Battle of Studzianki

Battle of Studzianki
Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
Date August 9–16, 1944 Location Studzianki, Poland Result Soviet-Polish victory
Belligerents
Germany	Soviet Union  Poland
Strength
3 divisions	Polish 1st Armoured Brigade 8th Soviet Army
Casualties and losses
At least 40 tanks, 26 guns and mortars, 9 APCs	Polish: 27 tanks 89 men

The Battle of Studzianki, was a tactical engagement between the elements of the Red Army's 2nd Tank Army employed as the Cavalry mechanized group of the 1st Belorussian Front and elements of the German 9th Army of Army Group North Ukraine defending south of Warsaw. The battle was part of the Soviet Lublin-Brest Offensive Operation.

The 2nd Tank Army was launched through the breach in the German 4th Panzer Army's front between Parczew and Chełm, and bypassing Lublin attempted to find a crossing over the Visla. In this it was supported by the Polish First Army, including the Polish 1st Armoured Brigade. In a hasty encounter battle during which the Polish 1st Armoured Brigade was located in the first echelon of the 2nd Tank Army. At the point where the Army was able to occupy the Magnuszew brideghead, the Polish brigade engaged advance elements of the counter-attacking German Fallschirm-Panzer Division 1 Hermann Göring with the express orders to deny Vistula crossings to the Red Army. The German counter-attack tried to dislodge the Soviet engineers, and the Polish troops providing support for them, behind Vistula off the bridgehead. The Soviet and Polish forces held the bridgehead, and German forces suffered heavy casualties before withdrawing.

To commemorate the battle, in 1969 the name of the village Studzianki was changed to include the word Pancerne, meaning Armoured in Polish language.

The episodes 3-5 of Polish TV series Czterej pancerni i pies (Four Tankmen and the Dog) depict the crew of Polish tank during the battle of Studzianki.

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Coordinates: 51°41′18″N 21°19′34″E / 51.688333°N 21.326111°E