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On 13 June 1915, 65th Regiment of Dunin-Wąsowicz’s Uhlans got famous for their attack near Rokitna, memorable for all times for Polish arms.
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106th anniversary of the famous attack near Rokitna carried out by 2nd squadron of Uhlans of 2nd Brigade of Polish Legions under command of cavalry captain Zbigniew Dunin-Wasowicz passed.
In the interwar period, this attack was placed next to the greatest successes and exploits of Polish cavalry. Today, principally historians and lovers of Polish cavalry history mind about Rokitna.
The attack became a legend just after its end.
Sacrifice and reckless courage of Polish cavalrymen forcing consecutive lines of Russian trenches had an effect not only on imagination – the blood spilt by cavalry captain Dunin-Wąsowicz’s Uhlans moved everybody, both direct observers of the battle and people knowing its course from press reports.
For Poles, the attack near Rokitna, in spite of losses sustained, became a resurrection of old cavalry traditions after years of foreign rule and a blood sacrifice for the resurgent Motherland.
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Read more… (click to go to Polish Digital Equestrian Library)
Author: Łukasz Koniarek Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich (Ossolineum)
Polish Digital Equestrian Library:
Click the links below to go to the Polish Digital Equestrian Library (will open in a new tab):
„W rocznicę szarży pod Rokitną” (2021) – Łukasz Koniarek
„Księga jazdy polskiej” (1938) – Praca zbiorowa
„Szarża pod Rokitną” (2012) – Wojciech Grochowalski
Gallery:
Michał Bylina, Rokitna. Reproduction from the „Księgi Jazdy Polskiej”, Warsaw 1938,
board after p. 152.
Map of the battlefield of Rokitna. Reproduction from the „„Księgi Jazdy Polskiej””,
Warsaw 1938, p. 152.
Obverse of the medal of Jan Raszka entitled „Rokitna”, Vienna 1916. Collection of the National Institute of Ossoliński. Photo Andrzej Niedźwiecki. 
The reverse of the medal by Jan Raszka entitled „Rokitna”, Vienna 1916. Collection of the National Institute of Ossoliński. Photo Andrzej Niedźwiecki. 
Władysław Waroczewski (designer), commemorative badge of the Rokitniański Cross. From the collection of the National Institute Ossoliński. Photo Andrzej Niedźwiecki. 
Author unknown, oval plaque commemorating the first anniversary of the charge at Rokitna. From the collection of the National Institute Ossoliński. Photo Andrzej Niedźwiecki. 
Author unknown, circular badge issued on the sixth anniversary of the charge. From the collection of the National Institute Ossoliński. Photo Andrzej Niedźwiecki. 
Wojciech Kossak, The Battle of Rokitna, oil, canvas. Reproduction of a painting from the collection of the Polish Army Museum.
