The heroic defense of Mogilev
Mogilev Castle. 18th century engraving
Defense of Mogilev
In the autumn of 1654, Lithuanian troops launched a counteroffensive (War for Southern and Western Rus'). Unable to storm Novy Bykhov, where the Cossacks of the acting hetman Zolotarenko had taken up positions, the troops of the Lithuanian hetman Radziwill decided to march on Mogilev. On February 2 (12), 1655, Lithuanian units appeared near the city and began to encircle it.
Mogilev was initially garrisoned by a small garrison of strelets under Voivode Voeikov and Poklonsky's regiment, which consisted of local gentry who had just joined the tsar's service, and whose loyalty left much to be desired. Voeikov wrote to the tsar:
In Mogilev there are none of your sovereign's military men; and there is no cannon, hand gunpowder, or lead in Mogilev, and there are few cannons, and there is no guard at the gate near the earthen rampart.
The tsarist command, recognizing the importance of holding the Mogilev fortress, managed to reinforce the garrison at the last moment. A detachment under the new voivode, Ivan Alferyev, was sent to Mogilev to replace Voeikov. It included Ivan Nirotmortsev's soldier regiment and two streltsy detachments under Abraham Lopukhin and Longin Anichkov (a total of approximately 2000 fighters).
A large detachment of up to 4000 local gentry and Cossacks led by Mogilev nobleman Konstantin Poklonsky also arrived in the city. Poklonsky was forming a Cossack regiment in White Rus'. Researchers believe he planned to create a similar regiment to the Zaporizhian Host in the region, autonomous from Moscow and Lithuania. The colonel also opposed the claims of Hetman Khmelnytsky, who claimed the right to command not only the Dnieper Cossacks but also Belarus. This led to a conflict between Poklonsky and Zolotarenko's Cossacks.
Zolotarenko's Cossacks plundered the Mogilev district, stealing cattle, taking grain, beating Poklonsky's men, and threatening the nobleman with death. Poklonsky, complaining to the tsar about Zolotarenko, wrote that he feared him. worse than the PolesIn response, the tsar sent his streltsy to defend Mogilev from the violence of Zolotarenko's Cossacks. Poklonsky also clashed with the tsar's military commanders. Ultimately, the Mogilev colonel decided to defect to King Jan Kazimierz.
Arriving in the city and seeing that the city was not ready for defense, Alferyev reported that
There is a large rampart on three sides, and that is thin, people walk through the rampart; and on the fourth… side is the Dnieper River, and along the Dnieper, there is no rampart or fort.
The city's garrison numbered only 1105 people, and many "they are sick"The governor mobilized the population to repair the fortifications.
At the very last moment, when the enemy was already surrounding the fortress, Hermann Fahnstaden's regiment from Shklov arrived on February 3. However, Prince Yuri Romodanovsky's larger detachment, with its artillery, was unable to break through and returned to Shklov.
As a result, the garrison now numbered 6-7 men. But the majority (4 local nobles, their servants, and Cossacks) were unreliable.
Mogilev Castle stood on the site of an ancient burial ground on a cape (Mount Mogila, hence the name) on the high right bank of the Dnieper River at the confluence of the Dubrovenka River. The city had a developed fortification system, largely developed in the 30s. It included the castle, the Old or Upper Town, and the New Town. The part of the city beyond the Dnieper was fortified separately. The fortifications were made of wood and earth, partially reinforced by bastions and several stone towers. Artillery It contained over 20 guns. A major drawback of the fortress was the almost complete absence of fortifications on the Dnieper side of the New Town. Given that the river was frozen over, capturing the section across the Dnieper would immediately lead to an enemy breakthrough into the New Town.
Hetman Radziwill had "the fighting people will number 20 thousand, and the supply people will number 30 thousand"The Lithuanians had no artillery. Some of the cavalry (in particular, the Tatar banners) operated independently, separated from the main forces.
The hetman also had the support of local rebels, the shishi. The shishi operated alongside the hetman's army, and their units were typically led by nobles or local village administration officials with close ties to the szlachta. The shishi collected food and fodder from local peasants for the szlachta and magnates, often engaging in outright robbery. The most zealous of them were granted noble titles and landed estates.
Among the Shisha were also independent partisans who fought against any authority (Muscovite or Polish-Lithuanian), defended their villages, and opposed the gentry (feudal lords).
