Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 5:07pm

Miracle of the Vistula

A nice video of the Battle of Warsaw in 1920 where the Poles scored an upset victory against the invading Soviet Red Army, securing Polish independence and giving the nascent Communist movement its first serious defeat.  Poland has helped save Western civilization several times, but on few occasions have the odds been bleaker than  98 years ago.  All the Poles had to rely on was God, themselves and their traditional laughing courage, but they were enough to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

The Poles won the three day battle of Warsaw on August 15, 1920, the Feast of the Assumption.  I doubt it was a coincidence.

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T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Saturday, May 6, AD 2017 6:23am

I like to think they were supported by an Army of Angels. Victory belongs to The God of Hosts. Victory is not always granted to the stronger, more numerous foe.

God bless the courageous, long-suffering people of Poland.

Keep the Faith.

Penguins Fan
Penguins Fan
Saturday, May 6, AD 2017 10:38am

Poland’s Army was led by Marshal Jozef Pilsudski. Pilsudski was an amazing man, but nobody’s idea of a devout Catholic. The book Unvanquished is a story of Pilsudski’s life. There is a good writeup of him on the website badassoftheweek.com, but beware of the foul language.

Little known in the West is that the newly reformed Republic of Poland was a mess of a nation in November 1918. 123 years of partition left Poland with railroads of different gauges, different currencies, a devastated infrastructure (WWI was very rough on Poland) and Poles were conscripted to fight for Germany, Russia and Austria-Hungary. When the armistice was declared, Austria and Russia had previously withdrawn from Polish territory, but Germany had no intention of doing so. The Poles fought a series of skirmishes against the Germans before they withdrew from Greater Poland. Poland and Czechoslovakia then bickered over a part of Silesia, which the Czechs seized while the Poles were fighting the Soviets.

Lloyd George was very dismissive of Poland and didn’t lift a finger to help the Poles fight the Red Army. Had the West any sense, they would have assisted Pilsudski and crushed the Communist dictatorship before it did damage.

I am not aware of any other nation that traces its beginning to its simultaneous conversion to the Catholic Church. Poland was formed in 966, at the same time Mieszko I accepted the Catholic faith. This led to the Poles being opened up to the world of Western learning that had accumulated since before the time of Christ and was preserved and grown through the efforts of the monasteries. As such, Poland has always considered itself to be a nation of Western Europe.

God, honor, country.

Philip Nachazel
Philip Nachazel
Sunday, May 7, AD 2017 4:04am

Penguins Fan.

Thank you.
Poland’s faith and resolve is inspiring.
In the Spring of 1938 three of my favorite Saints lived in a fifteen mile radius of each other. Warsaw.

At seventeen Karol Wojtyla was graduating from his high school. Of course a valedictorian. Across town, on her death bed, Sr. Faustina giving her final sufferings to the Father in union to Jesus’ sufferings for the conversion of sinners. She was 33 years old. At that same time Fr. Maximilian Kolbe was celebrating Mass at his friary, City of the Immaculate..aka Niepokalanow in polish. His age 44. He, standing unafraid in the face of the mighty storm about to hit Eroupe.

Poland is a treasure, a source of Grace in a world in need. Today’s America would do well to honor God through our Lady as our Polish neighbors do.

Philip Nachazel
Philip Nachazel
Sunday, May 7, AD 2017 4:19am

Honor God through our Lady meaning that we consecrate ourselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This being a channel of grace efficacious for souls, community and country.

ken
ken
Sunday, May 7, AD 2017 5:20am

With all that Poland has overcome it is sad to watch her die slowly from birth control.

Penguins Fan
Penguins Fan
Sunday, May 7, AD 2017 7:15am

Ken, it isn’t just that. As a result of joining the EUEUmany young people have left for England and France for job opportunities. Not all of them return.
At present, the Polish government changed its law regarding those deported by Stalin and their descendants and created a Law of Return of sorts for those exiled all over the former Soviet Union.

Mary De Voe
Thursday, August 16, AD 2018 5:21am

Thank You.

ExNOAAman
ExNOAAman
Friday, August 17, AD 2018 7:06pm

Penguins Fan, thanks for the tip on that website; it’s good!
All Catholics & Orthodox should read/enjoy the one on St. Nicholas, viz…
http://www.badassoftheweek.com/index.cgi?id=32109327065

Jim Woodward
Jim Woodward
Friday, August 24, AD 2018 12:54am

Hey P Fan,
Hungary likewise considers its birth as a Christian kingdom with the crowning of Szent Istvan sometime between Christmas, 999, and New Year 1000. And a minor correction, the Germans didn’t want to surrender their territory to one of many political constructs in the nebulous interest of “self determination….” Opinion depends on which side of the mandated border one winds up on, or to which ethnicity one belongs, no?

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