the German army and after the Soviet invasion of Poland took part in the defense of the city against the Red Army. After two days of heavy fighting against the numerically superior Soviets, on 20 September Grodno was lost and three days later gen. bryg. Wacław Przeździecki, the commander of the defense of the Grodno area, ordered all his troops to escape to neutral Lithuania. According to another account that order was given shortly after the Soviet invasion begun, around September 17 or 18. In either, case, the 110th Regiment did not obey this order. The unit joined with the remnants of several routed regiments and fought its way towards the capital Warsaw. It got surrounded by the Red Army in the Biebrza river area and suffered serious casualties, but managed to break through the enemy defenses. After that, Lieutenant Colonel Jerzy Dąbrowski, the commander of the regiment, decided his unit should disband. A group of approximately 180 men wanted to continue, and Dobrzański took command of them and led them towards Warsaw, which was under siege. He named his force the "Detached Unit of the Polish Army" (Oddział Wydzielony Wojska Polskiego), a term first recorded on September 24 when the unit was near the Woźnawieś village in the Podlasie region. Warsaw capitulated on 27 September, before Dobrzański and his men were able to reach it. That left him faced with three choices: disband, evacuate (via Hungary or Romania) to France, or continue the fight. Approximately 50 men volunteered to continue the fight. He led his unit southwards to try to break out and reach France. On 1 October 1939 they crossed the Vistula near Łomża and started their march towards the Holy Cross Mountains. The next day his unit, previously avoiding engaging the German units, launched its first attack, when it successfully ambushed a bogged German convoy. After that he decided to stay in the Kielce area with his unit and wait until the Allied relief came, which he expected in the Spring of 1940. He also swore that he would not take off his uniform until after the war. On 6 October the Battle of Kock ended the resistance of the last major unit of the Polish Army. With the support of the local civilian population, Hubal and his men managed to evade the Germans for several months. In March 1940 his unit inflicted heavy casualties on a