4th Regiment of Line Infantry

The 4th Regiment of Line Infantry (Polish: 4. pułk piechoty liniowej) was a military unit of the Kingdom of Poland. Formed in 1815,[1] the regiment distinguished itself in the battles of the November Uprising and remains one of the best-known units of the Polish Army of the era. The soldiers of the regiment are known in Polish historical works as the Czwartacy.

Soldiers of the 4th Regiment wore navy blue uniforms with characteristic yellow facings inherited from the Napoleonic-era
A German contemporary poem glorifying the actions of the 4th Regiment in the battle of Ostrołęka

The regiment was not related to earlier 4th Advance Guard Regiment (a cavalry unit established in 1733) but rather was a direct descendant of the Napoleonic-era 4th Infantry Regiment of the Duchy of Warsaw. After Napoleon lost control of Poland in 1812, the regiment remained loyal to the emperor and fought in the bloody Battle of Leipzig (1813) and the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube (1814). After his abdication and exile to the Island of Elba, the remnants of the regiment returned to Russian-controlled Poland with their regimental flags, swore an oath to the Russian tsars and became the cadre of a newly formed infantry regiment with the same number. Their old regimental flag was retired and is preserved in the Warsaw-based Museum of the Polish Army.

Officially named the "4th Regiment of Line Infantry", the soldiers of the new unit continued to use the nickname of Czwartacy, roughly "Men of the Fourth", which had achieved some notoriety. Like its predecessor, the new regiment was based in Warsaw and its main barracks was located in the Sapieha Palace. The regiment was recruited in and around Warsaw from a broad cross-section of society including noblemen (szlachta), burghers, and large numbers of serfs and peasants.[2]

Because of the proximity of the barracks to the palace of Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia, the 4th Regiment became one of his favoured military units and its soldiers enjoyed the status of his personal guard. In practice this often meant that the Grand Duke, very fond of his military units, but also cruel and brutal in their treatment, would march the soldiers of the regiment days and nights, in every weather.[3] The morale in the maltreated regiment was low, yet any sign of discontent was brutally repressed: among those punished was the regiment's Major, a freemason, Walerian Łukasiński. Denounced as the founder of a secret society, he was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment, but eventually was held without trial for 46 years in Russian prisons, most of that in solitary confinement.[3]

Following the outbreak of the November Uprising, the regiment rebelled against the Russian tsars along with most of the army of the Kingdom of Poland. It fought from the very first day of the uprising and distinguished itself in the First and Second Battle of Wawer, as well as the battles of Dębe Wielkie, Ostrołęka and the final Battle of Warsaw.[1] During the war the regiment received 214 Virtuti Militari crosses: five 3rd class, 55 fourth class and 154 fifth class.[1] This made it one of the most highly decorated Polish units of the epoch.[1] During the uprising the unit also was often referred to as "Tysiąc Walecznych" ("A Thousand Brave Men") both by the press and general populace.[4] This nickname was popularised in Europe by a German poet Julius Mosen, who published in 1832 a popular poem idealising the regiment and its actions during the war of 1830-1831.[5]

Regimental commanding officers
  • Ignacy Mycielski[1]
  • Col. Ludwik Bogusławski (1818 - 1820)[1]
  • Lt.Col. Wit Czajkowski, (1818, again from 18 March 1831)[1]
  • Lt.Col. Stanisław Kindler (from 17 April 1831)[1]
  • Lt.Col. Klemens Jórski (from 22 April 1831)[1]
  • Lt.Col. Kazimierz Majewski (from 20 June 1831)[1]
  • Lt.Col. Józef Borzęcki (from 22 September 1831)[1]
  • Józef Święcicki[1]
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References

Citations
  1. Gembarzewski, p. 69
  2. The matter is discussed in: Kostołowski, pp. 12-25 and onwards
  3. Nadolski, p. 102
  4. Krzemicka, pp. 162-163
  5. Domański (ed.), p. 1

Bibliography
  • Bronisław Gembarzewski (1925). Rodowody pułków polskich i oddziałów równorzędnych od r. 1717 do r. 1831 [The lineage of Polish regiments and regiment-sized units from 1717 til 1831]. Biblioteka Muzeum Wojska (in Polish). Warsaw: Towarzystwo Wiedzy Wojskowej.
  • Erazm Kostołowski (1938). Chłopi-czwartacy: z dziejów pułku 4 piechoty liniowej 1815-1831 [Peasant-Czwartacy: the history of the 4th Regiment of Line Infantry, 1815-1831]. Wieś i Państwo (in Polish). 10. Lwów: Wieś.
  • Zofia Krzemicka (1930). Ludwik Finkel (ed.). Powstanie listopadowe 1830-1831 [November Uprising 1830-1831]. Biblioteka Macierzy Polskiej (in Polish). Lwów: Macierz Polska.
  • Artur III Nadolski (2008). Pani Chłodna: opowieść o warszawskiej ulicy [Madame Chłodna: Story of a Street in Warsaw] (in Polish). Warsaw: Bellona. ISBN 9788311112582.
  • various authors (2011). Waldemar Domański (ed.). "Pułk Czwarty" [4th Regiment]. Biblioteka Polskiej Piosenki (in Polish). Kraków: Ośrodek Kultury Biblioteka Polskiej Piosenki. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
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