Battles From The Polish-swedish War From 1626 To 1629

By André Geraque Kiffer

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Poland suffered a series of dynastic crises during the reigns of Kings Vasa, Sigismund III and Władysław IV, and was involved in major conflicts with Russia, Sweden and the Ottoman Empire, as well as a series of Cossack uprisings. With Brandenburg-Prussia remaining neutral, the Swedes launched a surprise invasion in 1626 with the aim of taking Gdansk (Danzig) and the mouth of the Vistula river. The two battles are characterized by the attempts of both armies, endowed with a majority of mobile forces, in being able to involve, surround and eliminate (observation: more in the sense of forcing a surrender) the opponents. Maneuvers of this type have historically ended in an impasse, that is, if there is no provision for one of the Corps (or Wings) of the army to function as an “anvil”, that is, to remain fixed and supported in a center of gravity of the terrain - of preference in an important obstacle; while another Corps (or Wing) acts as a “hammer”, this after casting a “bait” and attracting the opposing army in the desired direction. At the end of our analysis, we decided to work on the following hypotheses in the historical simulations: in Dirschau, we will play with the Poles, in an attempt to escape the historical impasse and obtain at least a marginal Polish victory. In Honigfelde, we will play with the Swedes in an attempt to reverse the historic defeat and get at least a draw.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clube de Autores
• Release date: Feb 4, 2024

Book preview

ANDRÉ  GERAQUE  KIFFER

A  historical  simulation  of  battles from  the  Polish-Swedish  War

from  1626  to  1629

Author's  Edition

Resende

2020

---  Kiffer,  André  Geraque.

A  historical  simulation  of  battles  from  the  Polish-Swedish War  from  1626  to  1629.  André  Geraque  Kiffer.

Author's  Edition,  Resende,  2020.

Bibliography:  149  p.  43  im.  21  cm..

1.  History.  2.  Art  of  War.  3.  Science  of  War.  4.  Wargames. I.  Author.  II.  Title.

ISBN  978-65-00148-28-2

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3 PROLOGUE

Supported  by  a  summary  of  the  historical  fact  (war, campaign  and  /  or  battle),  I  try  to  analyze  and highlight  the  decisive  factors,  before  simulating alternative  what  if…  hypotheses  through  a  board game.  In  the  simulation,  all  the  possibilities  of  the study's  purpose  are  completed,  when  the  past  of history  is  analyzed  based  on  the  theory  of  the present  and  designed  for  similar  situations  in  the future.  So  far  I  have  published  the  following  series: I.  Historical  Simulation  of  the  Wars  of  the  First Empires  in  2010;  VIII.  Historical  Simulation  of  the First  World  War  in  2011;  II.  Historical  Simulation  of the  Wars  in  Classical  Greece  in  2012;  III. Historical  Simulation  of  the  Roman  Wars  in  2016; and  IV.  Historical  Simulation  of  Wars  in  the Medieval  Era  in  2018.  I  plan  to  publish  the  following series:  V.  Historical  Simulation  of  Wars  in  the Modern  Era  (1453  to  1774);  "VI.  Historical Simulation  of  Wars  in  the  Age  of  Revolutions  (1775-

1860);  VII.  Historical  Simulation  of  Wars  in  the

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Industrial  Age  (1861  to  1913);  IX.  Historical Simulation  of  World  War  II;  and  X.  Historical Simulation  of  the  Cold  War  (1917  to  1989)".  After being  based  on  this  comprehensive  view  of  Military History  since  1560  BC  in  Ancient  Egypt,  and  on  the knowledge  acquired  in  my  studies  for  a  doctor’s degree  of  Military  Science  in  2000  and  a  bachelor's degree  in  History  in  2019,  I  will  complete  the  project by  writing  and  publishing  an  own  theory  on  the  Art and  Science  of  War. Keywords:  History.  Art  of  War.  Science  of  War.

Wargames.

5 SUMMARY

HISTORICAL  FACTS.………………………......……6 HISTORICALANALYSIS…...………………………18 HISTORICAL  SIMULATIONS...…………...............49 BATTLE  OF  DIRSCHAU……………………………49 BATTLE  OF  HONIGFELDE...………………………97

ANNEXES........…………………………………….134

6 HISTORICAL  FACTS

Polish-Lithuanian  Commonwealth  1

1

The  1569  Union  of  Lublin  established  this Commonwealth,  a  more  closely  unified  federal  state with  an  elective  monarchy,  but  which  was  governed largely  by  the  nobility,  through  a  system  of  local assemblies  with  a  central  parliament.

Im  1:  Polish-Lithuanian  Commonwealth  2

2  .

The  establishment  of  the  Commonwealth coincided  with  a  period  of  stability  and  prosperity  in

1

1  DAVIES,  Norman.  Heart  of  Europe:  A  Short  History  of

Poland.  Oxford  University  Press,  1984.

