Battle Report #1 :Battle of kalka River 1223

[AUSTERLITZ]

So this is the first of my battle report threads,where i try to analyze some famous battles of past with diagrams.Most of the diagrams are home made on microsoft word,so i apologize for rudimentary quality.I have based most info from the various sources on the net,and military magazines especially osprey.

1.BATTLE OF KALKA RIVER 1223




Participants Mongols
Strength: 20000 Veteran Cavalry
Commanders- Subotai Bahadur& Jebei Noyen.


Cuman-Russian Alliance.
Strength- 80000 Infantry and cavalry.[25000 professional troops,rest levies and militia]

Commanders- Mstislav of Galicia-volhynia
Mstislav III of Kiev
Mstislav II of Galich
Khan koten of cumans.




BACKGROUND:



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Eurasia on the eve of genghis khan's conquests.

In 1206 mongolian tribes were united under temujin,now genghis khan.An event of little significance at that moment for the many peoples of eurasia who weren't even aware of their existence.
The khawarezm sultanate dominated middle east and central asia,contesting with ayyubbid sultanate of egypt and the seljuk turks.The eastern roman empire existed in diminished glory.The ghurids had only just established their powerbase in india.China was divided between 2 great dynasties.The endless eurasian steppes saw various khanates of tribes,russia was divided into principalities of princely states bordered by the cuman khanate,a turkic tribal confederation.Eastern europe was dominated by hungary and poland,beyond which lay the holy roman empire of germany.All this was to change.



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The Mongol assault on Eurasia.

The first victims of the rising power was northern china,followed by the uyghur and kara khitai khanates.Next on the menu were the kipchak turkic khanate,the eastern wing of the cumans.
Kipchaks fled to the khwarezm and the mongol hordes followed entering the middle east and central asia proper.
The khwarzem army is crushed in multiple battles.The shah flees west followed by a combined western mongol army under jebei and subodei,while the crown prince jalaluddin is pursued east by another force under genghis himself.In the process he devastates the whole area.Prosperous cities like Urgench,Balkh,Ghazni,Samarqand,Nishapur,Marv,Hamadan are razed to the ground.
Genghis defeats and pursues jalaluddin to the borders of india before returning to central asia.
Subodei and jebe meanwhile crush the shah's final army and a persian relief force.The shah dies on a island in the caspian sea.The mongols went to winter quarters in the steppes of azerbaijan.

Subodei receives orders from genghis to attack the western cuman/kipchak khanate and then return to central asia to meet up with the main mongol army via the north of the caspian sea.A plan of epic proportions.
The mongols first overrun georgia.But on the caucasian mountain passes their way is barred,by an alliance of the cumans with other tribes such as the alans and iasians.Heavily outnumbered,facing similar steppe hordes and unable to deploy properly in this rugged terrain,the mongols are at a deep disadvantage.



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Cuman Cavalry.The cumans were a formidable force in the steppe.

Recognizing this ,They resort to trickery.
They send an embassy to the polovtsian cumans with generous gifts,assuring them they only wanted to return home and promising them a share of the booty.The cumans abandon their allies and the rest are attacked and annhilated by the mongols.They then suddenly attack the cumans and defeat them.The surviving cuman troops and leaders flee to the courts of their russian neighbours alerting them to the coming storm.The mongols quarter in north crimea,while sending a force to destroy the genoese trading post at sudak on the black sea.


THE RUSSIAN RESPONSE:

On hearing of the mongol approach,the major russian princes form an alliance and rendezvous their forces near Zarub,50 miles southeast from Kiev.They are soon joined by an all cavalry force of surviving cuman polovtsians.
The mongols send envoys offering peace and to unite against the cumans,however hearing the earlier trickery by the mongols from the cumans and understanding that if the cumans were destroyed there would be no buffer between them and the mongols,the allies kill the ambassadors.A clash is now inevitable as by mongol law ambassadors are sacrosanct.

The combined army of 80000 men advance ,with the cumans acting as flank and advance guards.However of this massive army perhaps 20-25000 are full time professionals.Rest were levies and militia.Considerably well Equipped,but not experienced.
The mongol commanders recieve bad news.Reinforcement army under jochi would not be coming to join them as he had fallen ill.They were heavily outnumbered.The mongols resort to their favourite tactic-The false retreat.

For nine days the mongols fall back in face of the allied advance.
The russians attack and win 2 minor skirmishes with the mongol rearguard outposts.Interestingly till now they have mostly only faced the mongol light horse archers,equipped only with a bow,lasso and sabre -they are held with contempt by the russians.


