As the Polish army of hetman Khodkevich suffered a defeat near Moscow
The battle for Moscow between the Russian and Polish forces resumed in a day, August 24 (September 3) 1612. 23 August passed without a fight. Getman Khodkevich carried out a regrouping of his forces, moved the camp to the Donskoy Monastery, preparing to attack now in Zamoskvorechye, on the Trubetskoy site. Despite serious losses, the hetman did not lose hope to break into the Kremlin. The plan of the Polish commander was as follows: to launch an offensive through Zamoskvorechye and, at the same time, an attack of Strus from the Kremlin to fetch the actions of the Pozharsky militia.
The Polish command noted the inaction of Trubetskoy on the day of the decisive battle, as well as the relative weakness of the Russian fortifications in this direction. Here two Cossack patrols blocked the way through the conflagration. One from the outside - at the Serpukhov Gate, near the Church of St. Clement, the other - from the inside, at the Church of St. George. At night, the traitor nobleman Orlov, who had received from Sigismund III for the denunciation of the title deed to Prince Pozharsky, conducted 600 haidus with a small wagon train through posts. Unnoticed, they walked along the right bank of the river through the sovereign's garden, moved across the Zamoskvoretsky log bridge, and made their way to the Kremlin, transferring food to the besieged. On the way back, the haiduks, taking advantage of the carelessness of the Cossacks Trubetskoy, seized Ostrozhek and the church of George and fortified there.
Pozharsky, probably guessing about the plans of the enemy, also regrouped his forces. He and Minin and the governors went over to the church of Ilya the Ordinary on Ostozhenka. The main militia forces were transferred to the bank of the Moskva River to cover the former direction and at the same time have the opportunity to bring aid across the river. Detachments of Dmitriev and Lopaty-Pozharsky were also drawn here from the Petrovsky, Tversky and Nikitsky gates. Pozharsky sent about a third of his troops (infantry, cavalry, and two cannons) to the right bank of the river in order to stand in the direction of the enemy’s probable offensive.
It was much more difficult to defend Zamoskvorechye than the left bank of the Moscow River. Instead of the stone walls of the White City, there were only the moats and ramparts of the Wooden City with the remains of a half-burnt and dilapidated wooden wall and Ostrozhek on Pyatnitskaya Street. The second Ostrozhek in Endova was now in the hands of Mr. Neverovsky. In addition, the protection of the militia could serve as pits and ruins on the site of the burnt down Zamoskvoretsky quarters. In addition to this, the Cossacks of Trubetskoy dug a lot of holes for shooters. Knowing that the enemy is dominated by cavalry, Prince Pozharsky set his riflemen along the moat of the Earthen city, where two guns were set up. Selected horsebacks hundreds were pushed forward over the earthen shaft with the task of taking on the first strike of the hetman's troops. Trubetskoy was on the banks of the Moscow River (at the Luzhniki Stadium). His militias occupied Ostrozhek near the Church of St. Clement, at the junction of Pyatnitskaya and Ordynka, blocking the way to the Kremlin here. Part of the Cossack troops was pushed forward Earthen shaft.
Getman Khodkevich built an army and was going to deliver the main blow from his left flank. The left flank was led by the hetman himself. In the center came the Hungarian infantry, the regiment of Neverovsky and the Zaporozhye Cossacks of Zborovsky. The right flank consisted of 4 thousand Cossacks under the command of Ataman Shirai. As Prince Pozharsky later recalled, the hetman's troops were "in a cruel custom, hoping for many people." That is, the hetman repeated the frontal attack, without showing tactical flexibility, hoping to break the resistance of the enemy with direct force.
Decisive battle
24 August (3 September) 1612, the decisive battle took place, which determined the entire outcome of the Moscow battle. It lasted from dawn to evening and was extremely stubborn and fierce. In many ways, it repeated the battle of August 22 (September 1). Hodkiewicz, continuing to have a significant advantage in the cavalry, again applied a massive cavalry strike. The rival was again met by horsemen hundreds of Pozharsky. Both sides fought hard, not wanting to yield.
From Donskoy Monastery Chodkiewicz sent fresh reinforcements, trying to reverse the battle in their favor. As a result, soon almost all of Khodkevich’s forces were drawn into the battle. The horseback hundreds of the Second Militia held off the Polish army for five hours. Finally, they could not stand it and leaned back. Some Russian hundreds were trampled into the ground. The retreat of hundreds of horsemen was indiscriminate, the nobles swimming swim trying to move to the other side. Prince Pozharsky personally left his headquarters and tried to stop the flight. This failed, and soon the whole cavalry went to the other side of the Moscow River. At the same time, the center and right flank of the hetman army succeeded in pushing the people of Trubetskoy. Hungarian infantry broke through the Serpukhov gates. Polish troops pushed the militia and Cossacks to the shaft of the Earthen city.
