In 1529, a Moldavian army under the Voivode
Petru Rareș crossed into the Polish-held lands of the Pokutia, initiating a campaign
that would last into the following year. This historic region of East-Central Europe,
which was bordered by the Carpathian Mountains and stretched between the Dnieper River to the
north and the Prut River to the south, had been a hotbed of hostile activity between the Kingdom of
Poland and their southern rivals, the Principality of Moldavia, for the past few decades.
In the 1490s, Stephen the Great of Moldavia had conquered Pokutia from the Poles, and the Kingdom
of Hungary recognized their control over the land. But in 1504, after Stephen’s death, the
Pokutia was once again recaptured by the Poles. There would be back and forth raids and
standoffs over this land for the next two decades until Petru Rareș finally
invaded the Polish side in 1529.
Sigismund the Old, King of Poland and Grand Duke
of Lithuania, was outraged at the Moldavians’ incursion into his lands. He wanted to know if
the Ottoman Empire, Moldavia’s vassal overlords, had sanctioned the invasion. And so, Sigismund
dispatched a diplomatic envoy to Constantinople and the court of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the
Magnificent. When the envoys arrived at Suleiman’s splendid court at Topkapi Palace, they humbly
asked the Sultan if the Moldavians were moving into the Pokutia on the Turks’ authority.
Suleiman, upon hearing of the news, clarified that he had in fact not authorized his
vassals to invade the Pokutia and Polish lands; he did not wish to engage in a war with the Kingdom
of Poland. When Sigismund received the Sultan’s response, he breathed a sigh of relief. The
Moldavians were acting on their own accord, and apparently Suleiman was just as outraged with his
vassal’s unsanctioned invasion as Sigismund was.
When Suleiman had issued his diplomatic response
to Sigismund, he firmly stated that the Ottoman Empire would remain neutral in the conflict if
the Poles sought to reclaim the Pokutia; they would not support their Moldavian subjects in a
war the Turks had never sought in the first place. However, Suleiman was adamant in his stance the
Poles would also have to respect Moldavia’s own borders. The Polish armies could reclaim
the entirety of the Pokutia and drive back the invaders, but they could not attack
Moldavian land itself. This, the Sultan stated, would lead to war with the Ottomans.
With these limitations in mind for a campaign, Sigismund began the search for a general to
lead his armies. He couldn’t have picked a better man to take command of his forces.
On June 1st, 1531, he chose Jan Tarnowski, the Crown Hetman of Hired Soldiers, to lead the
campaign to drive out the Moldavians from Pokutia. Tarnowski was an experienced soldier and general,
having fought in numerous battles and campaigns not only in the service of Poland, but also as a
mercenary in Western Europe and the Middle East. In 1509, he had defeated the Moldavian army
of Voivode Bogdan in southeastern Poland, and played a leading role in defeating the
Tartars at the Battle of Wiśniowiec in 1512, and the Muscovites at Orsza in 1514. After these
campaigns, Tarnowski had become a mercenary traveling through Western Europe and the Middle
East, but he later returned to Poland to campaign in Prussia against the Teutonic Knights.
When Jan Tarnowski assumed command of the Crown Army of Poland, his forces were further
supplemented by the militia units of the Polish Defense Force. Parliament also agreed
to levy a tax on the serfs to hire off mercenary companies to bolster Tarnowski’s
ranks. By the beginning of the campaign, Tarnwoski would find himself in command of
4,800 cavalry, 1,200 infantry, 12 cannon, and also an unknown number of Tabor wagon trains
- these formidable mobile defense platforms were used to great effect by the Hussites over a
century earlier, and had been adopted by many Eastern European armies in their own campaigns.
Tarnowski established his headquarters in the village of Obertyn, located north of the
Dniester River from the Pokutia. From Obertyn, Tarnowski began orchestrating his brilliant
plan to drive the Moldavians from the Pokutia. From June 3rd - 5th, he dispatched a cavalry
force of 1,000 horsemen across the river to clear the Moldavian garrisons out of the
region. With this accomplished, Tarnowski then dispatched a company of 100 footmen into
the village of Gvozdzots, just south of Obertyn.
When the Moldavians discovered that
their garrisons had been driven out of the Polish side of the Pokutia, they
began making their own preparations for a counterattack. Voivode Petru Rareș dispatched
an army of 6,000 cavalrymen into the region, which then besieged the small Polish contingent
at Gvozdzots. Once it became clear to Tarnowski that the Moldavians had no intention
of reinforcing their besieging army, he then made his move. He led the entire Polish
army across the Dniester on July 18th, and won a quick and decisive victory against the Moldavians
besieging Gvozdzots. The Moldavians fled in panic across the border into their own lands,
where the Poles had to call off the pursuit.
Tarnowski would now use the village of Gvozdzots
as a place to lure further Moldavian armies, where he could then strike and rout them. Petru Rareș
was furious when he learned of the defeat of his cavalry, and so in August he decided to send an
army of 20,000 cavalry, 50 cannon, and an unknown amount of infantry into the Pokutia to drive
back the Poles from the region once and for all. Little did he know, this is exactly
what Jan Tarnowski wanted him to do. Tarnowski had intentionally left
his 6,000-strong force visible to Moldavian scouts around Gvozdzots in order
to lure Petru Rareș into pursuing him.
