Battle of Wallhof
| Battle of Wallhof | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Polish-Swedish wars | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Swedish Empire |
 Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Gustavus II Adolphus, King of Sweden | Jan Stanisław Sapieha | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
1,000 infantry 2,100 cavalry 6 guns |
2,000 men (mainly cavalry) 3 guns[1] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Very light, some sources claim not a single man dead or missing |
Around 1,000 dead or wounded 150 captured[2][3][4] | ||||||
Battle of Wallhof (Latvian: Valles kauja, also known as Battle of Walmozja) was a battle fought between Sweden and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on 7 January 1626, in which a Swedish force of 3,100 men (2,100 of them cavalry) with 6 guns under Gustavus II Adolphus ambushed and took by surprise a Polish-Lithuanian force of 2,000 men with 3 guns under Jan Stanisław Sapieha, Polish-Lithuanian casualties amounted to between 500 and 1,500 dead, wounded or captured[5][6] and their commander collapsed from a mental illness after this defeat.[5]
Swedish king Gustav, claimed: "not a single man is missing, everyone is where they should be" which is hard to believe, but to have suffered very small casualties is most likely true.
In the battle Gustavus Adolphus reformed tactics with close cooperation between infantry and cavalry was tried for the first time. It was also the first time the Swedish cavalry succeeded to withstand the polish cavalry.
The Swedes attacked the Lithuanian camp at dawn and since the camp was located between two woods, the Lithuanian cavalry could not outflank the Swedes but instead, the Swedes used the woods to fire upon the cavalry charge.[7]:106
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The battle depicted on a contemporary engraving with the format 290 mm x 1070 mm.
References
- ↑ Leszek Podhorodecki, "Rapier i koncerz", Warszawa 1985, ISBN 83-05-11452-X,
- ↑ Leszek Podhorodecki, "Rapier i koncerz", Warszawa 1985, ISBN 83-05-11452-X, p. 142-144
- ↑ Wallhof i Nordisk familjebok (2:a upplagan, 1921)
- ↑ http://strv102r.tripod.com/gustaf_4.htm
- 1 2 Podhorodecki, Leszek (1985). Rapier i koncerz. Warsaw. ISBN 83-05-11452-X.
- ↑ Wallhof i Nordisk familjebok (2:a upplagan, 1921)
- ↑ Frost, R.I., 2000, The Northern Wars, 1558-1721, Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, ISBN 9780582064294
Sources
- Wallhof i Nordisk familjebok (2:a upplagan, 1921)
- Sundberg, Ulf: Svenska krig 1521-1814, s. 109-112, Hjalmarson & Högberg Bokförlag, Stockholm 2002, ISBN 91-89660-10-2
- Gullberg, Tom: Krigen kring Östersjön - Lejonet vaknar 1611-1660, s. 50-52, Schildts Förlags AB, Helsingfors 2008, ISBN 978-951-50-1822-9