The Battle of Łódź 1914 - a trail through cemeteries and memorial sites

The Battle of Łódź, one of the largest manoeuvre battles of the First World War, was fought between November and December 1914 on the outskirts of Łódź. The course of the clash between the German and Russian armies is described in another article on this portal - this text has a different aim: to show where, more than a hundred years later, the physical traces of that fighting can still be seen today. The battle left behind dozens of war cemeteries scattered across the whole region, some of which can now be visited as part of a single trail.

Why there are so many cemeteries in one region

The Łódź operation lasted several weeks and covered a wide area around the city - from Stryków and Brzeziny to Pabianice and the areas south of Łódź. Several hundred thousand soldiers fought on both sides combined, and losses were counted in the tens of thousands killed. The practice of the time, especially on the German side, was to organise war cemeteries as close as possible to the site of the fighting, which is why the Łódź region today has a dense network of such necropolises - some maintained and marked, some forgotten, hidden in the forests. More such memorial sites can be found in a separate category on the portal.

Krogulec Forest near Zgierz

One of the better preserved sites is the war cemetery in Krogulec Forest near Zgierz, established by the Germans two years after the battle, in 1916, when the remains of soldiers previously buried provisionally in fields and along roads of the surrounding villages were moved there. It is the resting place of 149 soldiers of the tsarist army and 167 soldiers of the German army, including - as the surviving casualty lists show - people with Polish sounding surnames, fighting in the ranks of both partitioning armies. The cemetery was renovated at the end of the 1990s in cooperation with the German Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, which cares for war graves across Europe. Today there are two crosses there - Orthodox and Latin - and a stone bearing the names of the regiments that fought in this area.

The Cemetery of Saint Francis in Chojny

In Łódź itself, traces of the battle can be seen at the parish cemetery of Saint Francis in Chojny, on Rzgowska street - one of two cemeteries where, during the German occupation, the Litzmannstadt authorities permitted the burial of Poles. Within the necropolis a square plot bordered by a kerb has been set aside, with two terrazzo plaques bearing the inscription "Unknown Polish soldiers of 1914" - soldiers who most likely died during the Battle of Łódź itself or died later in field hospitals set up in the city.

Other memorial sites in the region

Besides Zgierz and Łódź, traces of the Łódź operation can also be found in smaller towns of the region, among others in Pabianice and the surrounding villages of Pawlikowice and Bechcice, where the fighting was just as fierce. A full map of the cemeteries and graves from the 1914-1915 Łódź operation is published by the Marshal's Office of the Łódź Voivodeship - a good starting point for anyone wanting to plan a longer, multi-day trail through the region following the traces of the First World War, beyond Łódź itself.

How to plan a visit

The cemetery in Krogulec Forest and the cemetery of Saint Francis in Chojny can be visited in a single day, combined with sightseeing in Zgierz itself, for example the Weavers' Town Cultural Park or the Museum of the Town of Zgierz. Both war cemeteries are free to enter, all year round, though it is worth remembering that they are still burial sites, not tourist attractions in the usual sense - it is good to keep a calm, respectful tone while visiting. More on the history of the region during the First World War and other memorial trails can be found in the Discover Łódź section.