| Battle of Hodów | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Polish–Ottoman War (1683–1699) | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth |
 Crimean Khanate | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Konstanty Zahorowski Mikołaj Tyszkowski Jan Witosławski | unknown | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 400 | ~ 40,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| less than 100 | 1000-2000 | ||||||
The Battle of Hodów was a battle between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Crimean Khanate forces, fought in June 1694 in Red Ruthenia, near the Hodów village.
Prelude[]
In June 1694 Tatars invaded Polish territory with aim to loot and capture prisoners for ransom. Polish forces sent to stop them consisted of 7 chorągwie of hussars and pancerni from Okopy Świętej Trójcy and Szaniec Panny Marii strongholds, approximately four hundred men total.[1] Tatar numbers were estimated at twenty-five to seventy thousand, with forty thousand being the most commonly quoted figure.
Battle[]
The first encounter took place on the fields near Hodów. Polish cavalry charged 700 Tatar cavalryman vanguard and made them withdraw. Shortly afterwards Polish forces retreated to Hodów village due to overwhelming enemy numbers, and proceeded to fortify themselves using heavy wooden fences left there from earlier Tatar invasions. For the next 6 hours Polish troops resisted relentless Tatar attacks. Even after the Polish ran out of bullets, they continued to fire at the enemy, using Tatar arrows as improvised ammunition for their guns.[2]
Aftermath[]
Unable to defeat the Poles, Tatars sent Polish-speaking Lipka Tatars to convince Polish troops to surrender.[3] When Polish commander refused, Tatars withdrew to Kamieniec Podolski and gave up on the entire invasion, having gained nearly nothing despite large troop numbers.
Notes[]
King John III Sobieski made use of this outstanding victory to raise army morale: he paid generous compensation to those who lost their horses, financed treatment of wounded and rewarded those who captured enemy troops. He also commissioned a statue commemorating the battle.
References[]
See also[]
- Magnate wars in Moldavia
- http://www.kresy.pl/kresopedia,historia,rzeczpospolita?zobacz/hodow-1694
- http://www.konflikty.pl/a,4291,Wczesna_nowozytnosc,Polskie_Termopile_1694._Bitwa_pod_Hodowem.html with additional references
The original article can be found at Battle of Hodów and the edit history here.