The Battle of Okhmativ or battle of Ochmatów (russian: Битва под Ахматовом, uk, Охматівська битва, pl, Bitwa pod Ochmatowem) took place around 19 January - 22 January 1655 (January 29 - February 1, N.S) during the

Russo-Polish War (1654–67) Armed conflicts between Poland (including the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) and Russia (including the Soviet Union) include: Originally a Polish civil war that Russia, among others, became involved in. Originally a Hungarian revolutio ...

between the armies 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 Poland and Lithuania ru ...

and the

Crimean Khanate The Crimean Khanate ( crh, , or ), officially the Great Horde and Desht-i Kipchak () and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary ( la, Tartaria Minor), was a Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the long ...

on the one hand and of the

Russian Tsardom The Tsardom of Russia or Tsardom of Rus' also externally referenced as the Tsardom of Muscovy, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of Tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter I in ...

and the Cossacks on the other. The Russian-Cossack army led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky and Vasily Sheremetev went to the relief of

Uman Uman ( uk, Умань, ; pl, Humań; yi, אומאַן) is a city located in Cherkasy Oblast in central Ukraine, to the east of Vinnytsia. Located in the historical region of the eastern Podolia, the city rests on the banks of the Umanka River ...

besieged by the Polish–Lithuanian army. When the commanders of the Polish army Stanisław Potocki and Stanisław Lanckoroński learned about the march of the Russians and Cossacks, they discontinued the siege and together with an army of the Crimean Khanate went out to meet them. Part of the Polish troops led by Szemberg was to guard the Puszkarenko group trapped in Okhmativ, numbering 2000 soldiers, while the main force moved on January 29 in the north. The entire Polish–Tatar army marched in expanded

battle array A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

. The Russian-Cossack army went in

laager A wagon fort, wagon fortress, or corral, often referred to as circling the wagons, is a temporary fortification made of wagons arranged into a rectangle, circle, or other shape and possibly joined with each other to produce an improvised militar ...

formation. On the first day of the battle the Polish and Tatar cavalry clashed with Russian and Cossack cavalry. The cavalry battle was won by the Polish–Tatar side, so that the Russian-Cossack troops standing in

lost their flank cover. The Russian-Cossack army was besieged. Polish infantry, cavalry and artillery interacting with each other led to the breach in the

Russian-Cossack army. Khmelnytsky's desperate counterattack saved the Russians and Cossacks from disaster. Under the cover of artillery fire from the four surviving guns (the rest of the guns had been taken by the Poles during the assault) Khmelnytsky moved laager in the direction of hills. In the days January 30 and January 31 Russians and Cossacks conducted two attacks which, however, were repulsed. On the morning of February 1 Khmelnytsky managed to break through to Okhmativ and save Puszkarenko. After this success he retreated to Buky. The Tatars saw futility on the battle and left the field. Deprived of support from the Tatars, the Poles were unable to stop the marching Russian-Cossack laager. Ultimately, the battle was won by the Polish–Tatar side, though the Cossacks and Russians managed to get out of the trap. Through action in this battle the Poles managed to stop a major offensive of the Cossacks-Muscovite and forced them to retreat to the east. The Russian-Cossack troops suffered heavy losses with about 9,000 killed. The losses of Polish–Tatar army were smaller. After the battle Potocki with his infantry and artillery retreated to Lviv, and the cavalry under the command of

Stefan Czarniecki Stefan Czarniecki (Polish: of the Łodzia coat of arms, 1599 – 16 February 1665) was a Polish nobleman, general and military commander. In his career, he rose from a petty nobleman to a magnate holding one of the highest offices in the Com ...

moved with the Tatars into the Ukraine for the purpose of pacification.

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Further reading