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Mongol light horse archer.

A mongol rearguard commander is captured and executed.


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Capture of the mongol outpost captain.

There is disagreement in the russian camp on whether they should pursue further into the vast steppe,but these easy victories and apparent enemy weakness make them complacent.They are also egged on by the cumans who are eager to regain their former lands.
On the way they even find some herds of sheep left behind by the mongols on a hurry,as if to ease their logistical situation.[sheep were essential for feeding a mobile army]
Meanwhile subotai and jebe bide their time,luring the allies in to a battlefield of their choosing.

They decide to make their stand at Kalka river.

Next Part 2-The rival Armies and their Tactics.
Part 3 -The Battle itself.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

THE RUSSIAN ARMIES




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Russian Prince with his noble cavalry.
The core of the russian princely armies were the bodyguards,which were heavily armoured mounted cavalry.These were professional heavy troops capable of shock action.But in numbers they were not overwhelming.


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The russian heavy cavalry was usually not as heavily armoured as the western knight due to influence of the steppe hordes.
The russians had also learned to use limited numbers of horse archers and in this battle had the cuman turks to support them.



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Infantry remained a key part of their army.The spear militia and crossbowmen were main elements.These were however not always professional troops.Heavy armoured spearmen could however stop a cavalry charge cold if in formation.


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The russian armies predominantly used chainmail and scalemail armour.In contrast the mongols used lamellar armour with silk shirt inside.While mail provided superb protection against slashing strikes and was excellent for close combat,it was expensive and heavy.Lamellar armour was cheaper ,lighter and superior against projectiles like arrows.


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The variety of russian troops.In terms of equipment perhaps the allied were equal to the mongols ,but not organization.

TACTICS-
The contemporary russian field tactics were simple.The enemy was first disrupted by horse archers and crossbowmen fire.Crossbowmen being protected by the spearmen.Then the spearmen could be used as a pinning force while the heavy cavalry made the decisive attack.There was no uniform permanent military organization in the strict sense as these princely states by themselves didn't field too big standing armies.The professional standing troopsw ere supplemented by militia in wartime.


Continued;-

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

MONGOL ARMY AND TACTICS



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The mongol army was all mounted.Consisting of only 2 main types of soldiers-The light horse archer and the heavy shock cavalry.They had been organized by genghis khan in the decimal system-10,100,1000 and 10000.10000 horsemen made up the basic mongol field army or 'Tuman'.2-5 Tumans made up an army corps or ordu-from which the word 'Horde' is derived.



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Mongol Battle array.The basic mongol manuevre unit in the battlefield was 500 men or dzaghun.Mongol commanders would usually issue commands-''500 men there''.
The dzaghun was divided into 5 rows of horsemen 2 of heavy lancers and 3 of light/medium horse archers,thus 200 heavy cavalry and 300 light horse archers,4 heavy cavalry to 6 light.

Phase:1

The rear 3 rows of horse archers advance through the gaps left by the first two rows of heavy cavalry,form a swarm and move to engage the enemy,harassing him with a hail of arrows.

Phase 2:
After a period of bombardment,the enemy either looses patience and charges the horse archer swarm or stands and takes the punishment thereby depleting and disorganizing his ranks.The horse archers in either case now retreat back through the lines of heavy cavalry.They don't stay at the rear but swiftly divide into 2 wings.

Phase 3;
The heavy lancers close ranks and charge the enemy which either is disorganized after chasing the horse archers or by the fore of the horse archers.As they are frontally assaulted by the heavy horse,the mongol horse archers move from the rear and and flank them from both sides trapping them inside a kill zone in a barrage of arrows from the sides and the lances upfront.



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A mongol Elite cavalryman or commander.Magnificently equipped in steel lamellar armour.
While the mongol light cavalry wore leather lamellar armour or no armour at all,the heavy cavalry had the excellent steel lamellar armour.
Mongol commanders didn't participate in the battle,but would head to a excellent view point of the battlefield and direct orders from there-unlike their counterparts.They also used banner flags rather than voice commands for excellent command and control.


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Mongol light horse archer.Equipped with a deadly composite bow and armour piercing arrows.They wore no armour except a leather vest or silk shirt.The silk shirt allowed to withdraw arrows from the body without tearing the flesh and genghis issued this as standard uniform.

The mongols also used several other types of field tactics-

1. 
   
