Skirmish near Krasnokutsk

Skirmish near Krasnokutsk

Part of: Great Northern War

date	February 10th Jul. / 11. February swedish / 20. February 1709 greg.
place	Krasnokutsk , Ukraine
output	Swedish victory

Parties to the conflict
Sweden	Russia
Commander
Charles XII.	Carl Ewald von Rönne
Troop strength
2,500 ( cavalry )	5,000-10,000 men
losses
132 dead or wounded	at least 200 riders other source 1000–1500

The battle of Krasnokutsk was a military conflict of the Russian campaign of Charles XII. in the Great Northern War . It took place on February 20, 1709 on the outskirts of Krasnokutsk . The Swedish army under the supreme command of the Swedish King Charles XII. attacked the Russian army under the command of Lieutenant General Carl Ewald von Rönne . After the Swedes were initially able to urge the Russians to retreat, the king and his body members were isolated from the rest of the Swedish soldiers and surrounded by a majority of Russian horsemen. Only the intervention of Colonel Traube's dragoons saved the king from captivity or death. The entire advance of the main Swedish army ensured victory in the end.

In advance

Skirmish near Krasnokutsk

Location of the battlefield

After the conquest of Hajach and the siege and storming of Veprik , the Swedish king and his main army moved further east to completely cleanse the Ukraine of the Russians. The skirmishes between the Russians and Swedes increased steadily in severity as the campaign continued. Hardly any prisoners were taken. Instead, captured Russians or Swedes were killed by their war opponents. In January 1709 Colonel Albedyll's dragoon regiment was surrounded by 16,000 Russians under the command of General Sheremetev and almost completely destroyed. Few Swedes were left alive. At the beginning of February Charles XII. with eleven cavalry and two infantry regiments from Zenkow and marched towards Krasnokutsk.

Due to the terrain, it was not possible for the Swedes to march in order. Hence the corps advanced in long lines. The Russian regiments under the command of Lieutenant General von Rönne, however, did not engage in direct combat. Rönne still estimated the combat strength of the Swedish troops to be very high. He did not want to involve his troops prematurely and senselessly in a fight with an uncertain outcome. The Russians therefore limited themselves to the means of guerrilla warfare and made the Swedish advance more difficult with the scorched-earth tactics by devastating and burning down all the villages along their line of retreat. The Swedish troops should not be given any means of supply. The Swedish Army Corps was also repeatedly attacked on the flanks by Russian and Cossack cavalry troops . While these minor skirmishes were not decisive and were almost all won by the Swedes, they demoralized and tired the Swedish soldiers very much. The losses of the last few months have been very serious for the Swedes, who for their part no longer had any supply connections to the motherland. In the last three months alone, the Swedes lost 8,000 men to fighting, disease or the extreme cold.

On February 20, Charles XII. at the head of his army the outskirts of Krasnokutsk. With him were 2,500 horsemen and his body satanites.

The battle

Skirmish near Krasnokutsk

The von Rönnes regiments took up defensive positions and waited for the attack by the Swedes. Covered by the cavalry regiments , Karl XII attacked. at the head of his satellites directly to the positions. Due to the surprisingly strong attack by the Swedish satellites, the Russians withdrew. The withdrawal got into disarray, so that the Russian forces were divided. One part hurried up a hill and the other part tried to escape via the nearby Merla River .

Charles XII. went up the hill with his body satellite and on his left Colonel Dücker marched against the river Merla. During this pursuit, the king was separated from his remaining troops.

The Russian general Rönne now saw the chance to take the Swedish king prisoner and had his troops turn around and attack the Swedes. The king, who was surprised by this move of the general, was quickly surrounded by a superior force and fought for survival. The body satellites got off their horses and formed a circle around their king. The satellites fought resolutely against the Russians for the life of the king. When ten satellites were already dead on the ground, the dragoons of Colonel Traube's regiment pushed forward to support the king. The breakthrough through the Russian ranks was made with such force that the Russian horsemen had to withdraw.

After the king was freed from his predicament, he immediately wanted to pursue the Russians with the dragoon regiment. But they refused and led the king back to the main army against his will. In the meantime it had gotten into serious disarray. The Major General Kruse had to overcome great effort this disorder. Only when the troops learned of the threatening situation of their king did all regiments march on Krasnokutsk to assist their king. When the Russian general von Rönne saw the approaching Swedish main army, he withdrew.

The losses

The defense of the king cost the lives of ten satellites, another 130 dragoons lost their lives in the rescue operation. The Russian casualties amounted to at least 200 riders, but there are also figures of 1,000–1,500 dead and wounded in history. The Russians captured several royal satellites and Swedish horsemen and dragoons during the battle. They also captured some standards and a few kettledrons.

The consequences

After the capture of the city of Krasnokutsk, it and some surrounding villages were looted and burned by the Swedish troops. The Swedish king marched on towards Chuchra and advanced as far as Kalomak, near the Donets .

In June 1709, Charles XII's campaign in Russia ended. by the crushing defeat in the Battle of Poltava .

literature

• Hartwich Ludw. Christ. Bacmeister (ed.): Contributions to the history of Peter the Great. Volume 1: Which contains the first part of the diary of Peter the Great in a German translation. Hartknoch, Riga 1774.
• Knut Lundblad: History of Charles the Twelfth King of Sweden. Volume 2. Perthes, Hamburg 1840.
• Not so Fryxell: Life story of Charles the Twelfth, King of Sweden. Transferred from the Swedish original freely by Georg F. von Jenssen-Tusch. Volume 2. Vieweg, Braunschweig 1861.
• Christian Lanciai: Sailing without lying down. 1974, online , (Swedish).
• Peter Englund: The Battle That Shook Europe. Poltava and the Birth of the Russian Empire. Tauris, London 2006, ISBN 1-86064-847-9 .
• Skirmish near Krasnokutsk . In: Theodor Westrin (Ed.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 14 : Kikarskten – Kroman . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1911, Sp. 1218 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).

Web links

• opoccuu (Russian)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Lanciai: Segern och nederlaget. 1974, p. 107.
2. ^ Skirmish near Krasnokutsk . In: Theodor Westrin (Ed.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 14 : Kikarskten – Kroman . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1911, Sp. 1218 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Fryxell: Life story of Karl the Twelfth. Volume 2. 1861, p. 224 .
4. ↑ ^{a b} Peter From: Katastrofen vid Poltava. Charles XII: s ryska fälttåg 1707–1709. Historiska Media, Lund 2007, ISBN 978-91-85377-70-1 , p. 259.
5. ^ Fryxell: Life story of Karl the Twelfth. Volume 2. 1861, p. 223 .
6. ↑ ^{a b} Lundblad: History of Charles the Twelfth King of Sweden. Volume 2. 1840, p. 88 .
7. ↑ ^{a b} Bacmeister: Contributions to the history of Peter the Great. Volume 1. 1774, p. 237 .