Talk:Battle of Wenden (1626)

Wenden or Zelbork

I added the info on de la Gardie and Horn based on the article in pl wiki. However, this (yes, I'm aware that that's not a RS) suggests that the article may be conflating two different battles: one at Wenden between Horn and Stefan Pac and one at Zelbork between De la Gardie and Gosiewski. That forum also gives Polish forces at 500 + 2 companies of reiters, and Swedish forces at 2500.

Reading some of the comments there, it's also possible that there were two battles at Wenden in 1623, one in September 30 and one on December 3. Like I said, this isn't a reliable source but the commentators there seem knowledgeable. There was also another battle at Wenden in 1601, which I think is better known (I think it was the first engagement between Swedish reiters and Polish hussars.VolunteerMarek 20:59, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

In the book "Vägen till stormakt" author says: The Poles under the command of Gonsiewski moved towards Wenden Northeast of Riga. Horn with a larger force was ordered to meet up with De la Gardie a distance East of Wenden. There was a bloody battle against the advancing Poles, which ended in favor for the Swedes. The Poles left the field in south direction but left more than 400 killed soldiers at the field. A numerous of German mercs in Polish service joined the Swedish side. The Swedish force persucated the fleeing Poles whom managed to save themselves over the Duna. That's all it says, maybe you could try to find the sources from their claims? Imonoz (talk) 19:37, 11 October 2012 (UTC)

During some research I found this [1] and there's a possible source "O bitwie z 1625 roku mozna przeczytac w ksiazce pt ,, Miscellane historico-archivistika,, w Archiwum Akt dawnych w Warszawie , na str. 237 , str. 238 , str. 139". As I used google translate on this, I might have got it wrong; 3,680 Swedes did a surprise attack on 4,000 (sleeping Lithuanians?) mainly cavalry in Wenden 3 December. However, the Lithuanians got support from the village who then managed to repel the Swedes (or the other way around, the Swedes had support?). Though, the both parts suffered great casualties of sickness before the battle so the numbers are of "paper form".

Also, the Swedish book "Vägen till stormakt" suggests there were several battles near Wenden in 1627 as well, aslo does this one. One of the battles speaks of 2,300 Poles won over a smaller force of Swedes commanded by Horn. The Swedes lost 200 men in the battle. As the author doesn't mention where the battle was fought, is there a slight chance this was actually Zelbork?

It then countinues with smaller battles, one of them at Lemsal where Horn once again managed to beat either Poles or Lithuanians at Lemsal "The enemies lost 500 men killed, and several hundred wounded" it says. Imonoz (talk) 15:08, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

As far as I can make it out from the link you provided, it's actually three different battles. Two battles around September 30, one at Wenden (with Horn/Pac) and one at Zelbork (with De la Gardie/Gosiewski). Then there was another battle nearby, at Wenden, around December 2-3, according to the posters also known as the Battle of Drobush, Drobowitz, or something like that (is this the Lemsal one?), which was between Horn and De la Gardie on one side and Gosiewski again. If you want to get really confused then there's a fourth battle at Treiden where now Gosiewski managed to win against Horn and De la Gardie in January 1628 (?).

According to that source:

At Wenden I (Sept 30) it gives Swedish forces at 2500 (commanders listed) and Lithuanian forces at 600-700 (details on the units given).

At Zelbork/Selbork (around Sept 30) it says that the Swedes attacked Gosiewski's camp. Part of the Polish-Lithuanian units are identified but there's no concrete number as to overall strength of both forces - most of the discussion on that page is exactly about that.

At Wenden II (Dec 2-3) it gives Swedish forces as 1900 infantry, 1780 cavalry, 4 cannons. These forces attacked and dispersed Gosiewski's camp on Dec 2. Then on the following day Gosiewski with around 4000 soldiers counter attacked but once that fizzled the Swedes fought back and the Lithuanians were routed, leaving 400 killed and 40 prisoners. The post notes that the numbers for Lithuanians might be exaggerated as they came from the prisoners.

Most of the discussion on that page revolves around the exact nature and number of Lithuanian forces. The two sources being recommended and cited are "Wojna inflancka 1625-1629" by Henryk Wisner and "Sveriges Krig 1611-1632" (I'm assuming this one). They then talk about the actual Polish-Lithuanian commanders on the ground (it's pretty involved).

