Stromberg,
'The 'Battle' I think you are thinking of is the storming the Castle of Soenderborg in early december 1658. They did not cross a river, they actually did much better; they crossed a strait with cavalry. The Polish general in charge of this feat was (forgive any mis spelling) Stefan Czarniecki. Do you know more about him ?'
That's right. However, all I know is that it was a battle in the Polish campaign of Denmark to releave it of Swedish occupation. The fortress they were storming was one of the most important taken by the Swedes and I just remember reading that they succeeded in attacking it, which I thought was very interesting since cavalry doesn't usually succeed in capturing fortresses, unless its a surprise, i.e. guerilla action.
Wish i knew details of the battle,
As for Stefan Czarniecki, I do have info on him:
Stefan Czarniecki,
He was born in 1599, at Czarncy, died 1665 in Sokolowce. He was only awarded the Grand Hetmanship in 1665, the year of his death, which is quite terrible especially because of what he did for Poland.
He fought in the Polish/Swedish war of 1625-29. Late he fought against the Ukranians during the civil war of 1648, at Zlote Wody he was captured after the Polish defeat there.
In 1651 he was the guiding force of Jan Kazimierz, the king, he guided the Polish forces to victory over 3 days giving battle at Beresteczko against the Cossacks and Tartars, one of the largest cavalry battles of that era (if not the largest), where he was a Colonel. Some figures suggest combined forces of both sides were close to 250,000 soldiers in the battle.
During the Swedish deluge of Poland he strongly defended Cracow, but when it capitulated he escaped to Slask. On 07.04 in 1656 he won a splendid battle against the Swedes at Warka (first open battle that the Poles won outright against the Swedes in this war..), after which he took back 2 major cities in Pomorze. He later joined in the action to recaptured Warsaw on 30.06.1656 which he retook.
When the Transylvanians, allies of the Swedes under Rakoczy invaded Poland he quickly wiped them out at Czarnym Ostrowiem in 1657, next in the same year he freed Cracow, from there he moved his forces into Pomorze Zachodnie. In 1658 with an expeditionary force he moved into Denmark in support of his allies. There he contributed largerly to the explusion of the Swedes from that country by capturing the island of Als aswell as the fortress of Koldyngii.
After peace with the Swedes he took war into Russian territory defeating them at Polonka in 1660 forcing the Russians to give back all captured territory lost by the Poles during the Swedish deluge. In 1661-63 he fought more wars against Ukranian cossaks and the Russians beating them again. Extremely exhausted by the amount of wounds sustained to his body he returned to Lwow. On his death bed he recieved the wand of the Grand hetman of Poland. He was quite a strict soldier, demanded obedience from his soldiers, which he always recieved. He used the tactics of speeds, manuverability and surprise to great effect during the Swedish deluge using small forces.
How's that?
Heiko, thanks for replying, for the last time
Sapura
PS, He was in the league of some of the best Polish Generals of this era. Such as Koniecpolski, Zamojski, Zolkiewski, Chodkiewicz, Radziwill & Sobieski. It's been said that Poland only survived the 1/2 half of the 17th century because of the skill of these generals..
[This message has been edited by Sapura (edited 10-02-2000).]
