Battle of Klushino

Battle of Klushino
Part of Polish-Muscovite War (1605-1618)
Polish hussar line at the Battle of Kluszyn
Date 4 July 1610 Location Klushino Result Decisive Polish-Lithuanian victory
Belligerents
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth	Grand Duchy of Moscow Sweden
Commanders and leaders
Stanisław Żółkiewski	Dmitry Shuisky Jacob De la Gardie
Strength
About 4,000 2 Guns	48,000 11 Guns
Casualties and losses
400	5,000

The Battle of Klushino (Battle of Kłuszyn) was fought on 4 July 1610, between forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Grand Duchy of Moscow during the Polish-Muscovite War, part of Russia's Time of Troubles. The battle occurred near the village of Klushino (Kłuszyn) near Smolensk. In the battle the outnumbered Commonwealth force secured a decisive victory over the Muscovites, due to the tactical competence of hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski and the military prowess of the elite Commonwealth 'winged' hussars.

The opposing forces

Commonwealth forces numbering about 4,000 men (of which about 80 percent were the famous 'winged' hussars) under Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski defeated a numerically superior force of about 35,000 - 40,000 Muscovites under Dmitry Shuisky, Andrew Golitsyn and Danilo Mezetski, including about 5,000 - 10,000 mercenary units temporarily allied to Muscovy, under the command of Jacob De la Gardie, mostly Finnish and Swedish, with some regiments composed of French, German and British. Including the forces that did not take part in combat (remained in camp, reserve or was delayed), the numbers were 12,300 Commonwealth soldiers against 48,000 Muscovites. The Commonwealth army was supported by 2 cannons, and Muscovites by 11.

The battle

The Muscovite army under Prince Dmitry Shuisky was heading towards the besieged fortress of Smolensk, but was intercepted by Commonwealth forces. The Muscovites, however, did not know the real strength of the Commonwealth, and how greatly they outnumbered them. On the other hand, Żółkiewski was confident in his powerful hussars, and decided to press with the attack.

The Commonwealth forces attempted to attack soon after dawn, but lost the element of surprise, and Muscovites were able to fortify their positions. As a result the opening stages of the battle were extremely hard fought all along the line. Mainly this was because the battlefield was crossed by a high fence which allowed the Commonwealth hussars to charge only through a narrow gap. The first part of the battle consisted of Commonwealth hussars repeatedly charging the fortified Muscovite positions, attempting to break them. The Commonwealth forces continued to make ferocious attacks, and Samuel Maskiewicz, a witness from one hussar company claimed that his unit charged 8 or 10 times.

When rumours began to spread that the Muscovite's foreign mercenaries were deserting to the Commonwealth, Muscovite morale cracked and the native Muscovite element of the army began to flee. Eventually a Muscovite cavalry counterattack was mauled by the Commonwealth, and in the ensuring confusion Russians ranks broke, and as usual, infantry running from cavalry suffered extensive losses.

While the center of the Muscovite army disintegrated, Muscovite regiments continued to hold on the right wing until they were overpowered, and the foreign troops continued to put up strong resistance for several hours on the left wing. Eventually when Commonwealth infantry and cannons arrived, the mercenaries were forced to abandon their position, and again it was in the retreat that they suffered heaviest losses. A large section of the foreign troops managed to retreat under the protection of their long infantry pikes in good order to the safety of their fortified camp (separate from Muscovite camp).

Commonwealth forces surrounded the enemy two camps (Muscovite and foreign mercenaries had separate ones). Further, the mercenaries who took positions in the forest were surrounded as well. However, the Muscovite fortified camp, filled with some still unbloodied troops (outnumbering the exhausted Commonwealth force) was a serious obstacle.

Żółkiewski then tried negotiations and succeeded in that regard brilliantly. Abandoned by the Muscovites, the foreign mercenaries entered negotiations with the Commonwealth troops and eventually surrendered, having reached satisfactory conditions. They were allowed to withdraw under the condition that they would not enlist with the Muscovite state against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth again. Several hundred mercenaries chose to switch sides, enlisting with the Commonwealth army.