For the Zelbork one the data given, based on Wisner's book are:

• A squadron of Gosiewski's hussars - 200 horse
• A squadron of Radziwill's hussars under Adam Blinstrub - 143 horse
• A squadron of Radziwill's hussars under Piotr Gorajski - 150 horse
• A squadron of Tyszkiewicz's hussars - 200 horse
• A rota of rajtars under Korff - 130 horse
• A rota of rajtars under Unger - unknown
• Four squadrons of cossack cavalry - around 500 horse
• A rota of Polish infantry under Murawicki - 30 men (down from 200)
• Mercenary infantry - 300 men (down from 700, but ost were sick).
• Rotas led by Abramowicz, Donoway, Szandron Zelderbach and one rota of dragoons. - unknown

 Volunteer Marek  00:44, 5 November 2012 (UTC)

There's also a link given there to a map of Wenden II [2]. Volunteer Marek  00:47, 5 November 2012 (UTC)

Interesting. I think I'm starting to get it now, there's some connections with these in the book 'vägen till stormakt' however, the author seems a little bit confused on dates and also I've discovered the same battle can be pasted twice only in different years. I'll try make the best out of this.

• The Zelbork and Wenden I battles are both part of an operation made by the two generals De la Garidie and Horn. Zelbork had been sieged and taken by the PLC, de la gardie then ordered Horn to attack further to the West of the Duna river (I guess somewhere in the direction of Wenden) to cover the flank, and de la gardie attacked more to the East (Zelbork). It says De la Gardie won his fight at Zelbork but nothing about Horn, did he win or lose? They later shelled Zelbork with artillery and the PLC forces had to withdraw. It says Gosiewski was at Zelbork. No exact dates are given, but at least it's before November, 1626. [there's some information about this in the book, may be worth an article putting together these two battles and the siege as they all aimed for Zelbork?].

• Wenden II, (here I'm a bit confused, in the book it says De la Gardie and Horn fought Gosiewski near Wenden in [July?] 1626). However, I think it's maybe a confusion from the author since he doesn't give any exact date and as I know there wasn't any bigger battles near Wenden in July, and the battle in 2-3 december is not mentioned in the book. I think this battle actually is the 2-3 dec one. (the 400 dead PLC forces). Does it mention anything about the Lithuanian forces withdrawed crossing the Duna river? So, if I'm putting in the numbers of strenght, would it be '1900 infantry, 1780 cavalry, 4 cannons' for the Swedes and '4,000' for the Lithuanians with maybe a note telling the numbers probably were a bit smaller? I could also try putting in some text by translating it, but as I could get it wrong I then need if you would like to, quickly look through the text and see if I got it right. And the sources to this are: "Wojna inflancka 1625-1629" by Henryk Wisner and "Sveriges Krig 1611-1632"

• Lemsal, 1627. Swedish troops were commanded by Horn, PLC troops by general Pawlowicz. It says 500 Poles died and some hundred got captured.

• Treiden, 1628 22 January (or 2 February). It says, Horn with his army fought against the superior army of von Korffs and Zenowitz (it doesn't mention Gosiewski, may be some confusion in the Swedish book). The battle kept going for some hours until the Swedes pulled back with a 200 man loss (I suspect dead).

This was taken from the book 'Vägen till stormakt' and as I said, the author seem to be a bit confused himself, giving no exact dates. But as far as I can tell, this is what it would be.

The article we're currently having a discussion on is Wenden II. But the others could be worth making articles of as well, at least Zelbork and Wenden I there's some information about in this book. And maybe then, I could split of the campaignbox to 'Balticum/Livionian Theater' ( with the battles of Horn, De la Gardie and Gosiewski etc) and the 'Prussian Theater' to avoid further confusion. Should the page be moved to "Battle of Wenden II (1626)" in you opinion? And also, that map you linked seems very useful, as far as I can tell, there's battle formations in there, do you think it's copyrighted? Can I upload it? Imonoz (talk) 17:17, 5 November 2012 (UTC)

Some of the dates might be getting confused because of the use of the Julian calendar. Other than that, I think either call this one Wenden II per your suggestion, or keep it at Wenden and have another article at Battles of Wenden and Zelbork (1626). Volunteer Marek  17:50, 5 November 2012 (UTC)

Here is the text from the forum and my translation of it:

"Udało mi się dotrzeć do opisu II bitwy pod Wenden (znanej też jako bitwa pod Drobbusch/Drobowitz) w oparciu o listy uczestniczących w niej szwedzkich generałow Niezbyt tego wiele, ale zawsze coś.

