Battle of Sokolki

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]

Battle of Sokolka
Part of the Swedish invasion of Russia
DateApril 12, 1709 (O.S.)
April 13, 1709 (Swedish calendar)
April 23, 1709 (N.S.)[1]
Location
Sokolka uk:Лівобережна Сокілка 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]

References
  1. (in 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. (in Russian) Широкорад А. Б. Мифы и реалии Полтавской битвы. М.: ACT, 2010. P. 174.
  4. (in Russian) Широкорад А. Б. Мифы и реалии Полтавской битвы. М.: ACT, 2010. P. 175.
  5. (in Russian) Письма и бумаги Императора Петра Великого, Т. IX, вып. 2, стр. 828-829
  6. (in Russian) Беспалов А. В. Битвы Великой Северной войны.,М.: 2005. P. 256
  7. (in Russian) Широкорад А. Б. Мифы и реалии Полтавской битвы. М.: ACT, 2010. P. 174.

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

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