Hetman of the Great Lithuanian Republic Janusz Radziwiłł (1612–1655). Artist: Jerzy (Daniel) Schulz
The assault of February 16
Radziwill offered the townspeople a surrender, but they refused. While the enemy was still gathering their forces, the garrison launched a counterattack. This enabled the Fahnstaden regiment to break into the city. The attack was so unexpected and powerful that the Lithuanians temporarily retreated. The fighting lasted three days:
Leaving the city, they fought on a sortie for three days and recaptured from him, Rodivil, 50 carts of supplies from the convoy.
On February 6 (16), without waiting for all forces (especially infantry) to arrive, the Lithuanian hetman launched an assault. Radziwill was apparently confident of a quick victory, knowing that Colonel Poklonsky and his troops would defect to his side. Poklonsky promised to surrender the city. That night, he defected to the enemy and opened the gates. The enemy stormed into Mogilev.
However, Radziwill was unable to take the city immediately. Firstly, only four captains and their companies defected to Poklonsky's side. The majority of the regiment did not follow the colonel and remained loyal to their oath. The new commander was the nobleman captain Pavel Okurkevich. Secondly, the tsar's troops did not lose their nerve and engaged in battle in unison. Abandoning the outer fortifications, the garrison was able to consolidate its position in the Old (Upper) Town.
The battle was extremely fierce. Instead of a quick capture of the fortress, a bloody assault began. The "Right Wing Division," commanded by Boguslav Radziwill (the hetman's cousin), attacked the outskirts of Lupula (a suburb on the eastern bank of the Dnieper). The enemy managed to break down the gates, and dragoon regiments drove the garrison out of the suburbs in a fierce battle. The Russians counterattacked but were driven back.
The "Left Wing Division," commanded by Vincent Gąsiewski, attacked the Zarechnoye suburb, delayed by deep snow. They managed to drive the Cossacks out of the suburb. Both parts of the Lithuanian army then crossed the river and stormed the new city, where fighting raged for several hours.
Both sides threw new units into the battle. The fighting was brutal. The Lithuanians (mostly Russians) gradually pushed the tsarist forces back into the Upper Town and the castle. While attempting to break through to the Upper Town on the backs of the retreating troops, three banners were cut off and fought for a long time surrounded, suffering heavy losses. The remnants of the Lithuanian forces managed to break through to their own.
Both sides suffered heavy losses. According to Polish sources, 1300 Russian soldiers and Cossacks were killed in the battle.
Streletsky's head Lopukhin reported:
...on February 6th, an hour before dawn, the traitor Poklonsky betrayed you, Sovereign... and sent Hetmans Rodivil and Gonsevsky with their Lithuanian troops to Mogilev, into the large earthen rampart from the Zaretsky side, into the Lupulovskaya settlement, where he, Polonsky, was stationed. And I, with my command of riflemen, fought with the Polish and Lithuanian troops in the large earthen rampart on the Dnieper River and the Dubrovenka River, as much as the merciful God provided, and slew many Lithuanian troops, reiters, hussars, and infantry, and laid siege to the smaller earthen rampart and the fort.
As a result, Lithuanian troops captured part of the city, weakening the Russian garrison's capabilities. The Lithuanians were able to accurately fire on the remaining fortifications. The most pressing issue was the water supply, with the garrison's access to it minimal.
On February 12 (22), Radziwill approached the besieged with an offer of surrender, but was resolutely refused. A second assault followed on February 18, but was repelled when the Lithuanians were unable to breach the fortifications.
The Lithuanian army began the siege. Lacking siege artillery, the main hope lay in mines to undermine the fortifications and the surrender of the garrison, broken by the siege.
General situation at the front
In the northwest, the regiments of Lukomsky and Lisovsky, sowing death and destruction, swept through the Polotsk and Disna districts. On February 19, they besieged Vitebsk. Vasily Sheremetev's corps was stationed in Velikiye Luki; he sent his son Matvey and his cavalry against the enemy. The enemy did not expect reinforcements to arrive so quickly. The Russians fell upon them suddenly, scattering and chasing them. Lukomsky was wounded, and his supply train was captured.
The Russian command responded immediately to the enemy counteroffensive. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich ordered Boyar Yuri Dolgorukov to summon the warriors disbanded for the winter and lead them to Lithuanian Rus'. Reinforcements were sent to Hetman Khmelnytsky, led by voivodes Vasily Buturlin and Grigory Romodanovsky, who were to replace Vasily Sheremetev and Andrei Buturlin.
The Tsar himself arrived in Moscow in February, held official celebrations on the occasion of the capture of Smolensk, a month later handed over official affairs to Patriarch Nikon and returned to the army.