Wieczorem 23 listopada (2 grudnia) 1626 roku oddziały szwedzkie pod generałem-majorem Gustavem Hornem - 1900 piechoty, 1780 jazdy, 4 działa - dotarły do Drobusch i rozbiły tam oboz. Piechotę rozlokowano w domach, jazda rozłozyła się na obrzeżach lasu. Rankiem 24 listopada (3 grudnia) Szwedzi zostali zaatakowani z zaskoczenia przez zgrupowanie Gosiewskiego - ok. 4000 żołnierzy, głownie jazdy. Dane o ilości Litwinow pochodzą od jeńcow, więc mogą być przesadzone.

Szwedzkie pikiety zatrzymały jednak napor Litwinow, po czym zostały wsparte przez pozostałą w wiosce piechotę i odparły atak, zdobywając dwa sztandary i biorąc kilku jeńcow. Ogień szwedzkich muszkieterow zmusił litewską jazdę do wycofania się z obrzeży lasu, co pozwoliło na przejście do akcji jazdy szwedzkiej. Szarża jazdy fińskiej musiała dopaść Litwinow w odwrocie - jeżeli wierzyć opisom atak jednego z fińskich skwadronow rozproszył 5 (sic!) chorągwi husarskich, zdobywając 4 sztandary.

Litwini mieli stracić 400 zabitych, 40 jeńcow (w tym chorążego von Essena, brata pułkownika Alexandra von Essena służącego w armii szwedzkiej) i 8 sztandarow."

"I've managed to get a description of the second battle at Wenden (also known as the battle at Drobbusch/Drobowitz) based on letters from Swedish generals who participated in it. It's not much, but always something.

In the evening of 23 November (2 December) 1626 Swedish units under Major General Gustav Horn - 1900 infantry, 1780 cavalry, 4 cannons - arrived at Drobush and set up camp. The infantry was quartered in the local houses, the cavalry stationed itself on the border of a forest. In the morning of November 23 (3 December) the Swedes were surprise attacked by a Gosiewski's group - around 4000 soldiers, mostly cavalry. The data on the number of Lithuanians comes from prisoners so they may be a bit exaggerated.

Swedish advance units ("pikiety" not sure exactly - VM) stopped the Lithuanians after which they received support from the infantry from the village and repulsed the attack, capturing two standards and a couple of prisoners. The fire of the Swedish musketeers forced the Lithuanian cavalry to retreat to the edge of the forest which allowed Swedish cavalry to get into the action. The charge of the Finnish cavalry must have caught the Lithuanians while they were retreating - if we believe the description, the attack by one of the Finnish squadrons scatter 5 (sic !) (sic in original - VM) squadrons of hussars, capturing four standards.

The Lithuanians are said to have lost 400 killed, 40 prisoners (including Chorąży von Essen, brother of colonel Alexander von Essen who served in the Swedish army) and 8 standards"

Attribution: from here [3].

I should correct what I said earlier - the description doesn't say that the Swedes attacks Gosiewski's camp rather that they pitched or set up, camp (Polish word "rozbiły" can mean "they scattered" or in this context it can mean "they set up"), and then they were attacked by Gosiewski's troops. Volunteer Marek  18:03, 5 November 2012 (UTC)

Also, according to that source (it is a very good non reliable source) Horn defeated Pac at Wenden I. Volunteer Marek  18:09, 5 November 2012 (UTC)

This helps, much appreciated. I'll start slightly edit the article some time now. I will asume De la Gardie wasn't participating in this battle. And by the way, I also found another 'good non reliable source' [4] may be written by the same author. Cheers. Imonoz (talk) 21:22, 5 November 2012 (UTC)