The Battle of Grodno (1706) refers to the battle during the Great Northern War. Grodno was a city of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...

at this time.

Background

Battle

The blockade of

Grodno Grodno (russian: Гродно, pl, Grodno; lt, Gardinas) or Hrodna ( be, Гродна ), is a city in western Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, 300 km (186 mi) from Minsk, about 15 km (9 mi) from the Polish b ...

by the 31,000 men (21,000 Swedes, 10,000 Poles) strong

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

–

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

army took place between January and March 1706 (3,000 Swedes had already died due to frostbite prior to the arrival). In the city and close vicinity there were about 41,000 Russian and Saxon troops under the command of General Field-Marshall Ogilvy as well as general

Repnin The House of Repnin (russian: Репнин), the name of an old Russian princely family of Rurikid stock. The family traces its name to Prince Ivan Mikhailovich Obolensky (+1523), nicknamed ''Repnya'', i.e., "bad porridge". Like other Princes Ob ...

. On 13 January 1706 the Swedish army coming from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

crossed the

Neman River The Neman, Nioman, Nemunas or MemelTo bankside nations of the present: Lithuanian: be, Нёман, , ; russian: Неман, ''Neman''; past: ger, Memel (where touching Prussia only, otherwise Nieman); lv, Nemuna; et, Neemen; pl, Niemen; ...

and squeezed out the Russian cavalry units of Menshikov towards

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

, cutting of all connections to Russia for the Grodno garrison. The situation of the Russian troops was made even more difficult after the allied Polish-Lithuanian king

Augustus II Augustus II; german: August der Starke; lt, Augustas II; in Saxony also known as Frederick Augustus I – Friedrich August I (12 May 16701 February 1733), most commonly known as Augustus the Strong, was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as Ki ...

quickly left Grodno in Polish direction, taking four Russian

dragoon Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat w ...

regiments with him. As a result, the Grodno garrison was left without

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

which was necessary for reconnaissance and food supplies. After putting Grodno under siege, the Swedes occupied

Nesvizh Nesvizh, Niasviž ( be, Нясві́ж ; lt, Nesvyžius; pl, Nieśwież; russian: Не́свиж; yi, ניעסוויז; la, Nesvisium) is a city in Belarus. It is the administrative centre of the Nyasvizh District (''rajon'') of Minsk Region a ...

and besieged

Lyakhavichy Liachavičy ( be, Ляхавічы, , russian: Ляховичи, pl, Lachowicze, yi, לעכאוויטש ''Lekhavitsh'', lt, Liachivičai) is a city in the southwestern Belarusian Brest Region. History Known since the 15th century in the Grand D ...

. Meanwhile, the Russian garrison of Grodno suffered big trouble from the lack of food as well as from diseases. This took the lives of about 8,000 soldiers. After the blockade of his main troops in Grodno

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

had only 12,000 men in Belarus. Being in Minsk with this army he communicated with the besieged garrison via a

poruchik The rank of lieutenant in Eastern Europe ( hr, poručnik, cs, poručík, pl, porucznik, russian: script=latn, poruchik, sr, script=latn, poručnik, sk, poručík) is one used in Slavophone armed forces. Depending on the country, it is either ...

named Yakovlev who made his way to Grodno dressed as a Polish peasant. Besides that 14,000 Ukrainian cossacks of

Mazepa Ivan Stepanovych Mazepa (also spelled Mazeppa; uk, Іван Степанович Мазепа, pl, Jan Mazepa Kołodyński; ) was a Ukrainian military, political, and civic leader who served as the Hetman of Zaporizhian Host in 1687–1708. ...

were ordered to constantly engage the enemy.

Peter I Peter I may refer to: Religious hierarchs * Saint Peter (c. 1 AD – c. 64–88 AD), a.k.a. Simon Peter, Simeon, or Simon, apostle of Jesus * Pope Peter I of Alexandria (died 311), revered as a saint * Peter I of Armenia (died 1058), Catholico ...

didn't want to have an open battle with

Charles XII Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII ( sv, Karl XII) or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 O.S.), was King of Sweden (including current Finland) from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of t ...

so far from Russia. Because of that he ordered the Grodno garrison to hold out until spring when the rivers get free of ice. Then they had to retreat behind the Neman towards

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

and further to the

Dnieper } The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and B ...

what they successfully did until May 1706. Charles estimated the direction of the Russian retreat wrongly, expecting them to retreat eastwards where he placed his main forces. Having discovered the surprisingly rapid Russian retreat towards south-west too late, he started the pursuit, hoping to catch up the Russians via the

Polesia Polesia, Polesie, or Polesye, uk, Полісся (Polissia), pl, Polesie, russian: Полесье (Polesye) is a natural and historical region that starts from the farthest edge of Central Europe and encompasses Eastern Europe, including East ...

swamps shortcut. However, they proved to be impassable and Charles had to give up the pursuit of the Russians and to seek a battle with the Saxons first.

References

Sources

* Николай Шефов. Битвы России. Военно-историческая библиотека. М., 2002.
Russian Army at Grodno 1706
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grodno, Battle Of Conflicts in 1706 1706 in Europe Battle of Grodno (1706) Battles involving Russia Battles involving Sweden Battles of the Great Northern War Military history of Belarus

Background

Battle

See also

References

Sources