Skirmish over salads

Skirmish over salads

Part of: Great Northern War

Battle at Saladen / Birsen

date	March 18, 1703
place	Saladen , today's Lithuania
output	Victory of the Swedes

Parties to the conflict
Sweden	Russia Poland-Lithuania
Commander
Adam Lewenhaupt	Gregor Oginski
Troop strength
1,300 men	5,000–6,000 men
losses
40 dead 125 injured	576 Russians on the battlefield 1000 Russians fleeing Saxony and Poland unknown

The Battle of Saladen on March 18, 1703 was a military conflict in the Great Northern War near Saladen (today the Rajongemeinde Pasvalys , Lithuania ). A division of the Swedes , led by Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt, and an allied Russian-Lithuanian army, led by General Oginski faced each other. The Swedes achieved an overwhelming victory.

In the run-up to the battle

Skirmish over salads

Location of the battlefield

At the end of the 17th century, the Sapieha quickly became the most powerful family in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , which sought to break the Union of Lithuania with Poland and claimed the throne for itself. The election victory of August of Saxony as King of Poland in 1697 limited the privileges of the sapieha. A civil war broke out in Lithuania and Belarus in which the Szlachta, led by Oginski and Wiśniowiecki , won the day until 1700.

In addition to the war events in Poland, fighting for supremacy in the Baltic States also took place in Courland and Lithuania . The winners of the previous Lithuanian-Belarusian civil war, the Oginski, had removed the sapieha from all state offices by decree. The defeated former rulers now allied themselves with the victorious Swedes, while the Oginski or Count Grzegorz Antoni Ogiński called Peter I for help. Peter I signed an agreement with the Oginskis on military aid in 1702. Another violent civil war broke out.

General Oginski, who experienced the superior strength of the Swedish army several times in battles, tried in the spring of 1703 to seize the village of Birsen . The strategically well-located city was to become the refuge and gathering point of his armed forces in the Lithuanian-Belarusian civil war against the Sapieha family, supported by the Swedes.

General Stuart , commander-in-chief of the Swedish troops in Courland , learned of this plan and sent Lewenhaupt, who was with his troops deep in Samogitia , the order to march immediately towards Birsen. But he made slow progress through the rough terrain. Due to the delays in the Swedish advance, Oginski's troops were able to occupy Birsen. In addition, 2,500 Russian veterans who were released from the recently ended war against the Ottoman Empire strengthened Oginski's army.

Lewenhaupt's department had a manpower of just over 900 men and was reinforced on the advance by the regiment of Colonel Johann Adolph Clodt von Juergensburg. Together they now had 1,300 men at their disposal and were thus still clearly inferior to Oginski's troops. When Lewenhaupt reached his goal, he realized that a battle was hopeless and withdrew the Swedish troops towards Courland. Oginski, on the other hand, was confident of victory due to the favorable balance of power and had the withdrawing Swedes pursued.

The battle

The two armies met near the village of Saladen at what is now the hamlet of Šakarniai. The Russian troops marched up, hidden in the forest. Lewenhaupt had expected it and was already waiting for the Russians.

The Russians had covered their front with a wagon castle . They had also positioned 188 iron-shod Spanish horsemen . The barriers were linked by chains.

Lewenhaupt had his infantry deployed. The artillery was positioned in the middle and the cavalry placed in front of the infantry and as flank protection. The grenadiers were distributed on both flanks. The first rows of the Swedish infantry were equipped with pikes to prevent the Russian cavalry from entering the infantry rows . Lewenhaupt commanded the right wing and Colonel Clodt on the left.

The Swedes were getting closer and closer to the enemy. The Russian artillery fire began at 400 paces and resulted in only a few casualties. The Swedish artillery shots were also of little value. At 100 paces the infantry fire was concentrated. The Confederate infantry attacking on the Polish-Lithuanian right wing were quickly repulsed by Colonel Clodt and turned to their own left wing. As a result, they fell on Count Lewenhaupt's flank and back when he was about to attack the right Russian wing.

The courageous intervention of the grenadiers and horsemen of Colonel Clodt, which he led to the savage attack, prevented the encirclement of the right Swedish wing. Furthermore, two cannons, which shot with shot and were mounted on wagons, were used. These shot large gaps in the Lithuanian and Polish ranks.

The fire from the infantry lines on the Russian left wing was devastating. The Swedes and Russians shot continuously, so that a thick fog covered the battlefield. Only after Major Hans Heinrich Wrangel succeeded in eliminating the first Spanish horseman and the Swedish infantrymen were able to penetrate the ranks of the Russians, the battle was decided. The major fell in this battle.

The invasion of the Swedes forced the Russians to flee, although the cavalry was still almost completely intact.

Lewenhaupt did not allow the withdrawing Russians and Poles to be pursued. He was concerned about the low headcount of his troops and under no circumstances wanted to be lured into a trap.

Losses and spoils of war of the Swedes

On the Swedish side, 40 men were killed, including one officer, 125 other men were wounded and two soldiers were missing.

11 cannons and 500 wagons of the Russian baggage were captured. These were full of ammunition and supplies. During the battle, the Swedes captured 11 or 12 flags. Another 34–35 large banners and 2 standards were captured in the wagons of the Russians.

consequences

This battle caught the attention of Charles XII. and brought Lewenhaupt the rank of major general. When General Stuart retired from the war for reasons of age, Lewenhaupt was given the command in Courland.

After the Russians fled the battlefield, around 1,000 men were reportedly killed by Swedish horsemen and Lithuanian farmers. The losses of the Saxons and Poles were insignificant.

literature

• Johann Georg Krünitz : Economic-Technological Encyclopedia, or general system of statistics, city, house and agriculture, and art history, in alphabetical order . Volume 52: From war ship to war beings. Joachim Pauli, Berlin 1790.
• Lipowsky : Land Defense Almanac for the Kingdom of Baiern. 1817. Verlag Joseph Zaengl, Munich sa
• Knut Lundblad: History of Charles the Twelfth King of Sweden. Volume 1. Perthes, Hamburg 1835.
• Henry von Baensch: History of the von Wrangel family from the year twelve hundred and fifty to the present. Processed according to certificates and diaries. Half of the 2nd Baensch, Berlin et al. 1887.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Henads Sahanowitsch: Belarus and the agony of the aristocratic republic (1648–1795). In: Dietrich Beyrau , Rainer Lindner (Hrsg.): Handbook of the history of Belarus. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-36255-2 , pp. 106–118, here p. 111.
2. ↑ Henads Sahanowitsch: Belarus and the agony of the aristocratic republic (1648–1795). In: Dietrich Beyrau, Rainer Lindner (Hrsg.): Handbook of the history of Belarus. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-36255-2 , pp. 106–118, here p. 112.
3. ↑ Savivaldybių kronika / Įvykiai pagal savivaldybę: Saločių mūšis
4. ↑ Lipowsky: Land-Wehr-Almanach for the Kingdom of Bavaria. 1817. p. 133 .
5. ↑ Krünitz: Economic-Technological Encyclopedia. Volume 52, 1790, p. 598 .
6. ↑ Baensch: History of the Wrangel Family. Half 2. 1887, p. 580.
7. ^ Lundblad: History of Charles the Twelfth King of Sweden. Volume 1. 1835, p. 278 .