The First Battle of Grodno took place on 19 and 20 July 1920, during the Polish-Soviet War. In the effect of a three-day-long struggle for the control of the city of Grodno (modern Hrodna, Belarus), the town was captured by Russian forces, despite repeated counter-attacks by Polish infantry, tanks and armoured trains. Opposing forces The Polish forces during the battle included an improvised group of battle-ready forces and second-echelon troops, with the most valuable unit being a single battalion of the 1st Tank Regiment (two companies, 43 FT-17 tanks in total). Infantry forces consisted of roughly 3000 men at arms. While officially they were all part of the 9th Infantry Division, hardly any were front-line troops. Instead, the Polish defences were manned by sentry guards, mobilised railway workers, students of a local NCO school and remnants of various units defeated near Wilno a couple of days before. Regular units included elements of 13th Uhlans Regiment. Although the town had been fortified by Russians in the 19th century, the forts were in disrepair and did not provide much advantage to the defenders. Józef Piłsudski later noted in his memoirs, that "Grodno, called a fortress to praise military ears, is called a fortress only in our and Soviet books, where a place could be called a place d'armes even if it has no railroad, fortifications have no barbed wire, a hurricane-like barrage could come from a couple of broken guns and a fortress could have but a couple of blown-up forts". The Russian forces assaulting the city were composed of Hayk Bzhishkyan's 3rd Cavalry Corps. Initially on 19 July only the 15th Cavalry Division took part in the assault. However, in later stages of the battle the entire 10th Cavalry Division joined the struggle, as well as 1st, 2nd and 3rd Kuban Cavalry Brigades and numerous infantry detachments travelling on horse-drawn carts. In the later part of the battle the Russian side was reinforced with additional forces, including the 12th Rifle Division. Prelude Following the failure of the Kiev Offensive, the Polish armies retreated westwards from central Belarus and Ukraine. Although the Bolshevik forces failed to surround or destroy the bulk of the Polish Army, most Polish units were in dire need of fresh reinforcements. However, following the successful retreat from the line of Berezina, the Polish commanders believed the situation in the northern sector of the front was under control. Grodno