Battle of Stoczek was the first significant engagement of the November Uprising in Poland. It took place on 14 February 1831 near the town of Stoczek Łukowski, near the Brest–Warsaw road. Polish troops drove off two regiments of Russian mounted jaegers, inflicting heavy casualties on them in the process. Background The Russian Army commanded by Field Marshal Hans Karl von Diebitsch entered Poland on 4 February and started an advance towards Warsaw. 2nd Mounted-Jaeger Division—2 brigades of 2 regiments, each consisting of 3 troops of 2 squadrons—under baron Teodor Geismar, who assumed command just 9 days earlier, entered Poland on 13 February and was marching to the Brest road with some 20 10-pounder guns of field artillery attached. The main forces of Field Marshal Dybich were marching towards Warsaw from the direction of Lublin. General Józef Dwernicki, commander of the Polish forces in the area, organised a Polish Division. He managed to gather 14 cavalry squadrons, 3 infantry battalions and 6 3-pounder guns—approximately 4,700 men at arms altogether, including 2,200 cavalrymen—and on 10 February he crossed the Vistula River. At noon of February the 14th Geismar received some information regarding presence of Polish troops under Dwernicki near the town of Stoczek. In his usual style he decided to launch an immediate attack on them. Leaving as support troops his 2nd Brigade—Arzamas and Tiraspol Mounted-Jaeger Regiments—with some 10 guns, he took his 1st Brigade into battle, sending Pereyaslavl Mounted-Jaeger Regiment with 4 guns under supreme command of the 1st Brigade's CO major-general Pashkov by one road to approach Stoczek from north-east, while himself—with the Mounted-Jaeger Regiment of the Duke of Wirtemberg and 6 more guns—took the eastern root to the town. On the march his troops were separated by the huge forest and were marching by very narrow forest roads. Dwernicki, a seasoned commander, although set his forces already to prepare for the night, kept a strong watch and was informed by fellow Poles of Geismar's approach well in advance. Now understanding clearly the Russians' plan, Dwernicki took his troops out to the field north of Stoczek, put his guns in to line from east to west, his infantry in two big squares on the flanks, one leaning on the thick forest to the west of his position, and his cavalry—to the south and north of his line, thus enabling them to fight the enemy whatever direction they approach from. There