Battle of Hodów

Battle of Hodów
Part of the Polish–Ottoman War (1683–1699)
Date11 June 1694
LocationHodów, Ukraine
Result Poland victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Poland 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 Kingdom of Poland 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. In 1695 he also commissioned a statue commemorating the battle. This monument survived into modern times and was renewed in the summer of 2014, then officially unveiled during the celebration of 320th anniversary of the Battle, on 25 October 2014.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Sarnecki K., Pamiętniki z czasów Jana Sobieskiego, tom 1, opr. J. Woliński, Wrocław 2004.
  2. ↑ Sikora R., Niezwykłe bitwy i szarże husarii, Warszawa 2011.
  3. ↑ Mała Encyklopedia Wojskowa, p.r. J. Bordziłowski, tom. 1, Warszawa 1967
  4. ↑ Report from the celebration of the 320th anniversary of the Battle of Hodów and the unveiling of renewed monument of the Battle, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Ukraine, 3.11.2014

See also