The Battle of Liegnitz/Legnica

I acctually read in one source that the Poles were doing very well but then the mongols used some kinda of gas, and I think one soldier thought he heard Henryk yell for retreat which confused the Poles and messed them all up...disorganizing them and making them easy targets for mongols

Well, thanks for your help. That gas thing sounds kinda wierd.

Originally posted by Balian d'Ibelin Well, the Poles, or more accurately the Silesian, under King Henry V the pious resisted the Mongol Carnage not very well at the Battle of Liegnitz (also Liegnieca). However,they ARE helped by the German HRE Teutonic Grand Master to resist the Mongols, however, the Mongol Carnage-Ambush were hard to resist, and... They failed. (The Silesian weren't crushed or just resisted highly, but they're slightly "Massacred")   I think so...

Teutonic Order didn't fight at the Leignitz, it is just a  popular myth.

There was a long debate about the battle of Legnica and participation of Polish army in that one. Look at this

Originally posted by Kevin The Mongols used poison gas?

Edited by ataman - 17-May-2008 at 08:27

Originally posted by pikeshot1600  I don't think they had that kind of technology.

Edited by ataman - 18-May-2008 at 06:16

I doubt that we did such great stand and fought very well.I think the truth is we were totally beaten by the mongols,who were a lot more experianced and fierce warriors than us back than......unfortunately.

Greetings,

Legnica was a decisive Mongol victory over what was mostly Polish forces but which also included Teutonic Knights, Knights Templar, and other European (Christian) volunteers. The battle was doubly disastrous for Poland because the leader of the Polish forces, Henryk II of Silesia, was seen by some as the man who would re-unite Poland after the country had splintered in 1138 with the death of Bolesław III 'Krzywousty'. Henryk finished the battle with his head on a Mongol pike. Poland would have to wait until 1300 for the kingdom to be re-united, under Władysław I 'Łokietek'. As someone mentioned, the Polish campaign was for the Mongols only a diversion from their main target, Hungary. Some believe that the Mongols' knowledge of Poland reflects their superior intelligence-gathering abilities. After Legnica, Mongol forces turned southward and cut through Bohemia -- only half-heartedly giving chase to Václav I of Bohemia -- before moving on to Hungary.

The battle at Legnica happened because of Václav; the Mongols were be-sieging Wrocław/Vratislav/Breslau and were aware that Henryk was collecting forces at Legnica, but the Mongols also knew how far Václav I -- Henryk's brother-in-law -- was from them (he was marching north to Legnica to join Henryk) so when he got within two days distance the Mongols broke off their siege of Wrocław/Vratislav/Breslau and attacked Henryk at Legnica, who (according to tradition) foolishly left the safety of the fortifications in typical European early feudal combat to face his foes directly. Tradition also holds that the Mongols fought several skirmishes in the battle to draw out the knights from the cover of their archers and support infantry, and, succeeding, pulled the old Steppe tactic of feigned retreat only to suddenly turn in coordinated fashion and ambush their pursuers. This apparently proved fatal to the Christian cause, and the rest of the battle was Mongols hunting down Christians fleeing the battlefield.

There was a legend in Poland for centuries of a Christian defeat at Legnica but one which was so costly to the Mongols that they gave up any Central European invasion plans and headed south to join forces with Batu in Hungary, but most historians today believe the entire Polish campaign to have been planned in detail by the Mongols, and essentially went off for them without a hitch. In modern Poland, on the Thursday after Boże Ciało/Corpus Christi, there is the Lajkonik festival in Kraków in which an actor dressed comically like a mounted Mongol warrior jumps around and "jousts" with crowds; to get "lanced" by a Lajkonik is considered good luck. The whole procession eventually makes its way to the Rynek Głowny/main square and lots of speeches are made with the city mayor, and of course all this happens as with any Polish celebration with lots of food and drink. I assume everyone knows about the legend of the bugler in the church spire of Bazilika Mariacka/St. Mary's Basilica, which plays every day at noon but stops abruptly in mid-song in deference to a myth of a bugler trying to warn Kraków's population during the Mongol attack but being silenced by a Mongol arrow to his throat; local fire-fighters provide this service nowadays and you can hear it every day on the radio. 

I pretty much say all that in my post. I had meant to add something about Jan Dlugosz's account and the fact that most Polish historians regard it as unreliable, but I thought I fairly clearly distinguished between fact and myth.

Edited by Gallus Anonymus - 22-Jul-2008 at 02:30

Originally posted by Gallus Anonymus Tradition also holds that the Mongols fought several skirmishes in the battle to draw out the knights from the cover of their archers and support infantry, and, succeeding, pulled the old Steppe tactic of feigned retreat only to suddenly turn in coordinated fashion and ambush their pursuers. This apparently proved fatal to the Christian cause, and the rest of the battle was Mongols hunting down Christians fleeing the battlefield.