The Battle of Berestechko Part 2.
The Armies
On 19 June 1651, the Polish Army numbered 14,844 Polish cavalry, 2,250 German-style cavalry, 11,900 German-style infantry and dragoons, 2,950 Hungarian-style infantry (haiduks), 1,550 Lithuanian volunteers, and 960 Lipka Tatars. In addition there was a huge militia force, of limited value, numbering 30,000 noblemen of the levée en masse.
The Polish commanders were hoping to break into the Cossack ranks with an impetuous charge of the famous Polish 'Winged' Hussars - a tactic proven effective in many previous battles, including Kircholm, and Kłuszyn (and which would later prove successful at the 1683 Battle of Vienna against the Turks). The Cossack army were well acquainted with this Polish style of war fare, having much experience of fighting against the Poles and alongside them. Their preferred tactic was to avoid an open field battle, and to fight from the cover of a huge fortified camp.
First day of battle
2000 Polish cavalry (one regiment under the command of Aleksander Koniecpolski, supported by Jerzy Lubomirski, six pancerni cavalry companies of Jeremi Wiśniowiecki and Winged Hussars under the command of Stefan Czarniecki ) repulsed the Tatars, who suffered heavy losses. During the first day of "skirmishes by the Tatar and Cossack vanguard regiments", the Poles were victorious "since their army sustained that first attack cheerfully and in high spirits".
Second day of battle
The Poles, encouraged by their success on the first day, deployed all their available cavalry against the "main Tatar horde" and "Cossack vanguard regiments". The Polish infantry and artillery remained in camp and didn't support the cavalry. This time, Tatar cavalry gained the upper hand, pushing the Poles back to their camp but were then "barely repelled" by heavy fire from the Polish infantry and artillery. The Poles lost 300 soldiers, including many officers of "caliber", and the "escort troop of Hetman Mikolaj Potocki". During the second day of the battle, the rebels were victorious, although "the Tatars, too, were unpleasantly surprised by the determination and endurance of the Polish army in both battles and, having suffered rather painful losses of their own; they lost heart".
Third day of battle
The "king insisted, at a night council, on engaging the enemy in a decisive battle the next day, Friday, 30 June". The Polish army appeared out of the "morning mist in full strength" but only the Tatars engaged in skirmishes which were met by the Polish artillery. At 3 p.m. Duke Jeremi Wiśniowiecki led a successful charge of 18 cavalry companies against the right wing of the Cossack-Tatar Army and "the zealous cavalry attack was a success: it broke up the rows of Cossack infantry and the wagons moving in coraal formation". The Polish infantry centre, under the personal command of King John Casimir, advanced slowly forward and "drove the Tatars from the field". During the fighting, a Polish nobleman called Otwinowski noticed the Tatar Khan's standard, and Polish artillery was directed to fire at it. A Tatar standing next to the Khan fell dead. With the battle already turning badly, the Tatar forces panicked, "abandoning the Khan's camp as it stood", with the Khan taking Khmelnytsky and Vyhovsky hostage. With their cavalry support gone, the Cossack wagon-fort, containing the vast bulk of the Cossack army now stood isolated on the battlefield, and in effect was under siege by the Polish army.
The siege of the Cossack wagons
The Polish army and Cossack camp exchanged artillery fire for ten days while both sides built fortifications, the Polish intent to establish a blockade of the camp. Their leadership being without Khemlnytsky, the Cossacks were commanded by Colonel Filon Dzhalalii, but after a few days he was replaced by Ivan Bohun but some accounts state it was Matvii Hladky. When terms for surrender failed and the Poles dammed the Pliashivka River so as to flood the Cossack Camp, the Poles prepared to attack on July 10, while the Cossacks prepared to flee across the river.
When Bohun "went to the crossing point with two thousand cavalrymen and several cannon", the Cossacks thought the officers were fleeing and "everyone panicked in desperation and began to flee wherever he could, worse than at Pyliavtsi". The Polish forces attacked the panicked Cossacks and the battle turned into a slaughter with more than 20,000 killed or drowned. "Khmelnytsky's tent was captured intact, with all his belongings", which included two banners, one he received from John II Casimir's 1649 commission and one from Wladyslaw IV in 1646.
Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.
