The Battle of Kliszów (also spelled Klissow or Klezow) took place on 19 July 1702, near the village of Kliszów in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Great Northern War. A Swedish army under the command of King Charles XII of Sweden defeated a Polish–Saxon army twice the size that was led by King Augustus II the Strong.
During the second year of the war, following Swedish victories at Narva and Düna, Charles launched a campaign against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In May 1702, Charles captured Warsaw, the Commonwealth's capital, where he received intelligence that Augustus was assembling a large Saxon army in Kraków. Charles chose to pursue Augustus and called for Swedish reinforcements. By July, after minor skirmishes and the arrival of his reinforcements, Charles was ready to attack Augustus's army, which had taken up a strong defensive position at Kliszów.
The battle began on 19 July with the Swedish army attempting to encircle the Saxon right wing. At the same time, the Polish Crown Army arrived to assist Augustus. The Swedish wings withstood attacks by the Saxon–Polish cavalry, which was driven from the battlefield. The Swedish cavalry and infantry were then able to jointly attack the Saxon infantry, which was forced to retreat. Augustus retreated to Sandomierz with his largely-intact army and retained control of large parts of Poland, but his military power was greatly weakened following the battle, which was a tactical and political victory for Charles.
Background
Context
On 12 February 1700, the Great Northern War began when Augustus II the Strong, King of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and elector of Saxony, crossed the Düna river with his Saxon troops and laid siege to the city of Riga in Swedish Livonia. At the same time, the Royal Danish Army under King Frederick IV of Denmark invaded the Swedish-allied duchies of Holstein and Gottorp to secure his rear before commencing with the planned invasion of Scania. In September 1700, Russian forces under Tsar Peter I invaded Swedish Ingria and laid siege to Narva in Swedish Estonia. These three nations had secretly agreed on a joint pact to attack the Swedish Empire from three separate fronts and each aimed to win back territories they had lost to Sweden in previous wars. The Swedish Army under the command of King Charles XII of Sweden first repelled the Danish threat. After a successful Swedish landing operation at Humlebæk on Zealand on 25 July 1700, Frederick IV was forced to withdraw from the war on 8 August the same year by signing the Peace of Travendal. On 20 November, the Russians were forced to withdraw to Russia after their crushing defeat by Charles's main army at the Battle of Narva.
On his march towards Riga, Charles defeated a Saxon–Russian army at the Battle of Düna on 19 July 1701. The majority of the Saxon–Russian troops under Field Marshal Adam Heinrich von Steinau withdrew from the battle in a relatively orderly fashion, leaving Charles unable to completely defeat Augustus. The Swedish army later crossed the Düna and occupied the Duchy of Courland. Charles then launched a military campaign in Poland to outmaneuver Augustus's troops and depose him as King of Poland before moving against Russia. Several of the king's advisors, including Polish magnates and foreign diplomats, were worried about the king's war plans, especially his plan to depose Augustus. The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was still neutral in the conflict because Augustus had attacked Swedish Livonia in his capacity as elector of Saxony and not as King of Poland.
Swedish invasion of Poland
At the beginning of February 1702, Charles marched into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with 14,000 men. He left 25,000 men in Sweden's Baltic dominions; they were distributed to different garrisons without a common leadership, and another 4,000 men were in Courland under the command of Major General Carl Magnus Stuart. On 29 March 1702, Charles left Lithuania and marched with his main army towards Warsaw, the Commonwealth's capital. Both Augustus and the Commonwealth's main representative Cardinal Primate Michał Stefan Radziejowski left Warsaw, leaving Charles to enter the city unopposed on May 14. There, he had unsuccessful negotiations with Polish noble factions who were in opposition to Augustus. He then received intelligence that Augustus had fled to Kraków, where he gathered his Saxon troops. On May 24, Charles sent orders to General Nils Gyllenstierna in Swedish Pomerania to immediately advance with 10,000 men towards Kraków. On 2 June, Charles gave orders to Major Generals Carl Mörner and Magnus Stenbock with their 4,000 men from Vilnius in Lithuania, and to Major General Georg Johan Maidel with his troops in Courland, to return to the main Swedish army. Maidel, however, reported he was unable to move his troops until 17 June and was therefore far away from Charles's army. The king received a similar report from Gyllenstierna, whose troops remained in Stettin, whereupon the king decided not to wait for Gyllenstierna.
