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Poltava (Size 80x70)

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Map & Game Files

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Po1.zip

2001/04/04

Main.map

Jump1.bmp

55 Ko

No

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Po1.zip

Po2.zip

2001/04/04

Main0.bmp

Main1.bmp

Main.los

838 Ko

No

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Po2.zip

The Battle of Poltava
The year was 1709, king Karl XII and his army had reached deep inside mother Russia, to the Vorskla river. On the other side great Russian forces under the leadership of tsar Peter I were approaching. The 3rd of April the king, together with 300 men, made a reconnaissance mission to the town of Poltava. The town was situated on a plateau on the west side of Vorskla. On the 6th of April the Swedish army seized a convent just north of the town. The king made the convent his headquarter. In Poltava there was a fortress with Russian troops, and May 1st the siege commenced. Russian units tried to relive the Russian tropps in the city from the other side of the river but they where always thrown back by the Swedes. Food, ammunition and other supplies were starting to run short. There just wasn't enough of it in the area to support both armies. The 14th of May a Russian cavalry unit crossed the river north of Poltava and made a camp at the village Petrovka. At the kings' birthday, 17th of June, a bullet wounded him in his foot, during fighting by the river. The wound wasn't serious but bad hygienic conditions made the wound infected. The king got high fever and was occasionally unconscious. The 21st of June the main Russian army managed to cross the river at Petrovka. Marshal Rehnskold, now in command, arranged the Swedish army for battle on the 22nd, in the fields north of Poltava, to counter a suspected attack. But the Russians weren't ready to fight that day. The Russians instead made a fortified camp by the river, in a shape of a square with 1 km long sides with its back to the river.
The situation for the Swedish army was getting critical. Lack of food and ammunition, reinforcements that didn't arrive. Something had to be done. To retreat would be dangerous, with the Russians in their back. To win or die seamed to be the only choice. On the afternoon the 27th of June, the Swedish army staff met to make a decision. The decision was made to attack. Orders went out to all companies. During the night, in cover of darkness, the army was to arrange in front of the Russian lines and at dawn make a surprise attack.
The Infantry was arranged in four colonns totaling about 8200 (18 battalions). The cavalry was placed in six colonns, behind the infantry, with 7800 men. Support came from only 4 guns (3 pounders). The Russians, expecting an attack, had improved their positions with a redoubt line in front of the main camp. The six redoubts closest to the camp was known to the Swedes but the four being built vertical to these, came as a surprise during the early morning hours. The Russian force was divided as follow. In the redoubt lines 4000 Infantry (8 battalions) and 6 guns. Behind the redoubts, 9000 cavalry and 9 guns. In the main camp, 25500 infantry (51 battalions) and 73 guns.
The Swedish password of the day was, as always before, "with the help of god".

Lars Olsson


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