Battle of Shepeleviche
The Battle of Shepeleviche or Battle of Ciecierzyn on 24 August 1654 was one of the first battles of the Russo-Polish War (1654–67). It ended with a Russian victory.
Battle
A small Polish–Lithuanian force of about 5,000 under Great Lithuanian Hetman Janusz Radziwiłł stopped the Russian force under knyaz Yakov Cherkassky at Shklow (1654)|Shklow] and camped at Hołowczyn. He learned that a Russian force under knyaz Aleksey Trubetskoy crossed Drut River near Ciecierzyn on 23 August. Radziwiłl was joined by the Field Lithuanian Hetman Wincenty [Korwin Gosiewski] with 3,000 strong forces, increasing the Polish–Lithuanian army to about 6,000–8,000.Radziwiłł and Gosiewski then tried to stop a numerically superior Russian force of 15,000 near Shepeleviche. Trubetskoy forces also included Cherkassky's. He took positions near Bialynichy. This time the even larger Russian army managed to outflank him, with Russian infantry holding Shepeleviche and cavalry attacking from the rear. Radziwiłł ordered a retreat, on the 24 August the retreating Lithuanian army was defeated and its artillery was captured by the Russians.