On 16 June, Charles marched out of Warsaw with four cavalry regiments and four infantry regiments, totaling 8,000 men, leaving a few thousand men to form a garrison in the city. During the march, the king dispatched Lieutenant Colonel Axel Gyllenkrok with 500 cavalry and 300 infantry to collect supplies for the maintenance of the main Swedish army. He also sent repeated messages to Mörner to order his troops to immediately cross the Vistula river and reunite with him. On the day of his departure from Warsaw, the king encamped at Tarczyn on the road to Kraków. He then continued on through Grójec and Łęczeszyce, and camped for a few days in Nowe Miasto nad Pilicą. The march then continued via Drzewica and Gowarczów to Radoszyce, where he camped for a few days. On 1 July, Charles received a report from Gyllenkrok, who was having difficulty providing sufficient supplies. The king moved his army west toward the city of Kielce in Lesser Poland, where his troops would be well supplied and he could more easily make contact with Mörner's and Stenbock's troops. Stenbock arrived at Lublin on 26 June, after which they crossed the Vistula at Kazimierz Dolny on 29 June. At Wierzbica on 5 July, Mörner and Stenbock had an unexpected meeting with Charles, who had ridden the 160 kilometres (99 mi) from Kielce in two days to give them oral directions for the march to his camp. The king then returned to his troops on 6 July and ordered them to withdraw to the south.
Augustus received intelligence of Charles's approach and Lieutenant General Jacob Heinrich von Flemming urged him to march north with a large army and defeat Charles before he could unite with Gyllenstierna's troops. On 2 July, after receiving news of Gyllenstierna's decampment from Stettin, Augustus marched out of Kraków with a Saxon army of 15,000 men. On 6 July, he encamped at the village of Kliszów, about 30 km (19 mi) south of Kielce. Later on 8 July, he received word the Crown Army under Hetman Hieronim Augustyn Lubomirski was on the march only 10 km (6.2 mi) from Kliszów.
Prelude
On 7 July, Charles and the main Swedish army arrived at the village of Obice, 8 km (5.0 mi) north of Kliszów. On 2 July, the king had detached Colonel Johan August Meijerfeldt, who with 600 cavalry was to reconnoitre the Saxon positions at Pińczów 12 km (7.5 mi) south of Kliszów. On his way there, a cavalry force of 200 Cossacks and Wallachians ambushed Meijerfeldt in a forest near Obice. The attack was repulsed by thirty Swedish dragoons under Captain Tomas Funck, and the ambushers retreated with heavy casualties. Meijerfeldt returned to Charles on 5 July and made a report on the incident. The king contemplated launching a surprise attack against Augustus on the morning of 8 July but on the advice of Lieutenant General Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld, he decided to wait another day for Mörner's and Stenbock's troops to arrive at his camp.
On the morning of 8 July, Ryttmästare Carl Gustaf Örnestedt's outposts near the army's field camp at Obice were attacked by 200 Saxon soldiers and about 100 Wallachians under Major General von Brause, whom Augustus had ordered to gather intelligence about the Swedes' location. Örnestedt repelled the attack and the Saxons' losses were about 20 killed or wounded, and either eight or nine captured. Among the Swedes, Ryttmästare Gustaf Fägerskiöld and some of the horsemen died. After receiving the alarming report, the king immediately went there to survey the previous skirmish. That evening, Mörner's and Stenbock's troops arrived at the royal camp, ending their five-week-long expedition from Vilnius. Their troops were largely exhausted, several men were sick, and their horses were starved as a result of their forced marches. The troops slept for a few hours before they were ordered to line up the following morning.
