Battle of Gdów

After the Krakow Uprising had begun, an Austrian detachment under Colonel Ludwig von Benedek left Tarnów, heading towards Krakow. Von Benedek had almost 500 men, including 330 infantry and 150 cavalry. Along the way, his unit was reinforced by local peasants from several villages, such as Marszowice, Nieznanowice and Pierzchow. The peasants were promised a hundredweight of salt and 5 Krakow zlotys for each captured rebel.

Meanwhile, a rebel unit of 380 men (mostly residents of Krakow and local szlachta) under Colonel Jakub Suchorzewski concentrated in Lazany, 8 km southeast of Wieliczka. In the morning of the February 26, insurgents reached Gdów and they scattered around the town seeking food. Bolesław Limanowski wrote that Suchorzewski didn't expect the Austrians to trace him so quickly and that is why he allowed his soldiers to rest. Whereas, Suchorzewski himself headed to a local manor for a meal, so that he presumably even wasn't in Gdów during the battle.

The Austrian troops at first met a few insurgents who were standing on guard over the bridge on Raba. They started shooting to each other but Poles retreated quickly to the centre of Gdów, where they warned the rest of insurgents about the approaching enemy. Those, in most cases drunk, chaotically escaped from inn and houses, crowding in the town centre. Meanwhile von Benedek launched a flanking manoeuvre and surrounded a unit of kosynierzy near the cemetery's wall. They were then attacked by furious peasants and only few were saved by the Austrians who intervened too late.[2] Suchorzewski himself fled to Dobczyce, taking with him rebel money.

Altogether, rebel losses were 154: all were buried in three pits, dug at the cemetery. Survivors fled to Krakow, while on the next day the Austrians entered Wieliczka.

• Mała Encyklopedia Wojskowa, 1967, Wydanie I
• Jerzy Zdrada, Historia Polski 1795-1914, Warszawa 2007
• Julius Kreipner, Geschichte des K.und K.Infanterie-Regimentes Nr. 34 für immerwährende Zeiten Wilhelm I. Deutscher Kaiser und König von Preussen, 1733-1900, Kosice 1900

• Austrian Poland
• Revolutions of 1848