Cemetery of the Fallen in the Battle of Warsaw, Ossów

At Ossów, in August 1920, the fate of Warsaw hung in the balance. On the field where Polish soldiers – many of them only 16 to 18 years old – stopped the advance of the Red Army, there is now a cemetery with eight mass graves and the Chapel of Our Lady of Victory. This is where Father Ignacy Skorupka was killed, one of the best-known figures of the "Miracle on the Vistula", as Poles call their victory in the Battle of Warsaw.

The Battle of Ossów

In August 1920 Ossów lay on the frontline road between the first and second lines of Warsaw's defences. On 13–14 August the village was attacked by regiments of the Bolshevik 79th Rifle Brigade. It was held by the Polish 33rd Infantry Regiment and the 36th Infantry Regiment of the Academic Legion, supported by volunteer units. Each side lost about 600 men killed, wounded or captured. Around 100 Poles died, among them Father Ignacy Skorupka, chaplain of the 236th Regiment.

What you will see

• Eight mass graves and one individual grave, plus an obelisk commemorating the fallen.
• Chapel of Our Lady of Victory from 1928, designed by Brunon Zborowski and extended in 1982, with a bell tower from 1932. Inside hang copies of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa and of Jerzy Kossak's painting "Miracle on the Vistula".
• Boulder memorial to General Józef Haller at the entrance and a statue of Our Lady of Victory from 1990.
• 96 Oaks of Remembrance planted on 23 April 2010 for the victims of the Smolensk air crash, and a 2014 plaque honouring eight commanders from 1920 who were murdered by the Soviets at Katyn.

Good to know

For decades after the Second World War the site was hard to reach. The authorities moved the boundary of the Rembertów military training ground so that the chapel and cemetery lay inside it, and a sign at the entrance read "Military area – entry punishable by death". This only changed in the 1990s.

The new museum next door

On 16 August 2025 the Museum of the Battle of Warsaw 1920 opened in Ossów as a branch of the Polish Army Museum. The building stands on a 17-metre mound reached by the 500-metre Victory Avenue, with two 70-metre flagpoles at its foot. The permanent exhibition covers about 1,000 m² on two floors: uniforms and weapons of both sides, propaganda leaflets and posters, and a French de Bange siege gun.

Tripto tip

Allow 30–45 minutes for the cemetery and chapel, or half a day with the museum. This is a place of remembrance, so please keep your voice down, especially by the graves. Check the museum's current opening hours and prices on the Polish Army Museum website before you go. Around 14–15 August anniversary ceremonies are held here and it can get crowded; come at another time if you want a quiet visit. In nearby Radzymin there is a second important cemetery of the fallen in the Battle of Warsaw.