   
   • Moving Bush - Repeated small skimishes intermittantly at different fringes to draw opponent into a more strung out formation.
   • Lake formation - Successive waves of attacks along enemy front. Each line, or wave, attacks and withdraws filtering through the next wave on its attack.
   • Chisel formation - Concentrate your heavy combat units into a single point of attack after you got them to spread out their forces.
   • Falling stars - Small units attack the enemy at all sides simultaneously so no part of their army can reinforce another.
   • False retreat - Feigned panic in the middle of the fight to entice the opponent into a fatal chase.
   • 3 prong attack - Studied by Napoleon, attacking up the middle and on both flanks simultaneously. The mongols attack either one flank and the centre or both flanks in the initial move,as the enemy moves to reinforce these areas from either his other flank or centre,the denuded area will be subjected to the main assault.

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Mongol Heavy cavalry.Well equipped with steel lamellar armour his main weapons were the lance[not shown],sabre and mace.They fought in co ordination with the horse archers 4 to 6.



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Mongol Lamellar Armour.



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Mongol Lancer



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Mongol Heavy horse archer using the 'Parthian Shot'.

Next:part 3 - Battle.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

BATTLE OF KALKA RIVER

The mongols stop their retreat and subotai and jebe set their trap on the kalka river.



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PHASE 1 :Allied Advance

The allied army advances towards the kalka in 4 divisions.The russians are depicted in green and the cuman turks in blue.The mongols in red.
The cumans act as vanguard and flankguards of the russian column.
The lead division has the volhynian russians and the cumans.
The 2nd division consists of the galicians.
The 3rd division of chernigov-kursk.
The 4rth division of kiev has marched slowly due to disagreement over tactics and is quite a bit distance away as yet.

Shapes with a diagonal cross on the map indicate CAVALRY,without them INFANTRY.As we can see each of the main body divisions save the vanguard has a infantry component for the russians.

INITIAL MOVES-

1.The cuman advance guard meets the mongol outposts and overwhelm them.They are as adept at steppe archery tactics as these mongol horse archers and chase them back across the river expecting a easy victory like the previous 2 skirmishes.
2.The mongols flee in three directions to join the main body that is now forming up in the distance.The right under jebe,the centre under subotai and the left under tsugyr & teshi.Mongol camp is further afield.
3.During this initial attack the first division of volhynians keep up with the cumans and join them in the pursuit accross the river.
4.The mongols begin to deploy for battle as subotai watches more allied forces crossing the river and bides his time.



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PHASE 2:-Mongol Counterattack.

Black arrows indicate attack/advance and grey arrows RETREAT.

A. Subotai waits until just about half of the allied army has crossed the river and a sufficient distance has emerged between the 2 lead and 2 rear divisions.Then he gives the order to attack.
B. The mongol army is divided into 11 divisions[perhaps each of around 2000],subotai with strong centre 5 divisons and the right and left wings with 3 each.
C. Discarding traditional tactics of skirmishing with horse archers first,subotai attacks the incoming allied cuman vanguard from all sides with massed heavy cavalry,they are enveloped and overrun.
D.The volhynians too are swept away by the mongol assault,their archery proving terribly effective combined with the lancer charge.They lose their commander to a spear.
E. The fleeing first division crashes backward into the second division of the galicians totally disordering them,before they can reorganize the mongol centre smashes into them.
F. The mongol left and right wings now join the fray as both allied second and third divisions are assaulted from the flanks as well.
G.The third division in process of crossing the river is taken from both sides.Small local resistance is overcome on the flanks of the 2nd and 3rd divisions by the mongols.
H. The allied 4rth division far away of kiev sees the unfolding disaster and quickly attempt to create a mobile defensive position by sarrounding them with wagons.


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Subotai's cavalry assault.




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PHASE 3: Allied Collapse

1.All order and organization breaks down in the allied 3 divisions as they are pinned with the river in their backs and sarrounded by the mongol centre and right wings under jebe and subotai and are being picked off at will by the mounted archers.
2.Meanwhile subotai orders the 3 divisions of the mongol left wing under tsugyr to surge forward and engage the allied 4rth division of kiev.He does this to both prevent them coming to the aid of their comrades here or the fleeing forces on this side joining the rest in a strong defensive position.
3.Under relentless assault from all sides and having lost most of their commanders the whole of the allied army collapses and breaks down into a mass of fleeing fugitives.
4. One group of survivors flee north pursued by a mongol force.
Another group flees west pursued by another detachment of mongols.They pursue and harass them causing heavy casualities.The rest caught in the central trap are wiped out by the mongols.
5. After crushing the 3 allied divisions,subutai and jebe join tsugyr in enveloping the wagons of the army of kiev from all sides.
6.After 3 agonizing days ,with water running out kiev army surrenders under promise of safety but as soon as they come out mongols capture and slaughter them.The kievan leaders are executed in barbaric fashion as retaliation for killing of mongol ambassadors.