On the morning of 9 July, on the anniversary of the Battle of Düna, a false rumor the Saxon army were on the move spread around the Swedish camp. At 06:00, Charles ordered his troops to conduct a mass and issue the battle cry "With God's help". Then, the troops were ordered to march out and divide themselves into four marching columns. They moved south toward Kliszów under the cover of a large forest and intermediate heights. Steps were taken to give the impression it was only a small reconnaissance force rather than the whole army on the march, and the troops were ordered to march with lowered weapons and banners. Saxon reconnaissance patrols at the western edge of the forest sighted some Swedish units, whom they thought were part of the rearguard sent to mask a large Swedish retreat. When the Swedes arrived at a field outside the southern edge of the forest, Charles sighted the Saxon positions near Kliszów, wheeled right and arranged his troops in the order of battle. At 10:00, the Saxon troops sighted Charles's army; Augustus sounded the alarm with two cannon shots and prepared his troops for battle.
Battlefield
The site of the upcoming battle was situated 30 km (19 mi) south of Kielce and 75 km (47 mi) northeast of Kraków, in an area dominated by wetlands, oak forests and hills. The battlefield was surrounded by small villages including Rebów in the west; Kliszów and Kokot in the south; Kije, Lipnik and Wymoslów in the east; and Górki, Wierzbica and Borczyn in the north. The Swedes made their field camp at Obice north of their later rallying point at Borczyn, both of which were separated by the large forest the Swedes used to cover their advance. The Saxon camp was located just east of Kliszów. The Nida river flowed through a large swamp just west of Kliszów. The Hajdaszek forest was located south of Kliszów and Kokot. The Saxon army used the river and the forest as flank protection. To the east of Rebów and Kliszów, and in front of the Saxon field camp, was Kulaki Height, a sloping hill about 220 m (720 ft) high. Its front was protected by a marshy stream that ran from the Nida. The Saxons had dug both trenches and moats around the hill. They placed their artillery on its summit and chevaux de frise on its slopes. The Saxon center stood between the artillery and the camp. The left wing was placed on a ridge behind Rebów while the right wing was placed in front of Kokot facing northeast.
Order of battle
Swedish army
The Swedish army prior to the battle had an official strength of 16,230 men, with four four–pounder regimental guns. Though due to famine, disease, and exhaustion, only between 10,000 and 12,000 of these men were fit for combat. The fighting force consisted of 8,000 infantry distributed between 18 infantry battalions, and 25 cavalry squadrons, and 12 dragoon squadrons totaling 4,000 men. The troops were deployed in two lines in front of Borczyn, with infantry in the center and cavalry on both wings. The first line consisted of 25 squadrons and 12 battalions, and the second line had 15 squadrons and 6 battalions.
Charles took command of the Swedish right cavalry wing of 21 squadrons, with Lieutenant General Rehnskiöld as his second-in-command. The first cavalry line under the command of Major General Mörner consisted of the Drabant Corps squadron under Major General Arvid Horn, the Life Regiment on Horse's seven squadrons under Major Carl Gustaf Creutz; the Life Dragoon Regiment's three squadrons under Colonel Hugo Johan Hamilton and Östergötland Cavalry Regiment' four squadrons under Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Burensköld. The second cavalry line under the command of Lieutenant General Jakob Spens consisted of three Life Regiment squadrons under Ryttmästare Peter Wetzler and four Östergötland squadrons under Major Starkenfelt. The Swedish left cavalry wing of nineteen squadrons was under the command of Frederick IV, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, with cavalry General Otto Vellingk as his second-in-command. The first cavalry line under the command of Alexander Stromberg consisted of the Life Regiment on Horse; the Life Dragoon Regiment; the Southern Scanian Cavalry Regiment's six squadrons under Lieutenant Colonel Johan Ridderschantz; and the Småland Cavalry Regiment's three squadrons under Lieutenant Colonel Johan Stålhammar. The second cavalry line under the command of Major General Carl Nieroth consisted of two Scanian squadrons and five Småland squadrons, both under Major Mörner.