Battle of Lubiszewo

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict = Battle of Lubiszewo
partof = the War of the Gdansk Rebellion


date = April 17, 1577
place = Lubiszewo Tczewskie (near Gdansk)
result = Decisive Polish-Lithuanian victory
combatant1 = Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
combatant2 = City of Danzig
commander1 = Jan Zborowski
commander2 = Johann Winkelbruch aka Hans Wickelbruch von Koln
strength1 = 1,450 cavalry and 1,050 infantry and artillery.
strength2 = 10-12,000 of which 800 were cavalry
casualties1 = 88 killed, 100 wounded
casualties2 = 4,420 killed, 5,000 captured

The Battle of Lubiszewo (also known as Battle of Lubieszów or Battle of Lubiszewo/Lubieszów Lake), fought on April 17, 1577, was the most important battle in the two-year War of the Danzig Rebellion fought between the Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania and the city of Danzig (Gdańsk) following the city's refusal to accept the election of Stefan Batory as monarch of Commonwealth which had taken place on December 15, 1575. The battle took place to the west of the town of Tczew (Dirschau), southeast of Gdansk on the Left bank of the Vistula river, near the Lubiszewo Lake and modern village of Lubiszewo Tczewskie ( _de. Lübschau) [Paul Simson: Der Artushof in Danzig und seine Brüderschaften [http://books.google.com/books?id=q1saAAAAMAAJ&q=l%C3%BCbschau+1577&dq=l%C3%BCbschau+1577&lr=&pgis=1] ] [Boris Vasilyevich Köhne: "Koehne's Zeitschrift für Münz-, Siegel- und Wappenkunde" 1845, [http://books.google.com/books?id=a5cCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA54&dq=winkelbruch+1577&lr= bei Lübschau (unweit Dirschau)] ] ). While it was not a decisive victory insofar as Gdansk itself was not taken and the war raged on, the city did finally to come to terms with the king later in the year.

The Danzig (Gdańsk) army, led by the German commander Johann Winkelbruch (Hans Winckelburg von Kölln), was about 7,000-12,000 strong (including mercenaries, among them a Scottish regiment ["The regiment of six companies numbering about 700 men was hired by Danzig in 1577-8 and won great fame in the city's rebellion against Poland." - Richard Brzezinski: Polish Armies 1569-1696 (2), Osprey Publishing [http://books.google.com/books?id=6KrUDhbGDVcC&pg=PA4&dq=battle+Danzig+1577&lr=&sig=D90HVm0cWQGMh5q0A1ADMUeVEkQ] ] ), but with less then 1,000 of cavalry. The Danzig army of was utterly defeated by the army of Jan Zborowski (of about 2,000 men, half of them cavalry). [Radosław Sikora, Lubieszów 17 IV 1577, Zabrze 2005.] Norman Davies, "God's Playground: A History of Poland in Two Volumes", Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 0199253390, [http://books.google.com/books?id=07vm4vmWPqsC&pg=PA321&dq=Bathory+1577+Danzig&as_brr=3&ei=KZggSP_9O4-KzQSe3bWiDg&sig=yGVWWNicsvxiamaqcJhKpY-OLOI#PPA321,M1 Google Print, p.321] ] The Danzigers, who lost over half of their army to casualties and surrenders, were forced to retreat behind the walls, and the a siege begun.

Initial Moves

The campaign leading up to the battle began in August 1576; Batory marched with 2,000 men to Malbork, east of Tczew in order to isolate Gdansk from the surrounding countryside. the following January he took the town of Tczew, and successively stormed the rebel defences at Glowa and Garabina. The last of these was a mere 15km from Gdansk and its fall to the king cut the city off by land. The king then left the army under command of hetman Jan Zborowski, ordering a blockade to isolate the city by sea as well, with Polish privateers fighting both the Gdansk and Danish fleets.

Opposing Forces

The winter reduced military action to minor skirmishing and the spring thaw halted all military engagements, but during this lull, the city magnates hired the German mercenary captain Hans Wickelbruch von Koln, who, in April, marched out to engage the Polish-Lithuanian army at Lubieszów, near Tczew. The Polish army consisted of 1000 infantry and 1,300 cavalry, while Wickelbruch's force was made up of 3,100 landsknechts, 400 mercenary reiter cavalry, 400 city cavalry, and 6,000-8,000 militiamen, in total 10-12,000 soldiers. He also brought 7 cannon and 30 light cannon mounted on wagons. On hearing of Wickelbruch's advance, Zborowski marched all but 100 infantry out of Tczew to attack the Gdansk army, crossing the Motlava River (a tributary of the Vistula then swollen with the spring thaw) at Rokitki, while Wickelbruch sent a force of 200 to delay the Commonwealth army as he tried to flank it and cross the Motlava between two lakes to the south of the town of Lubieszów itself, west south west of Rokitki. While scouts informed Zborowski of the flanking move, two standards of cavalry he sent out to stop them were unable to stop Wickelbruch's crossing. Upon hearing of the failure to dislodge Wickelbruch from his left flank, Zborowski ordered the bridge at Roktiki destroyed and sent all of his forces to the west to engage Wickelbruch at the lakes.

The Battle

The battle started in earnest with Polish-Hungarian Infantry advancing, crouching at first to avoid withering enemy fire, to capture a battery of Gdansk artillery, which was then turned to fire on the Gdansk army. Wickelbruch ordered the landsknecht to attack with pikes, but they were repelled by the Commonwealth infantry who charged them with sabers. The landsknecht held their ground before the enemy infantry but finally broke when another two standards of Polish hussars attacked them in the flank. With them, the entire army broke and fled, and the Polish cavalry kept up the chase right to the Gdansk city gate. Gdansk's losses amounted to 4,400 dead and 5,000 taken prisoner, while the Commonwealth army suffered 188 casualties, only 88 of them deaths.

The Aftermath

The battle, while decisive for the Commonwealth, did not end Gdansk's resistance. The king could only reinforced his forces in June, and a raid on July 3 destroyed a third of Batory's artillery park, making direct assault on the city, defended by heavy medieval walls, very difficult. In September, Batory began withdrawing his army to prepare for war with Muscovy. Both sides came to terms in December 1577, with Batory receiving an indemnity of 200,000 zloty while confirming the cities liberties.

ignificance

In spite of its somewhat indecisive impact on the wider war, the Battle of Lubieszów is seen to mark the beginning of the heyday of the Polish-Lithuanian hussars, who were so instrumental in sealing the victory that day.

References

Further reading

* Radosław Sikora, "Lubieszów 17 IV 1577", Zabrze: Wydawnictwo Inforteditions, 2005.

External links

* [http://www.kismeta.com/diGrasse/Lubiesow.htm Battle of Lubieszow, 1577]
* [http://www.jasinski.co.uk/wojna/battles/1577-Gdansk/1577-Lub.htm Map of the battle]