Visiting Grunwald in Poland
South-west
of Olsztyn, in north-east Poland, stands the Monument of the Grunwald
Battlefield, in an area of gently rolling meadows. This monument,
unveiled in 1960, celebrates the Polish victory over the Teutonic Knights
in 1410, in what was the largest battle in medieval Europe.
The Polish
forces, numbering about 39,000 men, were helped by regiments from Russia,
Czechoslovakia and Lithuania, as well as by the Tartars. They were
commanded by King Wladyslaw Jagiello, and led by his brother Witold, the
Grand Duke of Lithuania. The Teutonic Knights, were mainly Germans but
were aided by mercenaries from all over Western Europe who were supported
by infantry and cannon.
The battle was
won by the stratagems and cunning employed by the Polish king, who had
been fighting the Tartars, Turks and Cossacks since his early childhood.
To him the rows of noble knights in heavy armor marching into battle
resembled cattle led to slaughter. They proved to be no match for the
lightly armed and highly mobile Polish, Lithuanian and Tartar cavalrymen.
After ten hours of carnage, half of the 27,000 Teutonic Knights were dead
or captured and the rest routed. In World War I, on this same spot, the
Germans took their revenge and beat the Russians at the Battle of
Tannenberg.
The victory at
Grunwald is widely regarded as a turning point in Polish history, and the
battlefield and the small museum about the battle are frequently visited.
Standing on the hill, beneath the monument, where the king stood, one can
imagine this clash of civilizations, and looking out over the grassland
and forests below there is a certain sense of eeriness.
