Part II – Battle of Tannenberg / Grunwald

Today in Military History: July 15, 1410 According to the sources, early in the morning of July 15, 1410, neither side was willing to take the first step to start the fighting. As a result, Teutonic Knights’ Grandmaster von Jungingen sent messengers to the two opposing commanders. Each messenger bore a message and a sword to “assist” the Polish and Lithuanian monarchs in the coming battle. The gesture was intended as an insult and a challenge; however, the two Grunwald Swords became national symbols of Poland. But, I’m getting ahead of my story. The Battle of Tannenberg / Grunwald: First Phase The fighting commenced at about mid-morning, with each side attempting a cannonade of their opponent. However, while waiting for the start of hostilities, a rainstorm occurred (described variously as “a light rain” or a “heavy storm”) which dampened the gunpowder of both sides sufficiently to make their pieces useless for the remainder of the battle. [Several sources state that the Order’s artillery got off two shots.] Then, a brief exchange of bow fire was followed by the charge of the first line of the Lithuanian forces on the right wing against the Order’s left. The Lithuanian boyars and light cavalry, along with the Tatar horse archers, defeated the Teutonic infantry after a sharp, but apparently brief fight, overrunning the artillery as well. As the German infantry was fleeing, the second line of the Order’s left flank charged the Lithuanian/Tatar horsemen. One source says that the Order’s heavy cavalry charged through their own infantry, inflicting “friendly fire” casualties. After an equally brief exchange of blows, the Tatars retreated. They were quickly pursued by three or four banners of mercenary knights fighting with the Order. The remainder of the Order’s left-wing cavalry began to push back the Lithuanian forces. Hoping to stabilize the situation, Vytautus ordered his reserve forward, but the Teutonic heavy cavalry and their mercenary allies slowly pushed the Lithuanians and their followers back. Soon after the retreat of the Tatars, Grandmaster von Jungingen, situated in the Order’s center, ordered the rest of his second line of Teutonic Knights to make a general advance against the Polish front line of the center and left wing. Some sources said that when the two sides charged and met each other, the sound could be heard for miles. Despite extended heavy fighting, neither side could make headway, resulting in a stalemate in the center and Polish left. The Battle of Tannenberg / Grunwald: Second Phase On the Union army’s right, the Lithuanian forces were still being pushed back, at a nearly 90 degree angle to their original disposition. Finally, the heavier armor and iron discipline of the Teutonic Knights caused the majority of the Lithuanian horsemen, accompanied by their Grand Duke, to retreat. The Order’s mercenary allies pursued part of the Lithuanians into the forested marshy area in the Union army’s rear. The German knights, by contrast, resisted that temptation and began to regroup, eventually hoping to launch an assault on the rear of the Polish forces. [Some historians claim that the rout of the Tatars and Lithuanians was a “feigned retreat,” similar to tactics used by various Central Asian steppe armies, including the Mongols. Further, Grand Duke Vytautus had been defeated in battle with the Golden Horde in 1399 due to the use of this tactic, and nearly lost his life. It is suggested that he was using this same tactic against the Teutonic knights, but after 600 years, the jury is still out on this subject.] From his position with his bodyguard in the rear, King Jogaila ordered both of his cavalry reserves forward. The left cavalry reserve split, with one part sent to reinforce the army’s center, and the other sent to add weight to the left flank – which was apparently slowly pushing back the Order’s right flank. Then, the king ordered his central cavalry reserve forward, coordinating with the second line of his center to move to their right to stabilize the deteriorating situation on the army’s right wing. With most of the Lithuanian forces gone, the Order left wing sought to attack the Polish center, putting more pressure on those forces. However, the Ruthenian heavy cavalry fought toe-to-toe with the German knights. As a result, one of the Ruthenian banners was completely annihilated, but their sacrifice began to stabilize the army’s right wing, allowing Polish reinforcements to enter the fray. The Bohemian mercenaries also re-joined the fight, after temporarily falling back after the disintegration of the Lithuanians. Meanwhile, the Order’s mercenary cavalry pursing the remnants of the Lithuanians into the forest received a nasty surprise: part of the Polish infantry and cavalry reserve hidden in the woods attacked their flank. As a result, the Lithuanians halted, rallied and joined the attack on the mercenaries. After hard fighting, these mercenary horsemen were wiped out. At about the same time, the German horsemen pursuing the remaining Lithuanians regrouped and added their weight to the Order’s assault on the Polish center. Also, the mercenary knights pursing the Tatars returned and joined the attack on the Poles. At this point in the battle, the hard-pressed Polish center held its own against the German hammer blows. The Polish forces were under the command of the Chamberlain of Kracow, with King Jogaila in the rear with the infantry reserve. Under constant attack, the Chamberlain and his standard bearer were each wounded, and the Chamberlain’s banner – functioning as the army’s standard – was briefly captured by the Germans. Thinking the Polish king slain and the battle won, the Teutonic cavalry surged forward with renewed vigor. [Nearly all the sources state that the Germans began singing, “Christ ist erstanden” (Christ is risen), probably a standard victory song of sorts.] The crisis, however, was quickly averted as Polish reinforcements from the second line re-captured the banner and stabilized the Polish line