Having seized the initiative at the beginning of the battle, hetman Chodkiewicz ordered his mercenary infantry and the dismounted Zaporozhians to launch an assault on the fortifications of the Earthen city. Here the militia kept their defense, firing from guns, squeals, bows, and engaging in hand-to-hand combat. At the same time, the Polish commander-in-chief began introducing a wagon train to Moscow for the besieged garrison (400 carts). A fierce battle on the shaft continued for several hours, then the militia did not withstand the onslaught of the enemy and began to retreat. Getman himself led this offensive. Contemporaries recalled that the hetman "jumps on the regiment everywhere, like a lion, roaring at his own, commanding the fortress to get dirty weapon his.
There was confusion in the Russian camp. A significant part of the Russian militia pushed back from the walls of the Earthen City was entrenched in the ruins of the burnt city. Warriors strengthened as they could and waited for the further advance of the enemy. Russian infantry, sowing in pits and city ruins, managed to slow the enemy's advance. Polish riders among the ruins of the burned city could not act with due efficiency. Voivode Dmitry Pozharsky, in the course of the battle, hurried a part of the cavalry-militia, thanks to which he created an advantage in the right place of the infantry. In addition, the maneuverability of the Polish troops forged a huge wagon train, prematurely introduced by Chodkiewicz to the conquered part of Zamoskvorechye.
However, Polish troops were able to achieve another success. To get to the Kremlin, hetman Khodkevich needed to take the Cossack ostrozhek from the church of St. Clement. The Hungarian infantry and the Cossacks of Zborowski, who were now the vanguard of the Polish army, broke from the Serpukhov gates into the depths of Zamoskvorechye and captured the Clementyevsky prison, killed and dispersed all its defenders. The garrison of the Kremlin participated in the capture of the fortress, which made a sortie to support the offensive. Thus, the enemy’s front-line units broke through to the Kremlin itself. Polish carts with food reached the church of Catherine and was located at the end of Ordynka. However, despite the success during the first stage of the battle, the Poles failed to consolidate their success. Khodkevich's army was already tired of the fierce battle and lost its strike power. The troops stretched out, actions forged a large wagon train, there was a shortage of infantry, which was necessary for operations inside the big city.
Meanwhile, the Cossacks Trubetskoy made a successful counterattack. Kelar of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, Avraamy Palitsyn, who came to Moscow with the militia, went to the Cossacks of Trubetskoy, who had retreated from the fortress, and promised them to pay their salaries from the monastic treasury. As Abraham Palitsyn recalled, the Cossacks "who were clerics from Clement, ran out of the guard, and were spotted on the burglar of Saint Clement, saw the Lithuanian flags on the church ... zemluomilis and vozhoshnushshey and peeped through to God, a little without their number, and returned to the rest of the rest of the nine hundred years. To the prison they began, and he lifted up, Lithuanian people from all the edge of the sword and their reserves of fire. The rest of the Lithuanian people were terrified and reversed: the ovies to the city of Moscow, and the other to their hetman; Cossacks are persecuting and beating them ... ".
Thus, the Cossacks with a decisive attack repulsed Klimentovsky Ostrozhek. The battle for the stronghold was bloody. Both sides did not take prisoners. Cossacks avenged their dead. In this fight, the enemy lost only 700 people killed. Pursuing along Pyatnitskaya Street of the surviving soldiers of Khodkevich, the militia and Cossacks rushed from the raid into the second Ostrozhek on Endova. Here, together with the infantry of Neverovsky, there were about a thousand invaders. The enemy could not stand it and ran. Half of them managed to flee to the Kremlin along the Moskvoretsky bridge. As a result, the Polish army lost its best infantry, which was already scarce. But even after their heroic attack, the Cossacks were embarrassed, began to reproach the nobles fleeing from the battlefield and leave the positions.
There was a pause in the battle. Getman Khodkevich tried to regroup his troops and start the offensive again. He was waiting for the garrison's sorties, but Strus and Budila suffered such losses on the eve that they no longer decided to attack. Taking advantage of this, Prince Pozharsky and Minin began to gather and inspire the troops and decided to seize the initiative, organize a common counterattack and defeat the enemy. The immediate task was to regroup and concentrate forces on the direction of the main attack. Pozharsky and Minin appealed for help to the Kelary of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Abraham Palitsin, who was an intermediary between the “camps” and the militia. They persuaded him to go to the Cossacks and again raise them to the offensive. In addition, there is information that Minin participated in the negotiations with the Cossacks, who called on the Cossacks to fight to the bitter end. By persuasion and preaching Palitsyn managed to restore the morale of the Cossacks, who swore to each other to fight without sparing their lives. Most of the Cossacks demanded that Trubetskoy smuggle his troops into Zamoskvorechye, declaring: "Let's go and do not return back until we have completely eliminated the enemies." As a result, Trubetskoy's army turned back to the Poles and, combined with the militia who continued to hold the defenses. The defensive line has been restored. At the same time, Pozharsky and Minin were able to put in order the previously retreating cavalry hundreds of militia, gathering them against the Crimean court.
