Forces Day, field-mass, march-past, common dinner for soldiers, the commemorative meeting (devoted to the history of the land forces' combats with regard to military operations of a given unit and its contribution to Poland's liberation and reconstruction), and some artistic and sports events.

However, there were no central celebrations of the Day of the Land Forces and the Land Officer's Colleges. In 1949 the first Sunday after April 15 fell on Easter. A year later there was nobody to organise the central celebrations as the Minister of National Defence ordered to disband the Land Forces Command by the decree no. 09/org. of February 7, 1950. Thus, there were no official celebrations of the Land Forces Day then. The land forces servicemen did not have their own day in the following years. Various branches of forces celebrated their own days, namely: artillery, air defence, engineer, chemical defence and signal forces.

The conception of the Land Forces Day reappeared when the Land Forces Command was reconstructed. On August 19, 1996 the Organisation and Preparation Group of the Land Forces Command was established by the decision of the Minister of National Defence. The Brigade General Józef Flis led it. The State Secretary - I Deputy Minister of National Defence - Dr. Andrzej Karkoszka, supervised the work of the group.

Since September 12, 1996 we have celebrated the Day of the Land Forces to commemorate the great victory of the Polish Army that is the Vienna victory.

The Land Forces Flag	The Land Forces Eagle	Emblem of the Land Forces Command	Logo of the Land Forces Command

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