The mother of the Poltava battle is the battle of Lesnaya. Victory of Peter the Great

Not everyone knows what battle Peter called "the mother of the Poltava battle". Meanwhile, it was one of the most fierce clashes with the enemy in the history of the Russian tsar's rule. Let's consider it in more detail.

General information

During the reign of the Great Reformer of Russia, there was a war with the Swedes. In the course of it there were several military operations. One of the clashes was the battle of Lesnaya. The corvolt under the command of the Russian tsar destroyed part of the enemy in one day. The units of the enemy were commanded by AL Lewengaupt.

Forces of the enemy

The Swedish Baltic Corps consisted of infantry and cavalry. The first consisted of 8050 people. The infantry was attended by the Smolensk Third and Finnish-Swedish regiments. The first was considered a subdivision of weak combat capability. In fact, he acted as a militia. The Finnish-Swedish regiment was known since 1620. It was quite a strong unit. In the cavalry were present:

1. The noble Livonian squadron. It numbered about 200 people. Despite the rather weak discipline and the irregular nature of manning, the unit was rather combat-ready.
2. About 800 people. Strong dragoon regiment.
3. Karelian settled squadron. It was about 300 people. This unit was characterized by moderate combat capability.
4. Recruited Livonian Dragoon Regiment under the command of von Schreeterfelt. It numbered 600 people. This was a fairly efficient unit, which included mercenaries Livonians and Kurlanders.
5. The recruited Livonian dragoon regiment led by von Schlippenbach. It also had 600 people. It was a very strong unit.
6. Other shelves.

In general, the cavalry numbered 4,900 people.

Year of the Battle of Poltava

During the reign of the Great Reformer, there were many military clashes. However, the largest of them is the Battle of Poltava. The Russian tsar was opposed by King Charles XII. In the year of the Battle of Poltava - 1709 - the enemy suffered a crushing defeat. This became possible due to the excellent organization of the Russian army.

"Mother of the Poltava victory": preparation

September 28, 1708 detachment of the enemy was preparing to retreat. Not far from their location was the village of Lesnaya. Parts of the enemy occupied the heights: 6 battalions were located on the front lines, the remaining - on the main front of the settlement. The command of the enemy planned to repel the attacks of Russian detachments until the entire train was forwarded. The flying regiment (corvolant) Petra advanced in two columns along forest roads. To the soldiers were able to enter the open road, the Nevsky detachment of Colonel Campbell attacked the enemy in the ranks, on the run. Nevertheless, the enemy managed to line up in a square and fight off a blow. Meanwhile, the Guards of Golitsyn moved to help Campbell. She managed to knock out the Swedes from the forefront. As a result, the latter moved to the main line. The Russian Corvalvor managed to reach a wide area and build up a battle formation. The units were 1 km from the enemy.

Forces of Russian parts

In the center of the building was Golitsyn's Guards Brigade. It consisted of Semenovsky, Preobrazhensky and two battalions of the Ingermanland regiment. On the right flank cavalry was placed. It was commanded by Major-General Stolz and Schaumburg. General leadership of the flank was carried out by Lieutenant-Lieutenant Hesse-Darmstadt. On the left side was the cavalry. She was commanded by Flug and Bem, and the general leadership was carried out by Lieutenant-Lieutenant Bruce. On the second line were 6 regiments of dragoons. They were backed up by the battalions of the Ingermaland and Astrakhan regiments. The rigidity of the system was provided by the grenadiers of the Rostov Dragoon and Guards divisions.

Main fight

What was the "mother of the Poltava battle"? The main battle lasted from 13.00 to 19.00 with a slight break. By the middle of the day the soldiers of both sides were so tired that they fell directly on the battlefield. At the same time, the distance between them was no more than 300 steps. For a couple of hours they rested. The Russians were waiting for Baur's detachment, and the Swedes were for the return of the avant-garde. At five o'clock in the evening 4 thousand dragoons came up. The Russians, having received help, began an attack. As a result, the Swedes were pushed back to their wagons. At the same time the cavalry of Baur went around the enemy from the flank, capturing the bridge. So the enemy was cut off the path to retreat. Swedes, however, with the support of the avant-garde managed to beat off the bridge. At seven in the evening, twilight began to descend, and the weather deteriorated. The Russians stopped attacking, but Peter withdrew artillery, which fired at enemy positions. The enemy at first responded. Shooting of positions continued until 10 pm. It became clear to Levenhaupt that he could not save the whole wagon train. In this regard, he decided to retreat. At night, after throwing half the train, all the heavily wounded and artillery, enemy detachments crossed the river. At the same time, they fired bivouac fires, introducing the Russians into error.

