Battle of Saradzhin (1664)
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| Battle of Saradzhin | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Right-Bank Uprising (1664–1665) | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Zaporozhian Cossacks Kalmyk Khanate |
 Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Crimean Khanate | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Ivan Sirko |
Sebastian Machowski Wacław Leszczyński Khan-Mambet Shirin | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
2,500 300[1] |
3,000–4,000[1] Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
Possibly light Heavy[2] | Heavy[2] | ||||||
The Battle of Saradzhin or Saradzhin Ambush, also known as Battle of Gorodische took place between the Polish-Lithuanian-Crimean and Zaporozhian Cossack-Kalmyk forces in Saradzhinsky Forest, on July 1664.[1]
Ivan Sirko led his Cossack detachment with Kalmyks in raids on Tatar settlements.[3] After plundering several Tatar settlements in the lands of Budjak and Nogai Hordes, Sirko was returning with his Cossack detachment, Kalmyk allies and loot. Polish-Tatar forces during that time planned an ambush in Saradzhinsky Forest, knowing Sirko will pass there.[1]
Battle
Polish commanders S. Machowski, W. Leszczyński and Tatar Khan-Mambet Shirin with 3,000–4,000 Polish soldiers and unspecified number of Tatars chose a place of ambush on the hill where it would be difficult to retreat from. Polish-Tatar forces had observation over the path from which Cossack-Kalmyk forces would be passing.[1]
Sirko with Cossacks advanced in a narrow column due to terrain, while Kalmyks served as the rearguard. The main blow was aimed at the end of the column, where Kalmyk detachment was stationed.[1] The goal would be to isolate individual Cossack units in order to defeat them. With all of these factors taken into account, Cossacks would only be able to fight out of ambush by making a decisive breakthrough through Polish formations. It's unknown whether Polish forces attempted to peruse Cossacks, but the main blow of Cossacks would've been aimed at Polish soldiers while Tatars were busy engaging Kalmyks. Polish forces would need time to recover from Cossack blow and Tatars would be too busy fighting Kalmyks, plundering convoys afterwards. Kalmyks tried to break out of encirclement and have put up a desperate resistance, tying up significant portion of enemy forces. Sirko and Cossacks broke out of encirclement.[2]