It gradually became clear that the enemy offensive was not as dangerous as it initially seemed. In the northwest, attacks by Polish-Lithuanian units were repelled. In the south, Potocki's Polish army was stopped in the Battle of Akhmatov. The Polish command was unable to organize a new offensive, and the gentry fled to their homes. The Crimean Horde was plundering and carrying off prisoners in the Bratslav Voivodeship and had no intention of fighting.
In the central sector, Radziwill's army achieved success only where the Russians were caught off guard or where local residents helped. Other fortresses were repulsed. Radziwill himself became bogged down in the siege of Mogilev, which he was unable to take immediately. The heroic defense of Mogilev virtually destroyed the Polish-Lithuanian army's plans for a winter counteroffensive. Russian soldiers and Cossacks fought to the death, repelling all attacks.
The failure of the siege
The Lithuanians tried to hammer the fortress walls with their existing cannons, but they were weak and unable to penetrate them. They dug tunnels and detonated mines.
During the winter, Radziwill's army suffered greatly from frost, disease, and food shortages, and desertion increased. The hetman continued his attempts to persuade the garrison to surrender, using Poklonsky as a negotiator. But these attempts, too, were unsuccessful. The garrison and townspeople suffered from water and food shortages, but held out.
The overall situation for the Lithuanian army was deteriorating. Two assault attempts in March had failed. Morale was declining, and men were fleeing. More Russian troops were arriving in Smolensk. In March, Polish-Lithuanian forces lifted the siege of Novy Bykhov, and Zolotarenko's Cossack detachments were able to harass the rear of the besieging army. In April, the Cossacks advanced to the relief of Mogilev.
Radziwill decided to launch a new general assault. On April 9 (19), the Polish-Lithuanian forces stormed the Upper Town and the castle. Due to a shortage of infantry, the reiters and hussars rushed forward. The attack on the Upper Town quickly fizzled out, repelled by intense rifle and artillery fire. The Poles managed to reach the castle walls, began to destroy them, and nearly broke into the fortifications. But at that moment, confusion suddenly erupted: some soldiers thought the Russians were making a sortie and began to reform. Other units thought they were witnessing a retreat. A general retreat began. The officers tried to stop it, but to no avail. The enraged hetman even considered decimation, executing every tenth man, but he decided against it (the troops had become disorganized and could have mutinied).
Meanwhile, the Russian army was massing for the summer campaign. Three main groups were once again assembled (excluding the Little Russian army): in the north – Sheremetev (approximately 30 men); in the center – the Tsar and Prince Yakov Cherkassky (approximately 40 men, excluding Zolotarenko's Zaporozhian Cossacks and the fortress garrisons, including Mogilev); in the southwest – the army of Prince Alexei Trubetskoy (approximately 30).
The northern and central groups were aiming for Vilnius, the southern group for Brest, where Khmelnitsky's Cossacks were also supposed to advance. Supporting operations were also planned. The Don Cossacks were aiming for Crimea to divert the Crimean Horde from Little Russia.
In the north, a 7-strong force under the command of the Druya voivode Afanasy Ordin-Nashchokin was to raid the Polish part of Livonia (present-day Latvia) and besiege Dinaburg. Nashchokin requested more troops, promising to take all of Livonia. But the tsar's headquarters did not want to disperse its forces on a secondary front.
Therefore, on April 10, Ordin-Nashchokin's army laid siege to Dinaburg. On May 14, Komarovsky's 4-strong Polish detachment attacked the supply train of the Russian army besieging Dinaburg but was repelled. On May 17, the siege of Dinaburg was lifted, and the Russian troops retreated to Rēzekne. The main objective had been accomplished—the enemy had diverted some of its forces to the defense of Livonia.
The Russian command sent several regiments under the command of Stolnik Leontyev to assist the Mogilev garrison. Cherkassky's main forces prepared to leave Smolensk.
Radziwill realized it was time to flee. On May 1 (11), the Poles launched a fifth assault on Mogilev, but it was repelled. Hetman Radziwill's army lifted the siege and withdrew, while the Lithuanians burned the suburbs and carried off 10 townspeople. The Cossacks recaptured some of the townspeople.
The exact losses of the entire garrison are unknown, but the riflemen and soldier regiments lost half their strength. Projecting these losses onto the overall strength, the garrison's irreparable losses amounted to approximately 2 men. The Lithuanian army's losses amounted to approximately 5 men.
The siege of Mogilev thus became one of the bloodiest battles of the Russo-Polish War of 1654–1667. The city's garrison essentially thwarted the advance of the Lithuanian hetman's army.
Sverchkov N. E. Departure of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich to review the troops
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