Battle of Klushino

The aftermath

The main Muscovite army was then able to retreat, as Commonwealth forces were exhausted and more interested in looting the camp. Commonwealth took much loot and trophies, from luxury goods (gold, silver, furs) to military equipment (including all 11 Muscovite artillery pieces) to war trophies (several command flags and banners).

Due partly to poor command and even worse coordination of the Muscovite forces, the Commonwealth forces were able to achieve victory. Zólkiewski then turned towards Muscovites at Tsarovo, commanded by Walujew, who after learning about the defeat of their relief force at Kłuszyn decided to surrender. Soon after the battle, Vasily IV was ousted by the boyars and Żółkiewski entered Moscow with little opposition. Boyars then proclaimed as the new Tsar of Muscovy the Polish prince of the Commonwealth Władysław IV Waza. He claimed the Tsar's title from 1610 to 1634 but never assumed the throne.

The fortress of Smolensk was taken on 3 June 1611, after a 20-month siege.

Quotes

From Hetman Żółkiewski's Memoires:

“

"The hedge between us was long... There were, however, gaps in it and when we moved to attack, we had to break out through them. That hedge was a serious obstacle to us, for behind it Pontus had stationed infantry who very greatly hampered our men as they sallied out from and returned through the gaps."

”

“

"The battle lasted a long time, for both our men and theirs... The falconets arrived with some infantry and met a great need. For the gunners discharged the falconets at the German infantrymen who stood by the hedge, and our infantry, not numerous but tried and experienced in many battles, rushed at them."

”

“

"Then when there were no more of the German infantrymen harassing us by the hedge, a few troops of our cavalry, joining together, charged the foreign cavalry with lances - those who still had them - sabers and broadswords, They, deprived of protection of the Russian soldiers and cavalry, unable to resist, began escaping back into their camp. But there too our men rode after, and hitting and hacking drove them through their own camp"

”

From Żółkiewski's letter to the king:

“

"It was hard to charge at him with the cavalry, which was exhausted. There was no more fresh infantry. We had only my regiment and Count Chmielnicki’s, as we had to leave the rest besieging the Carowa-Zajmiszcze camp, so there was no way to continue."

”

From Maskiewicz's memoires:

“

"about that I shall remember, for it is beyond belief, that the companies managed eight or ten times to fall upon the enemy. (…) After the repeated charges and hand-to-hand fighting with the enemy, our equipment was broken and our strength was dissipated (.…) The horses were also ready to drop, because they have not received sustenance since dawn and for five hours of battle, they had served with a will but were reaching the limits which nature imposes."

”

“

"Seeing us weaken, Szujski ordered two reiter cornets, who were in readiness to move against us, to attack and destroy us. By the grace of God, they became the reason of our victory. As they moved forward we exchanged a salvo of fire with them, and each front rank fell back to reload the pistol or arkebuz in the ordinary manner, while the second rank advanced to fire their salvo. Seeing their rank retreat to load their secondary weapons, we did not wait for their next rank. We swooped down on them, sword in hand – whether they had managed to reload or not, I would not know because they took for the rear and did not stop galloping until they reached the Russian reserve at the rear camp gate, where their several tidy formations became chaotically entangled."

”

“

"The Muscovites ran by God’s grace for a mile, while we slashed at them and grabbed the rich ones, who, carrying what they owned, tried to get away" "Far more Muscovites fell in 2 or 3 miles of pursuit then fell in their ranks in battle,"

”

See also

• The De la Gardie Campaign

External links

• Radoslaw Sikora, Battle of Kluszyn [Kluszino] http://www.radoslawsikora.republika.pl/materialy/Kluszyn.pdf
• Battle of Klushino Silver Coin Issued by Mint of Poland http://news.coinupdate.com/silver-coin-issued-for-anniversary-of-the-battle-of-klushino-0366/