once more. The largest portion of the Lithuanian forces that were not engaged were now routing from the battlefield. Many returned home and erroneously reported the battle lost and both King Jogaila and Grand Duke Vytautus slain. The Battle of Tannenberg / Grunwald: Final Phase After 5-6 hours of brutal combat, the battle was reaching its climax. Amazingly, the right flanks of both armies were under heavy pressure and being forced back. The Teutonic Grandmaster, hoping for a final throw of the dice, ordered his entire cavalry reserve – 16 banners – to deploy on the left flank, ready to add their attacks to the fighting there. One of these German banners ventured close to the hiding place of King Jogaila and his Polish infantry reserve. The king quickly ordered his banner furled, seeking to avoid giving away his position. One German knight, however, saw this and charged into the woods to attack the Polish monarch. A duel took place, quickly won by Jogaila. Rallying his Lithuanians, Grand Duke Vytautus maneuvered his cavalry behind the German left flank. At this time, the Tatars returned to the battlefield and joined the Lithuanians. At the same time, the Polish center broke through the Teutonic center. Portions of the Polish center encircled both the German right and its center. Seeing these two actions, King Jogaila made the move he was waiting for: he led his remaining infantry and his bodyguard banner in an attack on the flank of the German army. Now, the Teutonic Knights’ army was broken into two fragments, and each fragment was surrounded. Many of the Germans panicked, seeing their army broken apart. Seeing his army falling apart before his eyes, Grandmaster von Jungingen ordered a fighting retreat. At that moment, Vytautus launched a surprise, devastating attack on the rear of the Order’s left wing, completing the encirclement of the Germans. With the encirclement of the Teutonic Order’s forces, the Germans and their allies lost all hope. Many began to surrender wholesale, but the Polish infantry apparently had their blood up and many Germans were simply slaughtered out of hand. In the final stages of the battle, the Teutonic Grandmaster was surrounded by enemy infantry, pulled from his horse and slain. Some of the Germans and their allies retreated to their camp near the town of Grunwald. Trying to form a wagon fort, the Germans’ camp followers turned on their masters. The remnants of the German army retreated to their capital of Marienburg to await the attack of the victorious Poles and Lithuanians. Aftermath The final casualties are a bit speculative, but we do know the Teutonic Order forces were almost completely annihilated. The Order sustained about 8,000 men killed, and another 14,000 taken prisoner. [Official Order records show that only 1427 soldiers returned to Marienburg to claim their pay.] Many of the prisoners were released, as they were not Knights and therefore would not be worth ransoming. One western mercenary, Holbracht von Loym, reported that he had to pay a ransom amounting to 62 pounds of silver. Depending on the historical sources, between 200 and 400 Teutonic brother-knights were killed in the battle. Polish-Lithuanian casualties amounted to about 5000 killed and a further 8000 wounded. The Union army then attacked various German fortresses throughout Prussia. Some surrendered without a fight, but their capital at Marienburg sustained a 55-day siege until their enemy left on September 19. [For his stout defense of the Order's capital the Teutonic commander of Marienburg was promoted to Grandmaster.] Peace was not achieved until February,1411 at the Peace of Thorn. No territory changed hands, but the Teutonic Order was required to pay a huge indemnity to the victors. The amount was estimated to be four times the income of King Henry V of England. The added financial burden caused several revolts in Prussian cities. With the great loss of life amongst the Order’s ranks, they found it necessary to begin hiring more mercenaries, another drain of the organization's coffers. The slow decline of the Teutonic Knights had begun… Footnote #1: The Order’s loss at this battle contributed to 20th century Nazi propaganda of being “stabbed in the back.” One secular member of the Order withdrew his banner from the battle line, causing the German forces to think that the battle was lost. The 1920's poster below shows a Teutonic Knight menaced by a Pole and a socialist, the voter being urged to "Save the East." Footnote #2: This battle is known by several names (obviously!). The Germans call it Tannenberg, the Polish Grunwald and the Lithuanians Zalgiris. Footnote #3: Germany exacted a small measure of revenge for their loss in the opening months of the First World War. On August 23-20, 1914, on nearly the same site as the fifteenth century battle, German forces defeated two Russian armies, killing or wounding 78,000 Russians and capturing a further 92,000 men. Footnote #4: A reenactment will occur on Saturday, July 17 on the actual site of the original battle in modern-day Poland. Over 2000 historical re-enactors will participate. If you can pick up Lithuanian state television, it will be telecasted. [The picture below is from the 2003 reenactment.] Footnote #5: On Thursday, July 15 as many as 400 Belarusian students took to the streets of the capital city of Minsk and began a pillow fight to commemorate the participation of the Ruthenian cavalry at Grunwald. However, club-wielding riot police broke up the gathering with 50 students arrested. Footnote #6: In addition to the usual Wikipedia suspects, I made use of one website more than any other to compile this post. The site also contains three excellent maps of the three phases of the battle, much more complete than the ones used in this report. If you are really interested, please go to http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/matthaywood/main/Battle_of_Tannenberg.htm to see more. The author of this site also goes into detail about the composition of the armies, more detail than I would dare try.