Polish Hussars. Samurai of Europe.
In the final scenes of the movie The Last Samurai, starring Tom Cruise, a charge by a mounted squad of samurai against enemy positions is shown, in which all the samurai are killed after several rifle salvos by infantrymen. If this scene had taken place two hundred years earlier in what was then Eastern Europe, a troop of horsemen would have prevailed. Those horsemen were the Polish hussars.
For two centuries (16th-17th centuries), the hussars were spectacularly successful in beating the enemies of Poland at the time from Denmark to Moscow, from Riga to the Black Sea.
On September 8, 1514, at the Battle of Orsha, in one of the largest battles of the 16th century in all of Europe, 30,000 soldiers of Hetman Konstantin Ostrogsky, defeated a much more numerous Moscow army (80,000 armed men) under the command of Ivan Cheladin.
September 27, 1605 Battle of Kircholm. Hetman Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, having at his disposal 3,500 Polish-Lithuanian troops, defeats 11,000 Swedish soldiers under the command of Karol Sudermanski. The losses of Chodkiewicz's army amounted to 100 killed, the Swedish losses from 6,000 to 9,000 killed.
July 4, 1610 Battle of Klushino. Hetman Stanislaw Zolkiewski, having 2,700 Polish soldiers at his disposal, after an all-night march strikes the Moscow army led by Prince Dmitry Shuisky (about 15,000-20,000 soldiers) and the Swedish army supporting them under Jacob Pontusson De la Gardie (3,330 soldiers) and smashes them. The victory opens the way to Moscow, which the Polish Army occupied for two years (Oct. 9, 1610 - Nov. 7, 1612).
On September 12, 1683, King John III Sobieski saved Vienna from Turkish troops with a charge from Kahlenberg Hill.
June 11, 1694 Battle of Hodow. 400 hussars and armored men defend themselves partially on foot in the buildings of the village of Hodow against some 40,000 Tatar troops. A monument erected a year after the battle even gave a figure of 70,000 Tatars. Polish losses amounted to less than 100 killed, while Tatar losses numbered about 3,000 killed. Faced with fierce resistance, the Tatars retreated. After the battle, several carts of arrows were collected, suitable for reuse. To commemorate this battle, King John III Sobieski founded a monument in Hodow, which exists to this day.
As a reminder, in the historic Battle of Thermopylae, which took place in 480 BC, 300 Spartans under the command of Leonidas die in a battle on the isthmus holding back an approximately 300,000-strong Persian army under the command of Xerxes I. Calling the Polish Hussars the defenders of Thermopylae simply insulted them, because they, unlike the Spartans, won their battle. There were hundreds of victorious battles of the Hussars during their existence.
The strength of the Polish Hussars was determined by their very high morale, but also by their excellent weaponry, adapted to the battlefield of the time, as well as their high level of training and regular, murderous training. It was the kind of GROM, GSG 9, Navy Seals, SAS or Delta Force of the time.
The Hussars on the offensive today could be compared to a Leopard II or Abrams tank accelerating to 60-70 kilometers per hour. An unstoppable power.
In the Hussars served the elite of Polish society, and besides, only the richest could afford it, since the hussars usually paid extra, and a lot of money, to serve.
In addition to perfect skill with weapons (saber and lance), the hussar's training consisted, among other things, of galloping a horse in full stride a short distance, then turning the horse around in full stride in a circle 2m in diameter (you couldn't fall out of the circle) and galloping again and turning around. There were special breedings of horses, selected as the strongest and most sturdy among many breeds. From the foal, these horses were accustomed to the sounds, smells and sights they would later encounter in hussar service. It was forbidden to sell horses from such breeding abroad under penalty of the throat - that is, under penalty of death.
The basic armament of the hussar was the kopia. A weapon that was abandoned in Western European countries as too heavy, difficult to operate, requiring constant training and of little use in urban combat. Meanwhile, the Polish hussars used the lance as the primary weapon for breaking the enemy's ranks, except that it was an improved weapon and different from the one used in the days of the full-armored knights.
The hussar kick was solid wood from the base to the ball, while from the ball to the spearhead it was hollowed out after being cut into two parts, then glued together and braided with ropes for additional reinforcement. Such a copy was much lighter and stronger than copies made from a single piece of wood, and such a construction shifted the center of gravity backwards, making it easier to handle.
On the way to the battlefield, the kicks were carried on carts. Only when in close proximity to the enemy would the hussar take the lance in his hand and, riding on horseback, hold it in a special leather holder (toku) attached to a thong to the saddle.
There was no single length of copy. The longest copy in the museum's collection measures 6.20 m. Typically, copies measured from 4.50 m to 5 m. Considering that spades at the time measured from 3.80 to 4.5 m - the advantage in length of the hussar copy made a fundamental difference in favor of the hussars.
The basic equipment was the saber. In addition, the Hussar was armed with an armor - an almost two-meter-long stabbing weapon with a three- or four-sided cross-section, which, after crunching the lance, was leaned against the bosom of the Hussar saddle and used to pierce enemy infantrymen. The hussar also had pistols in the olstra, and some also had a reflex bow and nadziaki (a hammer on a long shaft).
