The Tadeusz Kosciuszko Polish Army First Division was formed in 1943 in Sielce on the Oka River. It consisted of Poles previously deported by the NKVD deep into the Soviet Union or held in Soviet prisons. Poles enlisting in this division hoped to win the independence of their homeland and return to their country. However, the Soviet command had other plans - according to unofficial data (not confirmed in writing anywhere), the plan was to send the Poles to certain death during the very first battle. This happened at Lenino, in the battle against the Germans on 10-18 October 1943. Most of the soldiers (including officers) had no combat experience. The offensive at Lenino was supposed to be conducted according to a scenario that had already been tested many times in Red Army operations. The reality, however, was different - the reconnaissance of the enemy forces was poorly done, the artillery performed its task badly, and the supply of ammunition and communications also failed. Despite such unfavourable combat conditions, the Poles achieved a kind of success in this battle - they broke through the German defence to a depth of 2.5 to 4 km, engaging in battles for the most important points of resistance in the villages of Połzuchy and Trygubowo, without the capture of which further advance would have been impossible. The Poles killed about 1,500 Nazi soldiers and took 326 prisoners. Their own losses were very high - 496 officers and soldiers were killed, there were 1,776 wounded, 519 missing and 116 taken prisoner. It is now assessed, contrary to previous Soviet propaganda, that the battle was poorly commanded and the fighting poorly coordinated. As a result of it, the front did not move and the very position ordered to be captured by the Poles was not very important from the point of view of war strategy and tactics. The Polish soldiers who died and died of wounds were buried in 35 places, the mass graves stretched over 12-14 km in the area of Lenino, Hill 215.5 and the villages: Moyseyeva, Sysoyeva, Bud, Nikolenki, Pusik, Zakhidov and Slobodki. In the course of identification work, the names of 469 soldiers buried in the Lenino area were established. 38 soldiers died of wounds in Soviet hospitals. Some of the Polish soldiers who died of wounds were buried in Moscow, Gzhaksk, Mstislavl, Roslavl, Smolensk, Tarasov and Zhukov. After the war, the soldiers were not fully exhumed. Some of the graves were leveled during the mass exhumation conducted in Belarus (e.g. graves in Polzuchy and Mojsijevo were leveled. Three mass graves - of Polish soldiers, Soviet soldiers and a joint Polish-Soviet grave - were set up in the area of the fighting. On one of the mass graves in Lenino, in the south-western part of the town, on the 10th anniversary of the battle, an obelisk was set up with carved Polish and Soviet banners, the date 10-18 X 1943 and a bilingual (Polish and Russian) inscription. On the 25th anniversary of the battle, on the Polish initiative, the grave on Hill 215.5 was cleaned up and a monument-mausoleum was erected with a list of Kosciuszko soldiers killed in the battle. The mausoleum housed 2,000 artefacts, including banners of the Polish and Soviet units participating in the battle and documents of the participants. A Chamber of Remembrance dedicated to the 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Regiment and the LWP was opened in the local Lenino school. After the opening of the museum, a project for the construction of the Friendship Avenue connecting Lenino with the town of Gorki (16.5 km) was created. On 12.10.1976, this construction was solemnly started with the participation of the "Friendship Train" of Polish foresters. The Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Remembrance was involved in the work and has since taken care of the cemetery at Lenino. The Museum of the Polish Army in Warsaw, the Ministry of Forestry of the People's Republic of Poland and the Ministry of Agriculture of the People's Republic of Poland, as well as the Chorzów Culture Park, also participated in the commemoration of this battle. In 1981, the cooperative action began to fade away. The cemetery at Lenino was built without Polish and Christian symbols. It was not until 1998 that the architectural design of the cemetery was supplemented with elements giving it an appearance in line with Polish national tradition. On the monument the Piast eagle ("Kościuszko eagle") was placed, in the corners of the monument the symbols of the Cross of Virtuti Militari and the Cross of Valour were placed, on the lawns symbolising common graves the Catholic and Orthodox crosses and the Star of David were placed, on both sides of the alley leading from the street to the monument walls were built, on which plaques with the names of the fallen, the dead from wounds and the missing without news were placed; on both sides of the entrance to the cemetery, two pylons were erected with the emblem of the Polish Army and the inscription in two languages: "Polish war cemetery - October 1943". The inscription on the monument reads: "To the Polish soldiers / of the First Division named after / Tadeusz Kosciuszko / who fell in battle / against German fascism / for the freedom and independence / of their homeland / Eternal Glory". The concept for the redesign of the cemetery was developed by the architect Jarosław Skrzypczyk of the OPWiM Council. On 23.10.2008 in the cemetery there was a burial of 4 NN soldiers killed in the battle of Lenino, whose remains were found in the area.