Crossing the Düna 1701 - The Battles of The Great Northern War Documentary - Episode 2

[Music] the 17th and early 18th century saw the meteoric rise of the kingdom of sweden from a small backwards nation to a great baltic power one young king crowned at the age of 15 would lead this swedish empire both to the heights of its glory and the depths of its defeat join with us as we explore the battles of the great northern war [Music] after its crushing victory over the russians at the siege of narva the swedish army went into winter quarters to rest resupply and receive reinforcements meanwhile to the southwest a combined army of saxon and russian forces under the command of king augustus the strong of saxony continued to lay siege to the city fortress of riga augustus the strong though the elected king of saxony and the polish lithuanian commonwealth was unable to convince the polish and lithuanian nobles to assist his war efforts and therefore had to rely on his native saxon forces as well as the 10 000 strong russian force that peter the first had provided him [Music] as the winter snows receded king charles xii prepared his forces to march to relieve the beleaguered city which had been suffering under saxon siege since the march of 1700 over a year earlier the swedish king planned to cross the 600 meter wide duna river just north of the city of riga before striking at the besieging forces and in preparation for the river crossing king charles sent orders to the governor of livonia eric dalberg to secretly begin gathering small river craft with which to make the crossing the governor also secretly constructed a bridge across the duna further east which was finished in complete [Music] secrecy the saxon commanding general adam heinrich von steiner guessed that the swedish king would need to cross the duna river and built fortified readouts along probable crossing points though the combined saxon-russian forces numbered over 29 000 soldiers they were dispersed along the many newly fortified points of the river the swedish forces 14 000 men strong arrived near riga on july 17 after nearly a month of marching king charles wished to cross the river immediately in order to capitalize on the element of surprise but heavy rains delayed the attack instead a small contingent of swedish cavalry was sent southeast to cockneys to threaten the crossing there and tie down more enemy forces the saxon generals who commanded the readouts directly across from the swedish army were confident that their superiority and numbers and fortified positions were enough to defeat whatever the swedes could throw at them general ferdinand kedler even made a proclamation to his troops [Music] even a superior force of 300 000 swedes would still not be enough to successfully achieve any progress with the crossing [Music] as evening fell on the 18th of july just over 6 000 swedish infantry and 500 swedish cavalry embarked quietly into the transports that governor eric dahlberg had gathered the swedish forces were now prepared ready to force their way across the duna river [Music] just after midnight on the morning of july 19th the swedish forces took 75 their smallest boats piled them with fresh cut timber set them alight and push them into the river's current as the grass drifted and burned smoke billowed through the early morning sky obscuring the visions of saxon scouts stationed on the far side of the river all through the night and into the morning swedish artillery on the far bank bombarded the saxon and russian readouts assisted by four floating batteries with 10 cannons each and a single small 16 gun corvette by 4 am the first wave of attacking swedish troops was ready to make the crossing covered by the thickening smokescreen after passing the cover provided by the island of fossenholm saxon patrols began to spot the swedish attackers and artillery from the readouts began to open fire though with little effect as the swedish troops were still mostly obscured by their smokescreen the floating swedish batteries returned fire at 4 30 am the first swedish troops reached the southern bank of the duna river and at their head was king charles xii himself even as the first few boats of the swedish troops disembarked they came under fire from saxon patrols and the defenders of the garris and bolting readouts as the sun began to rise nearly three thousand of the six thousand swedish troops in the first wave had disembarked and were forming up in response the saxon general otto arnold von pekel launched his first major attack with 3 500 saxon troops the fighting was intense but under the personal direction of king charles who had landed with his elite troops in that very first wave the swedish forces refused to withdraw and after a few minutes of fierce fighting the saxons were forced back [Music] seizing the initiative king charles then counter-attacked storming and taking the garros redoubt with astonishing speed followed soon by the bolting redoubt meanwhile the rest of the first swedish wave continued to disembark and form up on the banks of the duna with the guns of the garrus and bolting readouts now silenced the swedish engineers began to repurpose the small boats that had transported that first wave of attackers laying planks across them in order to create a floating bridge which would allow artillery and cavalry to cross the river on mass [Music] still confident that he could dislodge the swedish foothold on the banks of the duna saxon general otto arnold von pagle launched yet another attack and yet again the swedish forces would not budge and the saxons were thrown back by this time the saxon and russian reinforcements were arriving from their dispersed positions along the duna and the saxon commander adam heinrich von steiner took overall command of the saxon army general steinau with nearly 13 000 troops at his command ordered a third assault on the swedish beachhead his plan was to fix the swedish infantry in place with his own infantry before smashing through the unprotected swedish right flank with his own cavalry though charles had received some reinforcements he was still outnumbered nearly two to one with most of his own cavalry still on the far side of the river waiting for the pontoon bridge to be completed the saxon forces advanced once more and initially the engagement seemed to be going in king charles favor as the saxon infantry made almost no headway against the swedish lines but soon the saxon cavalry struck the cavalry crashed into the unprotected swedish right flank with initial success driving the swedes grudgingly back towards the river recognizing the danger king charles rushed his only reserves a detachment of 535 cavalry who had been painstakingly ferried across the river to stem the saxon cavalry attack the swedish cavalry flanked around and charged the far more numerous saxon cavalry from the rear halting their progress and eventually driving them back the third saxon attack had failed at 7 00 am general steinau held a council of war where he and his generals decided to quit the field and withdraw south west towards the poland-lithuanian commonwealth the saxon forces launched one last half-hearted attack to cover their retreat before slipping away down the muddy roads the recent reigns had muddied the roads and swollen the river which slowed down construction of the pontu bridge so most of the swedish cavalry was unable to cross the river and chase down the defeated saxon army allowing roughly 20 000 saxons along with king augustus the strong to escape towards saxony while almost 10 000 russians who had been guarding other crossing points along the duna river retreated towards ukraine demoralized by yet another defeat king charles xii of sweden had driven back the saxon and russian forces and crossed the duna river with his forces safely across the duna river charles was able to march his army southwest and capture the town of mattel which contained much needed provisions that the war torn estonia through which his army had marched had simply not been able to provide with the battle finally over the losses were tallied on both sides roughly 100 swedish troops lay dead on the field with an additional 400 wounded [Music] as the day drew to a close the swedish army had captured not only a safe crossing into enemy territory but also 700 saxon and russian soldiers 36 artillery pieces and four regimental standards the saxons had suffered far heavier losses than their swedish counterparts losing some 1 300 troops killed or wounded as well as the support of their russian allies army which withdrew eastwards towards russia once again the odds had been stacked against the young swedish king and once again he had triumphed with the duna safely crossed and the saxon forces in full retreat a new opportunity presented itself to king charles the throne of the polish lithuanian commonwealth which had been contested since augustus the strong's election in 1697 now seemed within the swedish king's grasp charles decided to continue his march south with the aim of establishing a pro-swedish government in warsaw but to the east tsar peter the first was granted the gift he most needed time for his beleaguered armies to rest and refit and prepare for the inevitable swedish attack if you enjoyed this documentary on the crossing of the duna river please consider liking the video as it really helps the channel and consider subscribing so you won't miss the next episode of the battles of the great northern war [Music]

Channel: The Siberian Productions

Views: 6,139

Keywords: Empire total war, crossing the duna, great northern war, battle documentary

Id: cAzBX9yia7c

Length: 16min 6sec (966 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 01 2021