WA - Husaria / The Winged Hussars. The Angels of War.

Day 318, 10:42 • Published in Sweden Poland • by Log18os

The Polish-Lithuanian hussars' primary battle tactic was the charge. They carried the charge to, and through the enemy. This was a key to their victories. They also tended to repeat the charge several times until the enemy formation broke (they had supply wagons with spare lances). The charging attack, and heavy weight of their armour and horses guaranteed victory for nearly two centuries. The hussars fought with a long lance, a szabla (sabre), 1 or 2 pistols, and often with a carbine or arquebus, known in Polish as a bandolet.

Polish Hussars were also famous for the huge 'wings' worn on their backs or attached to the saddles of their horses. There are several theories to explain their meaning. According to some they were designed to foil attacks by Tatar lassos; another theory has it that the vibrating of feathers attached to the wings during the charge made a strange sound that frightened enemy horses. However, experiments carried out by re-enactors and movie-makers since the 1970s and more recently by Polish historians in 2001 contradict such ideas. Possibly the wings were worn only during parades and not during combat, but this explanation is also disputed.

[youtube]http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=919D18sY1Fc&feature=user&my=1[/youtube]

With the Battle of Lubiszew in 1577 the 'Golden Age' of the husaria began. Until the Battle of Vienna in 1683, the Polish-Lithuanian hussars fought countless actions against a variety of enemies, and rarely lost a battle. In the battles of Battle of Lubiszew in 1577, Byczyna (158😎, Kokenhausen (1601), Kircholm (1605), Kłuszyn (1610), Trzciana (1629), Chocim (1673) and Lwów (1675), the Polish-Lithuanian hussars proved to be the decisive factor often against overwhelming odds.

In all of these battles, they were victorious despite the fact that the hussars often had fewer men than their opponents. In the Battle of Kluszyn, the Russians had 35,000 troops, Crown of Poland only 6,800. However Poland came out of the battle as the victor.

Until the 18th century it was the most famous elite unit of the Commonwealth.

[youtube]http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa5cAbHBHcA&feature=user&my=1[/youtube]

"We saw it ... The hussars let their horses. God, what power!
They ran through the smoke and sound was like that of thousand of blacksmiths beating with a thousand hammers. We saw it ...
Jasus Maria!
The elite's lances bent forward like stalks of rye, driven by a great storm,
bent on glory! The fire of the guns before them glitters! Thez rush on to the Swedes!
Thez crash into the Swedish riters ... Overwhelm them!
Thez crash into the second regiment - Overwhelmed!
Resistance collapses, dissolves, they move forward as easly as if they were parading on a grand boulevard. They sliced without effort through the whole army already!
Next target: the regiment of horse guards , where stands the Swede King Carol. And the guard already wavers!"

-Description from Potop "Deluge" by Henryk Sienkiewicz

[youtube]http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=RbM16IT8Mxw&feature=related&my=1[/youtube]