The battles of the Polish Army against the Red Army in 1919-1920 are today remembered by soldiers' cemeteries scattered across Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. Although at first glance these are similar quarters - with rows of simple, small crosses made of concrete or stone - each of these places has its own specificity. The military quarters in the Grodno parish cemetery are a beautiful testimony to the sacrifice of the whole society in the fight against the Bolsheviks - the soldiers buried here came from many regions of Poland, represented different social groups, regiments and military traditions.

The military quarter in the Grodno parish cemetery is located in its north-eastern part, adjacent to Przedmiejska Street. Its location here was probably not accidental, as a large complex of barracks and military warehouses was built in the immediate vicinity, in the suburb of Pohulanka, even before the First World War. The cemetery includes about 150 small, simple concrete crosses, erected in the interwar period on grave fields, separated by concrete frames dug into the ground.

The graves, although built of fragile materials and unrepaired for decades, mostly luckily survived the Soviet period. This was possible thanks to the generosity of Grodno Poles, especially teacher Valeria Borewicz, who, until her death in 1991, regularly looked after the cemetery and protected it from devastation. Despite this, some of the crosses were smashed or damaged. Several years ago, thanks to the efforts of Grodno Poles, the cemetery underwent temporary repairs and some of the damaged crosses were partially reconstructed. Unfortunately, some of the crosses have misspelled names or military ranks, which is probably the result of misreading obliterated or damaged inscriptions. A number of names are difficult to identify and do not appear in the most complete list of victims of the Polish-Bolshevik War, published in 1934 ("List of Polish Army losses. Polegli i zmarli w wojnach 1918-1920').

Fallen buried in Grodno cemetery
. Some of the crosses were erected on the graves of unknown soldiers, as indicated by the relevant inscription. One can guess that these are mainly the fallen collected from various battlefields around Grodno. As the use of identification marks (immortals) was rare during the Polish-Bolshevik War, it was very difficult to establish the identity of the fallen even immediately after the fighting. In several cases, the crosses were destroyed during the Soviet era and in their place secondary crosses, without inscriptions, have been erected.

A large proportion of those buried in this cemetery died in Grodno hospitals due to illnesses or wounds and these soldiers were usually buried under their own name and date of death.

The soldiers buried in the military quarters in the parish cemetery represent various branches of the Polish Army. Of particular note are the representatives of the two most numerous groups.

The first are the sons of these sites - soldiers of the infantry regiments of the Lithuanian-Byelorussian Division (the largest number from the rifle regiments: Grodno and Kaunas), the Tatar Cavalry Regiment ("Tatar Cavalry"), the 13th Vilnius Cavalry Regiment and the Grodno Cavalry Regiment. To a large extent, these were volunteers who already at the turn of 1918/1919 formed the units of the so-called "Self-Defence of Lithuania and Belarus". Particularly noteworthy is the large presence of lancers from the Tatar Cavalry, in which many polonised Tatars originating from the borderlands of present-day Lithuania and Belarus served.

The second group of those buried in the Grodno parish cemetery were privates of the rear and guard units, coming from all over Poland, largely from the Kielce or Lesser Poland regions. For the most part, these were conscripted soldiers who died of illnesses while on duty.