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Mongol commanders feast on top of the kievan leaders,suffocating them to death.Sadism at its best.

Mongol Casualities-Minimal
Allied casualities- 60-70000.One in ten men is said to have returned.10 princes killed,including 2 of the mstislavs.

Consequence-
Marked the end of the cuman turkish khanate as a major entity.
Russian principalities suffered huge losses in trained manpower from which they would not fully recover when the next mongol invasion came 10 yrs later.Psycologically they were traumatized,with priests attributing balck magic to mongol success,similar to how the arabs and persians called them the 'devil's horsemen'.

END :
The mongols pursued the russians to the banks of the dnieper before turning back.The cumans fled to hungary.
Subotai and jebe marched back to mongolia with their army to meet genghis khan,joining jochi enroute.On the way they crush the qangli turks and clash with the volga bulgars.It had been the biggest cavalry raid in history-8500 kms from mongolia to russia,sweeping all in their path.
They would for the next decade concentrate on china,returning in 1238 at the head of a massive horde of 150000 under subotai and batu.And this time they would come to stay.Neither would they stop at the borders of russia.

Next:Battle analysis.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

BATTLE ANALYSIS

Reasons For Mongol Success and Allied Defeat:

1.Superior Military organization of the mongols-The different principalities with their different armies were lacking in coordination to the mongols who acted as one in a combined arms approach.Their leaders controlled the battle magnificently without getting embroiled in personal fighting.

2.Disagreement between Russian leaders -The 4rth russian division was too far away due to disagreements and didn't take part in the central fight.

3.Choose the battlefield-Subotai and jebe chose the battlefield to perfection forcing the fight on their own terms.
A common military maxim is 'never fight with a river on your back'.Exactly what allies were forced into.

4.Poor Reconssaince - The reconssaince was mostly left to the cumans which failed to detect the 2 mongol wings as they and the volhynian russians rushed at the mongol vanguard and centre.

5.Overconfidence and Mongol Cunning - The allies fell for the mongol false retreat and easy skirmish victories bred a sense of superiority which mongols cultivated.Without this prelude allies would have been more cautious.Textbook sun zu.

6.Divide & Conquer - A key principle of war is Concentration of effort.The mongols were heavily outnumbered by the total allied force,but fought the battle in a way that the allies were never able to bring their whole force into play simultaneously.The mongols concentrated on and crushed them piecemeal one at a time thus rendering their numerical disadvantage moot.A defeat in detail.

 

[jaibi]

It's very interesting and bravo for your hard work @AUSTERLITZ . I have a suggestion, would you mind doing such an analysis for the battles in this region and recently? Like Indo-Pak Wars, current Pakistani battles against the terrorists? It'd be great!

 

[victor07]

MONGOL ARMY AND TACTICS

Phase:1

The rear 3 rows of horse archers advance through the gaps left by the first two rows of heavy cavalry,form a swarm and move to engage the enemy,harassing him with a hail of arrows.

Phase 2:
After a period of bombardment,the enemy either looses patience and charges the horse archer swarm or stands and takes the punishment thereby depleting and disorganizing his ranks.The horse archers in either case now retreat back through the lines of heavy cavalry.They don't stay at the rear but swiftly divide into 2 wings.

Phase 3;
The heavy lancers close ranks and charge the enemy which either is disorganized after chasing the horse archers or by the fore of the horse archers.As they are frontally assaulted by the heavy horse,the mongol horse archers move from the rear and and flank them from both sides trapping them inside a kill zone in a barrage of arrows from the sides and the lances upfront.

1. • Moving Bush - Repeated small skimishes intermittantly at different fringes to draw opponent into a more strung out formation.
   • Lake formation - Successive waves of attacks along enemy front. Each line, or wave, attacks and withdraws filtering through the next wave on its attack.
   • Chisel formation - Concentrate your heavy combat units into a single point of attack after you got them to spread out their forces.
   • Falling stars - Small units attack the enemy at all sides simultaneously so no part of their army can reinforce another.
   • False retreat - Feigned panic in the middle of the fight to entice the opponent into a fatal chase.
   • 3 prong attack - Studied by Napoleon, attacking up the middle and on both flanks simultaneously. The mongols attack either one flank and the centre or both flanks in the initial move,as the enemy moves to reinforce these areas from either his other flank or centre,the denuded area will be subjected to the main assault.

