Battle of Sudbischi

Battle of Sudbischi
Part of Russo-Crimean Wars
Devlet Giray I and his army on the campaign of Tula
Date 24–25 June [O.S. 11–12 June] 1555 Location Sudbischi village, Russian Tsardom (modern Russia, Oryol region) Result Russian victory
Belligerents
Crimean Khanate Ottoman empire	Russian Tsardom
Commanders and leaders
Devlet I Giray	Ivan Sheremetyev (WIA)
Strength
40,000 to 60,000	4,000 to 7,000
Casualties and losses
Extremely heavy	Heavy

Battle of Sudbischi (Russian: Судбищенская битва) a battle that took place between the troops of the Crimean Khanate led by Devlet Giray and the Russian army led by Ivan Sheremetyev. The battle ended with the retreat of the Crimean troops and a Russian victory.

Background

After the failure of the Tatar campaign against Tula in 1552, A correspondence began between the Russian Tsar and the Crimean Khan, in which Devlet Giray offered friendship to the Russians, but in return demanded tribute, which the Russian Tsar refused.
In 1555, the Crimean Khan went to war in the land of the Pyatigorsk Circassians, after which Ivan the Terrible sent the commander Ivan Sheremetyev, with an army of thirteen thousand, to meet the Khan.

The number of the army

Old sources cite party figures of 60,000 for Tatars and 13,000 for Russians. In modern historiography, this seems to be overstated, and for both sides. The historian Vitaly Penskoi gives the number of the Tatar army at 40,000 for Tatars and 4,000 for Russians. another source takes the figure of 60,000 for the correct one. It is also noted that the Russians did not have artillery, but the Crimeans had.

Battle

Khan hoped for a quick success, having an almost 10-fold advantage. Left with an army of seven thousand, Sheremetev did not shy away from the battle and broke the advanced regiment of the Tatars, took the banner of the Shirin princes, and he was seriously wounded. The small Russian army still could not withstand the pressure, got mixed up and ran. But Alexey Basmanov and Stefan Sidorov managed to stop the fleeing and settled down with two thousand in an oak grove and in a gully (on a slope), where the wagon train stood, turned into a fortress on wheels. They cut down trees so that their tops fell towards the enemy. The stumps were left high so that the archers and archers had something to hide behind. Some of the trees were taken out into the field, where a large number of anti-window "thorns" were scattered. The wounded were dragged there, including Sheremetyev. Khan carried out an assault three times, but, unable to quickly defeat the Russians and fearing the approach of the tsar's army, he went into the steppes. Turkish chronicle sources of the XVI century report: "Someone godless, an infidel, who, by his boar bravery, is dog-mad" Russian Russian elite units "Boyar's children" lost 1,100 people and an unknown number of Cossacks, only a few remained intact, the losses of the Crimeans are unknown, but many more than Russians, most likely extremely heavy.

Aftermath

The Tsar, having received news that Sheremetev had allegedly been defeated, moved forward, but met Sheremetev and the rest of the commanders. After the battle, the Crimeans retreated to their lands.

Reference

Bibliography

• Afremov, I. (2002). История Тульского края [History of the Tula region] (in Russian). Tula.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Sakharov, I. (1915). Достопамятности города Тулы и его губернии. Ч. 1. [Sights of the city of Tula and its province. Part 1.] (in Russian). Tula.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Boguslavsky, V. (2004). Славянская энциклопедия. XVII век. [Slavic Encyclopedia. 17th century.] (in Russian). ISBN 5-224-02249-5.
• Berezin, A. (2021). Журнал «Вопросы подводной Археологии» [Journal "Problems of Underwater Archaeology"] (in Russian). Moscow. ISSN 2220-0959.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Belov, N (2022). Сражение при Судьбищах в июне 1555 года в оценках русских летописцев и историописателей XVI—XVII вв. [The Battle of Sudbishchi in June 1555 in the assessments of Russian chroniclers and historians of the 16th-17th centuries.] (in Russian).
• Karamzin, Nikolai (2023). История государства Российского [History of the Russian state] (in Russian). Moscow: Russian imperial library press. ISBN 978-5-699-25867-3.
• Penskoi, Vitaly (2012). Иван Грозный и Девлет Гирей [Ivan the Terrible and Devlet Giray] (in Russian). Moscow: Вече. ISBN 978-5-9533-6428-7.