Tarnowski led his army and placed them on a
carefully pre-selected battlefield near Obertyn. Placing his army on a high ridge
overlooking the fields below, Tarnowski began setting up his Tabor
war wagons to make a fortified camp. To the north and east, his camp’s flanks were
protected by dense forest, while Tarnowski placed his artillery cannons on the three sections of the
camp not protected by woods. Part of his infantry was placed in the war wagons, but he held back the
majority of the footmen to act as a ready reserve. The cavalry deployed in camp in a
formation known as the Old Polish Order.
The Moldavian vanguard of heavy cavalry
reached Obertyn at nightfall on August 21st. The following morning the rest of the
army arrived and prepared to make battle. Tarnwoski’s plan was to cut the road
to Obertyn in order to cut off the Moldavians’ line of retreat. In order to
do this, he hoped that the Moldavians would concentrate their forces on their left
flank, away from the main road.
The Battle of Obertyn began on August 22nd,
1531, with the Moldavian vanguard sending out skirmishers toward the Polish camp. Rareș hoped
that this would goad Tarnowski into abandoning his favorable position to engage him. But
Tarnowski refused to be duped, instead ordering his cannons to drive away the skirmishers
with a heavy barrage of artillery fire. After a while, the Moldavians brought up their
own cannons, and a fierce artillery duel ensued.
Cannonballs screamed overhead, smashing
indiscriminately into the opposing lines. The artillery duel lasted for five hours,
with Polish losses to cannonfire mounting. Nevertheless, Tarnowski maintained his position,
despite the growing impatience of his men. He walked around the camp, calming
his soldiers’ eagerness for battle. Tarnowski had a close call with death when a
Moldavian cannonball crashed into a soldier standing next to him at his headquarters tent. The
Moldavian artillery continued hammering away at the Tabor war wagon, but their rounds were largely
ineffective due to the slope of the ridge and the low angle of their guns. Polish cannons were
able to get the range on the Moldavian guns, and managed to knock out a few of them.
While the bombardment continued, Rareș had his light cavalry banners encircle the
Polish camp from the flanks around the forest, hoping to get into the rear of the Tabor war
wagon. Rareș was afraid that Tarnowski would escape during the night, and thus deprive
the Moldavian Voivode of his great victory. Upon seeing these movements and hoping
to goad the Moldavians into engaging him, Tarnowski ordered 850 Polish arquebusiers to
form up and exit the camp through the back gate. Seeing this sally from the gate, the Moldavian
light cavalry eagerly charged, but when they were just a short distance away, they were
met by heavy volleys from the arquebusiers. The Polish gunmen showered the Moldavian horse
banners with bullets, killing many at close range. Their mission complete, the
arquebusiers fell back into camp.
Tarnowski committed a third of his cavalry, mainly
the elite heavy horse units known as the Valny, to engagements around the rear of the war
wagon. Using a checkerboard formation, the Valny heavy cavalry began engaging the Moldavian
cavalry banners on the enemy left flank. The Valny’s first line would launch its attack, then
break off to allow the second line to engage. The first line would then rally,
reorganize, and rearm with spear lances. They would then change mounts for fresh horses
and replace the second line in combat once again, the process repeating itself. The Poles,
through this tactic, were able to inflict heavy losses on the Moldavian left flank.
Seeing his mounting losses on the left flank, Rareș moved his center infantry banners over to
the left to assist his beleaguered light cavalry. He still kept his right flank on the main
road to secure his escape route if need be. Tarnowski ordered the Valny to withdraw back into
camp, and at the same time threw the remaining two-thirds of his heavy cavalry banners out
the front gate into the Moldavian right flank. The moment had come to smash the Moldavians’ right
flank and cut off the road. It is not certain, but the Moldavian right flank may have retreated upon
seeing the massed cavalry charge coming at them.
As the galloping Polish horsemen surged down the
ridge, they bypassed the Moldavian artillery, which continued to fire into their ranks. The
Moldavian cannons raked the flanks of the Polish cavalry, causing severe losses. Nevertheless, the
Polish cavalry continued their sweeping movement, with infantry dispatched from the
camp to deal with the Moldavian guns. The Poles swept around the Moldavians’ right flank
and surged over to the left, smashing into the stunned Moldavian center and left flank units.
Simultaneously, the Polish Valny heavy cavalry re-emerged from the war wagons and attacked
the Moldavians from the opposite flank. The Moldavian army, attacked on all sides, broke
under the pressure and fled the battlefield. It had been a decisive Polish victory.
The Moldavians had suffered around 7,000 cavalry
killed and 1,000 prisoners taken, with the loss of their entire artillery train of 50 guns.
The Poles had lost 256 killed, mainly during the Valny’s attack on the left flank and from the
Moldavian cannonfire on the main Polish cavalry.
With the Polish victory at the Battle of
Obertyn, Jan Tarnowski’s army retook the entirety of the Pokutia. The Moldavians agreed
to peace terms with the Poles. They would try again in 1538 to retake the region, but once
again were beaten back by the Polish armies. Eventually, Petru Rareș would be removed
as Voivode of Moldavia by Sultan Suleiman, who saw him as a threat to the peace with the
Kingdom of Poland. In regards to Rareș’ removal, Suleiman stated, “he had disturbed the Porte's
best friend, the King of Poland.” Jan Tarnowski’s great victory at the Battle
of Obertyn had established the dominance of the Polish heavy cavalry on the battlefields
of Eastern Europe, leaving a lasting legacy on Poland that would continue for the
next century and a half.
