Battle of Sokolki

Battle of Sokolka Part of the Great Northern War Date April 12, 1709 (O.S.) April 13, 1709 (Swedish calendar) April 23, 1709 (N.S.)[1] Location Sokolka ru:Левобережная_Соколка_(Кобелякский_район) at the Vorskla River, Ukraine Result Swedish strategic failure, main part of the Russian army managed to escape Belligerents Swedish Empire Tsardom of Russia Commanders and leaders Carl Gustaf Kruse Karl Evald von Rönne Strength 2,730 Swedish regulars[1] 3,500 Cossacks 3,000 dragoons 2,000 Cossacks[2] Casualties and losses 290 Swedes (Swedish report) 800 Swedes and Cossacks, 4 artillery pieces (Russian claim)[3] about 50 (according to von Rönne)[4] up to 60 (according to a letter by Alexander Menshikov)[5] 400 killed, 1000 wounded (Swedish claim)[1]

Great Northern War Campaigns Denmark Russia and the Baltic provinces Poland-Lithuania/Saxony Ottoman Empire Sweden and Northern Germany Norway Finland Battles 1st Riga 1st Tönning Humlebæk Varja 1st Narva Petschora Düna Rauge Erastfer Darsūniškis Vilnius Kliszów Hummelshof Nöteborg Saladen Pultusk Systerbäck Wesenberg Thorn Jakobstadt Posen 2nd Narva Punitz Gemauerthof Warsaw Praga 1st Grodno Fraustadt Olkieniki Kletsk Kalisz 2nd Grodno Holowczyn Neva Malatitze Rajovka Koporye Lesnaya Kolkanpää Desna Koniecpol Veprik Oposhnya Krasnokutsk–Gorodnoye Sokolki Poltava Perevolochna 2nd Riga 2nd Vyborg Pruth Campaign Helsingborg Køge Bay Wismar Gadebusch 2nd Tönning Bender Finland Battle of Fladstrand Hogland Pälkäne Storkyro Gangut Stralsund Fehmarn Rügen Stresow Dynekilen Göteborg Strömstad Fredriksten Carolean Death March Ösel Stäket Grengam Treaties Charles XII invasion of Russia Grodno II Holowczyn Neva Malatitze Rajovka Koporye Lesnaya Kolkanpää Desna Baturyn Koniecpol Veprik Oposhnya Krasnokutsk–Gorodnoye Sokolki Poltava Perevolochna

The Battle of Sokolka took place on April 23, 1709, near the town of Poltava, Ukraine, during the ninth year of the Great Northern War. The Swedish army of close to 3,000 cavalry under the command of Carl Gustaf Kruse and 3,500 Cossacks of Kost Gordiyenko and Ivan Mazepa launched a surprise attack on a Russian camp of about 3,000 cavalrymen and 2,000 Cossacks under Karl Evald von Rönne. Although encamped and taken by surprise, the Russians were immediately alerted and successfully counterattacked, cutting their way through the enemy forces, and eventually escaped, having captured 4 guns left behind by the fleeing Zaporozhian Cossacks and a number of prisoners.^[6] The battle was fought in fog, both sides claimed victory.^[7] It was one of the encounters shortly before the decisive battle of Poltava which would seriously cripple the Swedish chances of victory in the war.^[1]

References

1. 1 2 3 4 (Swedish) Harold Oscar Prytz (1867). Historiska upplysningar om Svenska och Norska arméernas regementer och kårer jemte flottorna under ledning. P. 326.
2. ↑ Davies B. Empire and Military Revolution in Eastern Europe: Russia's Turkish Wars in the Eighteenth Century. Bloomsbury Publishing. 2011. P. 97
3. ↑ (Russian) Широкорад А. Б. Мифы и реалии Полтавской битвы. М.: ACT, 2010. P. 174.
4. ↑ (Russian) Широкорад А. Б. Мифы и реалии Полтавской битвы. М.: ACT, 2010. P. 175.
5. ↑ (Russian) Письма и бумаги Императора Петра Великого, Т. IX, вып. 2, стр. 828-829
6. ↑ (Russian) Беспалов А. В. Битвы Великой Северной войны.,М.: 2005. P. 256
7. ↑ (Russian) Широкорад А. Б. Мифы и реалии Полтавской битвы. М.: ACT, 2010. P. 174.

Literature

• Peter From, Katastrofen vid Poltava (2007), Lund, Historiska media.