[2] The Russians decided to recapture Węgrów by rapid attack force composed of a 1,000-strong unit with artillery, led by colonel Georgi Papaafanasopulo.

The Poles were threatened by encirclement, and Polish commander Jan Matliński ordered a retreat from the town.

French poet Henri Auguste Barbier wrote a poem Attack at Węgrów, comparing the Polish fighters to Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae.

The Polish poet Cyprian Kamil Norwid, writing in France, also compared the battle to Thermopylae.

Italian author and patriot Filippo Meucci, who in 1849 had known the Poles who fought for the defense of the Roman Republic from the French invasion to restore the Pope's temporal rule, wrote the hymn "Alla Polonia (To Poland)", Ferrara 1863, to celebrate the 200 young Poles who gave their lives fighting against the Russians.