Weapons were selected for a particular enemy. For example, pistols were most effective against the Tatars, but not because of their accuracy. Guns worked well against this opponent because the Tartar horses were not accustomed to the sound of gunfire and would panic.
During the charge, the hussar leaned the long lance, which was stuck in the toque attached to the saddle at all times (in the case of shorter lances, there was no need to use the toque). The hussar thus obtained leverage that, on the one hand, made it easier to hold the lance itself, and on the other hand, the weight of the horse was given to the force of the lance.
A strike with such a lance was unstoppable. A chronicle record of the time says that in the battle of Polonka on June 28, 1660, a hussar impaled 6 infantrymen on a lance. Two or three enemies impaled on a single lance happened often enough to cause no particular sensation.
At the time of the Battle of Vienna, the usual armor of a hussar consisted of a breastplate with folges (tabs of metal that allowed the armor to bend) and the same epaulettes. The head was protected by the escutcheon (helmet), which protected the neck and cheeks, while from the front the face was covered by an unscrewed nosal, which shielded the eyes and face from saber cuts. The back was protected by either a foreskin or a metal umbo. The hands were protected from the outside by metal carapaces, and on the back the hussar had the skin of a predator cast: wolf, leopard, tiger, bear.
Paradoxically, the hussar armor did not weigh much, only about 16 kilograms. For comparison: the backpacks of today's soldiers can weigh 23-25 kilograms.
The plates of the hussar's breastplate were slanted, like the armor of today's tanks, for the same purpose even. So that bullets or blades would slide over them without harming the hussar. In general, the hussar's "plates" were tested in such a way that they had to withstand a gun shot at close range. A breastplate that was pierced by a bullet was not suitable for a hussar. Some armor was so good that it could withstand being hit by a cannonball.
Hussars attacked in compact formations. The width of the front depended on the number of hussars in the rota. During a battle, a rota usually stood in front of the enemy in a knee-to-knee formation. The rota stood in at least two ranks. The unleashed roll would hit the enemy with its central part, and the wings of the rota could wrap around the enemy, and after a few moments it was reported that the enemy was "brought down with a thud."
Dressage of the horse was very important. The horse by nature is a skittish animal, which usually reacts to noises to which it is not accustomed with nervousness, panic or running away. The Hussars took full advantage of these equine traits.
The charging hussars were already frightening by their mere sight. In addition, the attacking hussars had long pennants on the ends of their lances, which emitted such a shrill rumble that the opponents' horses, unfamiliar with the sound, fell into panic.
Similarly, the skins of predators on the backs of hussars had a similar effect on the horses of opponents. Horses by nature are afraid of predatory animals. They have it written in their genes. When, in addition to the disturbing sight and noise, the smell of attacking 100 predators reached the horses' nostrils, the strike of the hussar lances very often hit the opponent when his horses were just starting to buck and refuse to obey.
Today, the Hussars are associated with characteristically curved two wings. They were like that, too, but during the period when the Hussars were a cavalry used only for parades (mid-18th century).
In battles, wings were, but not every hussar wore them, and if he did, not always two. Depending on the period, it was more popular to attach the wings to the saddles or on the back. In battle conditions, the wing should not protrude above the rider's head so that he could fight freely with his saber.
And why did the hussars have wings in the first place? You might as well ask why today's soldiers paint their faces black, or why MMA fighters tattoo their bodies, or why New Zealand rugby players perform a hook before a match. It's more dangerous that way, it weakens the morale of the opponent. Besides, wings from afar visually increase the troop size 2-3 times. There have been battles in history that did not take place at all, because the opponent, as soon as he saw the hussar kicks, pennants and wings, fled the battlefield.
And did the firearms of the time (muskets, pistols) pose a threat to the hussars? This question can be answered with the help of cinema classics. In Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, in a scene in an apartment, a nervous student fires a 6-shot revolver at Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnefield (Samuel L. Jackson) from a few meters away, and none of the bullets hit. Anyone who has dealt with firearms knows full well that this scene is real. Being in emotion, it is possible to miss a target located several meters from the shooter.
Firearms, in the case of fast moving targets, were very inaccurate and there was unlikely to be time to fire a second shot. Besides, the large-brimmed hats used by musketeers had a specific purpose. They served as a veil to protect the eyes when the gunpowder exploded when a shot was fired. This was a natural reflex - hiding the eyes at the moment of the explosion of gunpowder when firing a shot. In such a situation it is difficult to talk about aiming at all, which also explains the minimal losses of the hussars in the battle against the musketeers.
In the days of the hussars, firearms and the way they were used were so imperfect that one hussar was killed in a single charge in clashes with musketeers. Hussars were killed 2-3 times more.
The Polish hussars and Japanese samurai are military formations that still fascinate us today. Although so distant in time, geographic space and the culture they represented, they resonate vividly in the modern imagination. Their valor, and bravado impress us no matter where we live.
Information on the Hussars comes from, among others, Radoslaw Sikora's book, Hussaria. Pride of the Polish Arms. Published by Znak Horyzont. Kraków 2019.
Author: Wojciech Błasiak