End of battle

"Mother of the Poltava battle" was over, as the enemy fled. When this became known to the Russian Tsar, he sent a detachment of Flug following the enemy's tracks. Russian soldiers caught up with Lievenhaup near Propoysk. Here the ferry was already destroyed, so the enemy was forced to leave the second part of the train and cross the river. Sozh. The remnants of the forces fled to the army of Charles XII, taking with them nothing but personal weapons.

Losses

"Mother of the Poltava Battle" ended with the seizure of a huge train with food, ammunition, artillery, designed for three months. In addition, the enemy lost about 8 thousand killed and wounded, about 1 thousand soldiers were captured. Many Swedes deserted during the retreat. Such losses are mainly due to the poor discipline of soldiers, the illiterate organization of detachments. Of the Russian, about 4 thousand people were killed and wounded. However, the general loss sheet does not contain data on dragoon regiments, irregular cavalry units and other forces. Given that the "mother of the Poltava battle" was very fierce, the researchers called the number of killed and wounded - 6 thousand people. As eyewitnesses noted, the dead almost completely flooded the battlefield. Often, even grass was not visible under them. Therefore, it is quite possible to talk about the comparability of losses on both sides.

Evaluation

The ongoing war with the Swedes aroused serious concern among the Russian emperor. However, after the events of September 29, 1708, the army of Charles XII suffered serious damage. This affected the further course of the war. During the confrontation, the forces of both sides were almost constantly replenished. From the Russians to the regiments were joined parts of Baur, the Swedes were drawn forces, thrown to the Propiosk. However, the former had a qualitative superiority. In the troops of the Baltic Corps there were no Swedish guards or other elite regiments. The last, for example, was considered the Dalecarly division. Many regiments were manned by Karelians and Finns, and not by Swedes, as well as Livonian Germans and Estonians, Izhorians and Slavs from the former Swedish Ingermalandia. In the units there were even people from Poland, as well as mercenaries from Germanic lands. At the same time, Peter completed his army with the best guards infantry and selected dragoon regiments.

Errors

As one of the serious miscalculations of Peter, the researchers call an insufficient number of artillery pieces. They were only 30. In addition, they were all small-caliber. Baur's artillery did not manage to reach the battlefield in time. In this regard, the battle was somewhat prolonged and became more bloody than anticipated. The enemy army, using this, was able to successfully retreat and strengthen its position. The Russians, in turn, did not attack the Swedes without artillery support. As a result, the enemy in relative order was able to retreat to the army of Charles.

Long-term consequences

The Russians faced a strategic challenge. It consisted in intercepting a huge train carrying about 8,000 trucks. As a result of the actions of the Russian troops, about 4,000 wagons were abandoned near the village of Lesnaya, about 3,000 from the town of Propoysk. Thus, the strategic objective was fully implemented. The battle deprived the Swedes of the main part of the troops. Remnants of the army, who did not bring almost anything into the army of Charles, were forced to radically change their plans. Nevertheless, the Russians failed to fully implement the operation to capture and destroy the Baltic Corps. The enemy managed to escape from the encirclement. While retaining a part of the army, Lievenaupt was able to connect with the main forces of Charles XII, although having lost the entire convoy with ammunition and provisions. As one of the consequences of the battle is the subsequent capitulation of Perevolochny. Karl, based on Levenhaupt's generally successful retreat from Lesnoy, joining him with the main forces, appoints him commander of the remnants of the army. After Poltava, the king hoped that the general would be able to reach the Crimean Khanate without any problems. It was allied to Sweden at that time and acted as a Turkish vassal. But Levenhaupt probably lost faith in the opportunity to win the fight. As historians note, the general was morally depressed after the main military campaign. In this regard, he did not have any strength, or, most likely, a desire to show proper firmness. Apparently, after the Battle of Lesnoy, he was not inclined to continue the confrontation, but to surrender. After the departure of Karl for the Dnieper, his army - without losses and in a fairly short time - laid down arms in front of the detachment Menshikov.

Conclusion

The victory of the Russians near Poltava became one of the largest in the history of the Great Reformer's reign. The Russian Tsar always treated with great attention the military training of soldiers. That's why all the battles involved only the best detachments: Semenovsky and Preobrazhensky, as well as practically the same Ingermanland Regiment, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod and Nevsky dragoon units as they are. Of particular importance, of course, was discipline in the troops. The Russian regiments were distinguished by their high organization, strict observance of order. This made it possible in the shortest possible time to mobilize forces, rebuild troops directly on the battlefield.