Battle of the White Church (1626)

With the outbreak of war with Sweden, which began on the Baltic Pomerania , the hetman Stanislav Konepolsky with the main forces of the quartz troops moved in the fall from Ukraine over the Vistula . Border protection was given into the hands of Colonel Stefan Khmeletsky , on whose shoulders over the next five years the whole eastern policy of the Commonwealth , and especially relations with the Crimean Tatars , should be held. Given the extremely serious situation that developed in the north, the military forces that Khmeletsky had on hand were small.

King of Sweden Gustav II Adolf tried to persuade the Tatars to attack Poland, both through letters to the khan and through his ambassadors. The Tatars were also incited by the adversary of the allies of Sigismund III of the Habsburgs , the Protestant ruler of Transylvania Gabor Betlen , who remembered well the Polish intervention of 1619 and the battle of Humenné . But the Tatars did not need further encouragement to use the moment of the weakening of Polish forces in Ukraine.

Counting on the fact that, following the departure of most of the troops, along with the hetman of Konetspolsky, the Ukrainian lands remained almost defenseless, 10-15 thousand Crimean, Nogai and Budzhak Tatars, walking along the Black Way , invaded Ukraine at the end of September and laid a kosh under the White Church . Kosh was defeated in a swampy area near the Ros River. Soon the chambula for prey and hassock was disbanded around the edge.

Stefan Khmeletsky did not lose time and quickly gathered 1 (according to other sources 5) thousand troops, including 6,000 (other information 1,500) Cossacks of the Zaporizhzhya Army led by Mikhail Doroshenko, to whom he sent a station wagon regarding the campaign. Immediately hit the enemy taken by surprise, taking all the loot and inflicting very heavy losses.

The battle began exclusively hand-to-hand because of heavy rains that wet gunpowder and bowstrings, and lasted 2 hours. ^{[1] The} Tatars fleeing the persecution for 4 hours, then Khmeletsky returned to the White Church and destroyed the other Chambula, who returned to the kosh, not knowing about the defeat. Before the defeat of the Tatars, peasants also joined. Many Tatars died or drowned during the crossing.

One or two days later, a detachment of Bukhara-Sultan and the sons of Kantemir-Murza was defeated near Fastov . Then the captain of Baybuzy defeated a Tatars detachment on some ford that was returning with prey. Together, the Tatars lost about a thousand people, according to other sources, 4000, as well as several bunchuk . The winners took 1,200 prisoners, including 40 or 50 Murz , while they themselves lost only 40. After the battle, Getman N. Doroshenko sent the king 20 most significant Tatars, 10 of them banners, 1 bunchuk; the transfer of trophies took place publicly in front of the town hall in Torun at the Diet of the Commonwealth . ^[2]

Since Crimea was soon engulfed by civil war, the Ukrainian lands for some time became free from Tatar invasions.

• Rudnitsky S. Ukrainian Cossacks / U. Shcherbak (compiled, author of the preface). When the earth groaned. — K .: Naukova Dumka, 1995. — 432 pp. — S. 219—279. ISBN 5-319-01072-9
• Letters: Stefan Khmeletskago, corral Bratslavskogo, to the king and an unknown person to the hetman, containing a report on the victory won by Tatars y the White Church Khmeletsky and Cossack hetman, Mikhail Doroshenko. 1626 Oct 9.
• Leszek Podhorodecki, Chanat Krymski , S. 151. ISBN 83-05-11618-2
• Mała Encyklopedia Wojskowa, 1967, Wydanie I
• Polski Słownik Biograficzny. - I: III. - Kraków, 1937, - S. 318-320