As soon as order in the army was restored, Prince Dmitry decided to launch a general offensive. By the evening, the militia counterattack began. The signal to him was the swift attack of Kuzma Minin’s detachment, which at that decisive moment of the battle took the initiative. He appealed to Pozharsky with a request to give him people to strike at the enemy. He said: "Take whom you want." Minin took from the reserve militias that stood at Ostozhenka, three hundred cavalry nobles. Pozharsky, in order to help the noble hundreds, also singled out a detachment of Captain Khmelevsky — a Lithuanian defector, a personal enemy of one of the Polish magnates. At dusk, a small detachment of Minin imperceptibly crossed the Moscow River to strike from the left bank of the river in the flank of Hodkevich's army. The Russians knew that the hetman had brought all his reserves into battle, and that in the area of the Crimean Court they were exposed only to a small detachment of two companies — horse and foot. The blow was so sudden that the Polish companies did not have time to prepare for battle and fled, causing panic in their camp. So “an elected man with all the land” Kuzma Minin at the decisive hour managed to achieve a turning point in the battle.
At the same time, the Russian infantry and dismounted horsemen launched an attack on the camp of Hetman Chodkiewicz, "from the pits and from the sprinkling they put a pressure on the camps". The Poles recalled that the Russians "began to lean against the hetman's camp with all their might." The offensive was conducted on a wide front on the Polish camp and the ramparts of the Earthen city, where the hetman troops were now defending. Attacked and warriors Pozharsky, and the Cossacks Trubetskoy. “As the Cossacks became more prosperous than the Great Martyr Catherine of Christ, and the battle was great and overpowered; the Cossacks attacked the Lithuanian army in a stern and cruel way: they were killed in their hands and they beaten them mercilessly. And the train of Lithuanian people rozorvali. "
The Polish army failed to withstand such a decisive and unified Russian strike and ran. The wooden city was cleared from the enemy. A huge wagon train with food for the Kremlin garrison, stationed in the Ordynka area, was surrounded and its defenders completely destroyed. Rich trophies, artillery, Polish banners and tents fell into the hands of the winners. As a result of a general counterattack, the enemy was overturned along the whole front. Getman Hodkevich began to hastily withdraw his army from the Earthen Wall area. His defeat was completed by the Russian cavalry, which the voevody Pozharsky and Trubetskoy abandoned to pursue the enemy. Hundreds of Poles were killed, many lords were captured.
Results
The Polish army was defeated and suffered heavy losses (not more than 400 people remained from Chodkiewicz from the Polish cavalry), the hetman detachments retreated in disarray to the Donskoy Monastery, where they stood "in fear all night." The militias wanted to pursue the enemy, but the governors showed caution and kept the hottest heads, saying that "there are no joys for one day." To frighten the retreating enemy, the archers, the gunners and the Cossacks were ordered to conduct uninterrupted firing. For two hours they fired so much that, according to the chronicler, it was not heard who said what.
The Polish army lost its strike power and could no longer continue the battle. At dawn 25 August (4 September) hetman Khodkevich with his heavily thinned army "with great shame" ran through the Sparrow Hills to Mozhaisk and then through Vyazma to the borders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. On the way, Zaporizhzhya Cossacks abandoned him, preferring to hunt on their own.
The defeat of Hetman Khodkevich on the outskirts of Moscow predetermined the fall of the Polish garrison of the Kremlin. The departure of Chodkiewicz’s troops dismayed the Poles in the Kremlin. “Oh, how bitter it was for us,” recalled one of the besieged, “to watch how the hetman departs, leaving us to death by starvation, and the enemy surrounded us from all sides, like a lion, having opened our mouths to swallow us we have a river. " This battle was the turning point of the Time of Troubles. Commonwealth lost the opportunity to seize the Russian state or a significant part of it. Russian forces began to restore order in the kingdom.
The battles of 22 — 24 of August showed that neither the Second Zemstvo Militia, nor the Cossacks of the Moscow region “camps” on their own, could not have broken the enemy with their own forces. Despite the severe defeat of Hetman Khodkiewicz, the Poles had on the Russian land rather large military forces. The Polish garrison was still sitting behind the strong Kremlin walls, numerous detachments of Polish adventurers and robbers roamed the country. Therefore, the question of uniting the disparate patriotic forces of the Second Zemstvo Militia and the Cossack "camps" remained urgent. The joint battle rallied the militias, both rati joined forces, and they were led by a new triumvirate — Trubetskoy, Pozharsky and Minin (under the nominal command of Trubetskoy).
Banner of Prince Pozharsky
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