Battle of Shepeleviche
1654 battle part of Russo-Polish War
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The Battle of Shepeleviche (Szepielewicze) or Battle of Ciecierzyn on 24 August 1654 was one of the first battles of the Russo-Polish War (1654–67). It ended with a Russian victory.
| Battle of Shepeleviche | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Russo-Polish War (1654–1667) and Tsar Alexei's campaign of 1654–1655 | |||||||
Map of the attack of the Muscovite cavalry and infantry on the Polish–Lithuanian army[1] | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
.svg){kind=small} Tsardom of Russia |
 Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Aleksey Trubetskoy |
Janusz Radziwiłł (WIA) | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 15,000[2] | 6,000–8,000[3][4] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
9 killed[5] 97 wounded |
1,000[6]–3,000 killed[4] 230—253 captured[7][4] | ||||||
Battle
A small Polish–Lithuanian force of about 5,000 under Great Lithuanian Hetman Janusz Radziwiłł stopped the Russian force under knyaz Yakov Cherkassky at Shklow and camped at Hołowczyn. He learned that a Russian force under knyaz Aleksey Trubetskoy crossed Drut River near Ciecierzyn on 23 August.[8] Radziwiłl was joined by the Field Lithuanian Hetman Wincenty Korwin Gosiewski with 3,000 strong forces, increasing the Polish–Lithuanian army to about 6,000[2]–8,000.[3]
Radziwiłł and Gosiewski then tried to stop a numerically superior Russian force of 15,000[2] near Shepeleviche (Szepielewicze). Trubetskoy forces also included Cherkassky's.[6] He took positions near Bialynichy (Białynicze).[8] This time the even larger Russian army managed to outflank him, with Russian infantry holding Shepeleviche and cavalry attacking from the rear. Radziwiłł ordered a retreat, on the 24 (or 25) August the retreating Lithuanian army was defeated and its artillery was captured by the Russians.[9]
Aftermath
Radziwiłł with a remainder of his forces retreated to Minsk.[3] His defeat meant that Russians faced no opposition in Lithuania, and they were able to take Polotsk, Vitebsk and Mogilev, advancing to the Berezina River.[6] Russian forces were able to advance and take Smolensk (see Siege of Smolensk (1654))[3][10] as well as Orsha which they held till 1661.[11]