I have been studying the invasion of poland by the mongolians for a history paper of maine, and came across the famouse battle of liegnitz. In this battle an army of nearly 30000 men composed of Silesian knights, Teutonic knight, Knights Templar and remenants of three other polish armies, command By Duke Henryk the II (also called Henry the Pious), fought withe the Mongolian armies under the Command of Orda and Baider, the Mongolian army was aproximatly 20000 strong. The Mongolians won the battle by having a minor skirmish at Lignitz and then retreating to Wahlstadt, where they were able to surround and outmanuver the Polish army. They utialized arrows, and incidery rockets to defeat the army and were quite victorious, the Mongolians suffered minor casualties, where as the Polish army was almost complety wiped out, Henry the Pious was killed and in the end the mongolians suceeded in capturing Liegnitz. The interesting thing was that this was not the Mongols main goal, the primary target was infact hungary. So Orda's army was sent to tie up any armies that may have possibly hindered the larger army of Batu Khan in the conquest of hungay. this was a brilliant tactic. Attack both the main enemy and any one who could possibly interfeer in the taking of the primary goal before adequate defences could be put up.
Has anyone else heard of this legendary battle? The poles to this day claim it as a victory, because Orda's army did not remain in Poland they travelled to Hungary to aid Batu in his conquest their task being done. From the Mongolian perspective it was a flawless victory, and from the Polish perspective Henry the Pious was a marter because his death 'drove the mongols out of Poland'.
Has anyone else heard of this legendary battle? The poles to this day claim it as a victory, because Orda's army did not remain in Poland they travelled to Hungary to aid Batu in his conquest their task being done. From the Mongolian perspective it was a flawless victory, and from the Polish perspective Henry the Pious was a marter because his death 'drove the mongols out of Poland'.