Next:part 3 - Battle.

The tactics of Mongols repeated the tactics of Jurchens. I would like to add one important detail. Mongols always had a reserve. It was khanś Guard called keshik. Joining the battle, the Guard contributed to the victory or helped Khan get away in case of defeat. Such tactics also was helpful against Mongols. For example, thorough organization and use of the reserve defined the result of Kulikovo battle in 1380 in favor of Russians.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

It's very interesting and bravo for your hard work @AUSTERLITZ . I have a suggestion, would you mind doing such an analysis for the battles in this region and recently? Like Indo-Pak Wars, current Pakistani battles against the terrorists? It'd be great!

Thanks,but there is almost no free information available on counter ops ,nor maps.So its impossible.But some of the major battles of 1965 can be considered as they were set piece encounters like chawinda and khem karan.

Currently i'm considering which one to do next.
I'd like to do some less famous battles initially,but ones with good info available.
Anyone has suggestions is welcome.

 

[jaibi]

I've materials if you would like to consider.

Thanks,but there is almost no free information available on counter ops ,nor maps.So its impossible.But some of the major battles of 1965 can be considered as they were set piece encounters like chawinda and khem karan.

Currently i'm considering which one to do next.
I'd like to do some less famous battles initially,but ones with good info available.
Anyone has suggestions is welcome.

 

[GR!FF!N]

@AUSTERLITZ

good job buddy..please continue doing this on less famous but tactically important battles.you can do something on tactics of "War Elephant"..I'd love to read it.find any battle where War Elephant came as a decisive weapons.For Cavalry,choose any of Alexander's battles.

 

[flamer84]

Thanks,but there is almost no free information available on counter ops ,nor maps.So its impossible.But some of the major battles of 1965 can be considered as they were set piece encounters like chawinda and khem karan.

Currently i'm considering which one to do next.
I'd like to do some less famous battles initially,but ones with good info available.
Anyone has suggestions is welcome.

First congratulations for the topic.

My suggestions: Battle of Tours (732);Battle of Lepanto(1571);Battle of Preveza(1538);Battle of Manzikert(1071);Battle of Yarmouk(636);Sieges of Constantinople(arab sieges-674,717; ottoman siege-1453 );Battle of Mohi (1241); Battle of Mohacs (1526); Siege of Viena(1683) ; Battle of Pydna(168 BC) ; Battle of Trebia (218 BC); Battle of Cannae(216 BC);Battle of Zama(202 BC);Battle of Magnesia (190 BC);Battle of Carrhae( 53 BC);Battle of Waterloo(1815);Battle of Austerlitz(1805).

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

@AUSTERLITZ

good job buddy..please continue doing this on less famous but tactically important battles.you can do something on tactics of "War Elephant"..I'd love to read it.find any battle where War Elephant came as a decisive weapons.For Cavalry,choose any of Alexander's battles.

Battle of ipsus will be a good one for elephant fans.As for alexander,yeah no problem.Most are well documented.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

I've materials if you would like to consider.

Well i could try,but no promises since i might not be able to add anything more than what u have.

First congratulations for the topic.

My suggestions: Battle of Tours (732);Battle of Lepanto(1571);Battle of Preveza(1538);Battle of Manzikert(1071);Battle of Yarmouk(636);Sieges of Constantinople(arab sieges-674,717; ottoman siege-1453 );Battle of Mohi (1241); Battle of Mohacs (1526); Siege of Viena(1683) ; Battle of Pydna(168 BC) ; Battle of Trebia (218 BC); Battle of Cannae(216 BC);Battle of Zama(202 BC);Battle of Magnesia (190 BC);Battle of Carrhae( 53 BC);Battle of Waterloo(1815);Battle of Austerlitz(1805).

Nice list,and i can do most of them save preveza maybe.

 

[flamer84]

Well i could try,but no promises since i might not be able to add anything more than what u have.


Nice list,and i can do most of them save preveza maybe.

I found this one interesting by the sheer religious fervor that both sides displayed,also it's important signalling the rise of muslim naval power,plus it's not so well known: Battle of the Masts(655)

 

[jhungary]

Lol nice work, I see that you want to revive the battle series i abandoned some months ago, man, I wish I had as much free time to restart those battle analysis, who knows, may be I have time in the future

I will try and read the article and maybe we can have a serious discussion