2

2  Gdansk  area  surrounded  by  a  rectangle.

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Poland,  with  the  union  thereafter  becoming  a European  power  and  a  major  cultural  entity, occupying  approximately  one  million  square kilometers  of  Central  and  Eastern  Europe,  as  well as  an  agent  for  the  dissemination  of  Western  culture into  areas  of  modern-day  Lithuania,  Latvia,  Ukraine, Belarus  and  western  Russia.

In  the  16th  and  17th  centuries,  Poland  suffered from  a  number  of  dynastic  crises  during  the  reigns of  the  Vasa  kings  Sigismund  III  and  Władysław  IV and  found  itself  engaged  in  major  conflicts  with Russia,  Sweden  and  the  Ottoman  Empire,  as  well as  a  series  of  minor  Cossack  uprisings.  In  1610,  a Polish  army  seized  Moscow  after  winning  the  Battle of  Klushino.  In  1611,  the  Tsar  of  Russia  paid homage  to  the  King  of  Poland.

From  the  middle  of  the  17th  century,  the  nobles' democracy,  suffering  from  internal  disorder, gradually  declined,  thereby  leaving  the  once powerful  Commonwealth  vulnerable  to  foreign

intervention.

8 Second  Polish-Swedish  War  3

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Poland  controlled  the  two  greatest  trading  cities on  the  Baltic,  Riga  and  Danzig  /  Gdansk  4

4  .  Gustav  II Adolf  led  an  invasion  in  1620  and  captured  Riga after  a  short  siege.  The  Poles,  also  facing  a  Tartar- Turkish  invasion,  were  unable  to  resist.

With  Brandenburg-Prussia  remaining  neutral, the  Swedes  launched  a  surprise  invasion  in  1626 with  the  goal  of  taking  Gdansk  and  the  mouth  of  the Vistula  river.  Gdansk  was  a  large  city  of  over  64,000 (several  times  larger  than  Stockholm)  and  from  its position  controlled  as  much  as  90%  of  the  total  sea trade  of  the  Polish-Lithuanian  Commonwealth.

The  city  was  protected  on  its  western  side  by modern  fortifications  and  relied  on  the  Vistula  and the  smaller  Motlawa  to  protect  the  eastern  side. They  realized  that  this  was  inadequate  and  began building  modern,  bastioned  fortifications.  Gustavus

3

3  MACGOWAN,  Rodger  B.  Wargame  "Gustav  Adolf  the

Great".  Hanford,  California:  GMT  Games,  2006.

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4  As  with  all  the  towns  and  rivers  in  this  region  of  Poland,  it

has  a  German  and  a  Polish  name.  Some  are  just

transliterations,  others  are  completely  unrelated.

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Adolphus  realized  that  the  city  was  vulnerable  and invaded.

Im  2:  Seventeenth  century  Gdansk.

Campaing  of  Gdansk

The  Polish  army  was  forced  to  use  a  mobile defense  to  keep  the  overland  routes  to  Gdansk open  and  prevent  the  Swedes  from  storming  the city.  Gustavus  Adolphus  sought  to  gain  control  of the  routes  and  river  crossings  to  strangle  the  city into  surrender.

The  Swedes  crossed  over  the  Vistula  and garrisoned  Dirschau  /  Tczew,  which  is  on  that  river. Knowing  that  the  Polish  cavalry  was  virtually

impossible  to  beaten  on  open  ground,  the  Swedes

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expanded  their  bridgehead  with  a  long  line  of fortifications.  The  route  west  of  Dirschau  run through  the  defile  of  the  marshy  Motlawa  river.  The Polish  moved  to  block  the  Swedes  from  breaking out  and  encamped  on  the  western  side  of  the  river.

The  King  knew  that  the  Poles  didn’t  have enough  infantry  to  storm  most  fortifications,  but  also he  knew  that  his  cavalry  was  vulnerable.  He  had some  success  against  the  Poles  by  using fortifications,  artillery,  and  defiles  to  prevent  the Poles  from  using  their  cavalry  to  its  full  potential,  but he  had  to  be  cautious.

Koniecpolski  was  a  very  experienced  soldier and  despite  his  limited  resources  had  put  the Swedes  at  bay.  His  army  moved  with  lighting  speed and  had  shown  remarkable  ability  to  outmaneuver the  Swedes.  The  Poles  fortified  their  encampment, so  it  was  a  standoff  with  both  armies  fortified  on either  side  of  the  river.  Both  generals  knew  that  an all-out  attack  by  either  side  would  be  a  disaster;  the answer  was  to  probe  and  hopefully  draw  the  other

side  out,  or  force  them  to  withdraw.

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Battle  of  Dirschau  /  Tczew  (August  7  and  8, 1627)  5

5  &  6 6  .

Im  3:  Battlefield  of  Dirschau.

The  battlefield  consisted  primarily  of  swamp  of the  Motława  river,  with  two  levees