English version. Fully translated from the Polish original. View the Polish version →

Timeline 19 April 1809

Five acts of the battle in chronological order – from the first disposition at dawn to the signing of the Warsaw convention over the following days. Dates drawn from Sokolnicki's journals and Poniatowski's reports.

19 April · 5:00
Act I · Dawn over Falenty

The first disposition given by Prince Józef Poniatowski. Mist over the marshes and the Raszyn Ponds. The allied Polish-Saxon forces number roughly 14,000–15,500.
19 April · 12:00
Act II · First blood at Falenty Małe

The Austrian vanguard strikes from the direction of Nadarzyn. Sokolnicki's vanguard puts up resistance – farmsteads burn, and by midday more than 460 soldiers have fallen on both sides.
19 April · 15:00
Act III · The alder grove and Godebski

Cyprian Godebski, colonel of the 8th Line Infantry Regiment and poet (author of “A Poem to the Polish Legions”), falls to an Austrian ball in the boggy alder grove, four paces from the causeway.
19 April · 23:00
Act IV · The Raszyn causeway

The final withdrawal of the Polish army across the narrow causeway between the ponds, under fire from the Austrian artillery. Poniatowski personally commands the rearguard, preserving the structure of the army.
20–23 April
Act V · The Convention

A convention is concluded on handing over left-bank Warsaw on honourable terms – not a capitulation of the army, but the giving up of the capital to preserve the army. A three-level assessment: tactically undecided, strategically a defeat, politically and symbolically a success.

Battlefield19 April 1809

An interactive map of Raszyn–Falenty–Jaworowa with eight POI markers: the starting positions of Sokolnicki, Biegański, Kamieniecki and Polentz; the alder grove, the Falenty causeway, the Austrian granary at Puchały, the place of Godebski's death, the cavalry clash at Janczewice. Three layers: a modern OSM map, an 1809 historical map, and staff markings.