Siege of Dobin

Obotrite leader Niklot fortified himself to the north Elber river, at the small fortress of Dobin after carrying out his raids. The Danes intended to sail from Denmark to the north of the fortress and then proceed with their assault on land. The combined army of Henry III was going to attack from the direction of Saxony. The Saxon-Danish forces were planning to surround and take the Dobin garrison by surprise.^[4]

As the Saxon army of Henry begun their assaults, but their attacks were constantly repelled and the Saxon forces were tied up besieging the Dobin fortress. The Danish navy was meant to strike from the north, but they were unexpectedly attacked by the Slavic Rani fleet, with Danish troops that managed to land getting ambushed by the Wendish forces. These surprise attacks prevented the Danes from providing support for the Saxons, which were tied up at Dobin and relied on Danes to turn the tied of this siege.^[4] The Danish forces suffered heavy defeats at the Bay of Wismar and on land, forcing them to retreat.^[2][4][5] Some elements of the Saxon army wanted to ravage the countryside in order to force the Dobin garrison to capitulate, but this decision was overturned by their commanders, with one of them stating: "Is not the land we are devastating our land, and the people we are fighting our people?".^[3][4]

The siege was unsuccessful from a military point of view.^[1][2] Niklot managed to force the Saxon-Danish Crusader army to retreat.^[4] Politically, the Crusaders managed to negotiate conversion of Dobrin garrison in exchange for leaving the Wendish lands. This had proven to be a temporary and incomplete political success, as the Wends would shortly return to their pagan practices. The Wendish Crusade would get criticised by Bernard of Clairvaux for failing to achieve mass conversion of the Slavic pagans.^[3] The Crusade ended up having uncertain results and wasn't able to achieve its immediate objectives.