Battle of Kircholm

56°50′55″N 24°20′53″E / 56.84861°N 24.34806°E / 56.84861; 24.34806

Battle of Kircholm
Part of the Kircholm, present-day Salaspils, Latvia
Result	Polish-Lithuanian victory

Belligerents Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Duchy of Courland

• Supported by
  
  mercenaries

Commanders and leaders Jan Karol Chodkiewicz Charles IX of SwedenStrength

3,600:^[1]

1,000 infantry
2,600 cavalry
5 cannons

10,868:^[1]

2,500 cavalry
8,368 infantry
11 cannonsCasualties and losses 100 killed
200 wounded^[2] 5,500^[3]–8,000 killed and wounded ^[4]

The Battle of Kircholm (

The battle ended in the decisive victory of the Polish-Lithuanian forces, and is remembered as one of the greatest triumphs of Commonwealth cavalry.

Background

On 27 September 1605, the

Scots

.

The

]

Deployment

The Swedish forces seem to have been deployed in a checkerboard formation, made up of the infantry regiments formed into seven or eight well-spaced independent blocks, with intersecting fields of fire. The flanks were to be covered by the Swedish and German cavalry, and the cannons were placed in front of the cavalry. Charles' force was formed into four lines on the crest of a ridge. The first line consisted of four infantry battalions, cavalry in the second line, six infantry battalions in the third line, and cavalry in the fourth line.^[1] The infantry battalions formed in squares of 30 by 30, with pikemen in the center and shot on the edges, and gaps between the squares allowed passage of their cavalry.^[1]

Jan Karol Chodkiewicz deployed his forces in the traditional deep Polish battle formation--the so-called "Old Polish Order"--with the left wing significantly stronger and commanded by Tomasz Dąbrowa, while the right wing was composed of a smaller number of hussars under Jan Piotr Sapieha, and the center included Hetman Chodkiewicz's own company of 300 hussars led by Lt. Wincenty Woyna and a powerful formation of reiters sent by the Duke of Courland Friedrich Kettler.^[7] The Polish-Lithuanian infantry, mostly armed in Hungarian hajduk-style, drew up in the center. Some 280 hussars were left as a general reserve under Teodor Lacki.

Battle

Chodkiewicz tried for hours to lure the Swedes from their positions with his light cavalry sent out to skirmish between the two armies.

The main battle started with the Polish-Lithuanian cavalry charge on the Swedish right flank, with about 1,000 hussars shattering Mansfield's reiters and disordering the Swedish third infantry line in their retreat.^[2] At the same time, on the Swedish left, 650 hussars under Jan Piotr Sapieha charged.^[2] After Charles sent in his reserve of 700 cavalry, Chodkiewicz sent in his reserves. The entire force of Swedish cavalry was finally put to rout, and in their flight, disordered many of their own infantry, leaving them vulnerable to the hussars' charge.^[2]

Within 30 minutes, the Swedish cavalry was in full retreat on both flanks exposing the infantry in the centre to the hussars and the firepower of Chodkiewicz's infantry.^[2] The Swedish defeat was utter and complete.^[2] The army of Charles IX had lost at least 5,000 killed and 500 captured,^[3] or up to 7,600–8,000 killed, captured, and dispersed.^[4] The Polish-Lithuanian losses numbered only about 100 dead^[2] and 200 wounded, although the hussars, in particular, lost a large part of their trained battle horses.

As in all crushing victories in this period, the larger part of the Swedish losses were suffered during the retreat, made more difficult by the dense forests and marshes on the route back to Riga, many drowning crossing the Dvina.^[2] The Poles and Lithuanians spared few. Polish-Lithuanian casualties were light, in large part due to the speed of the victory. During the hussar's charges, it was the horses that took the greatest damage, the riders being largely protected by the body and heads of their horses.

Aftermath

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After the defeat, the Swedish king was forced to abandon the siege of Riga and withdraw by ship back across the Baltic Sea to Sweden, and to relinquish control of northern Latvia and Estonia. However, the Commonwealth proved unable to exploit the victory fully because there was no money for the troops, who had not been paid for months. Without pay, they could not buy food or fodder for their horses or replenish their military supplies, and so the campaign faltered. An additional factor was the large number of trained horses lost during the battle, which proved difficult to replace.

A truce was eventually signed in 1611, but by 1617

, landed near Riga and took the city with a brief siege, wiping away – in Swedish eyes – much of the shame suffered at Kircholm.

Commemoration

The Battle of Kircholm is commemorated on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Warsaw, with the inscription "KIRCHOLM 27 IX 1605".

References

Bibliography

• Šapoka, Adolfas (1936). Lietuvos istorija (in Lithuanian).
  OCLC 8122151
  .
• Barkman, Bertil C:son (1939). Kungl. Svea Livgardes Historia (in Swedish). Vol. bd. II: 1560–1611.
  OCLC 929311731
  .
• Brzezinski, Richard; Vukšić, Velimir (2006). Polish Winged Hussar 1576–1775.
  ISBN 9781841766508
  .
• Frost, Robert I. (2000). The Northern Wars, 1558–1721.
  ISBN 978-0-582-06429-4
  .
• Sundberg, Ulf (2002). Svenska krig 1521–1814 (2 ed.). Stockholm: Hjalmarson & Högberg.
  ISBN 9189660102
  .

External links

• Winged Hussars, Radoslaw Sikora, Bartosz Musialowicz, BUM Magazine, 2016.