The Second Battle of Magdeburg, 1122 CE
It was a foggy day near the city of Magdeburg as Theodericus der Bartige moved his army into formation to break the siege that the Poles had put his own capital Magdeburg under. Even though he felt cold and had problems seeing things properly, he still felt happy and confident about the upcoming battle, though one would hardly guess it just by looking at him. Nevertheless, these were his true feelings, as he knew that his enemy faced the very same problems, and the fog would grant him and his men much needed concealment that would lessen the effectiveness of the enemy's missiles. Conveniently enough, it also made offensive movements easier to conceal.
This time he had decided to order his Bohemian infantry to hold the center of his line while letting his own Brandenburgians take to the flanks a little hung back, almost the exact opposite to what he had done in the first battle of Magdeburg. Behind this line he had placed his newly-hired mercenaries, and in front of both were the few archers and crossbowmen that he still had at his disposal. All of them were in a loose formation, anticipating the arrowstorm they'd come under during the advance. As for Theodericus himself and his famous Brandenburgian light cavalry, he stayed a little back. He did not wish to loose any of these if he could avoid it, as they were vital to the success of this battle.
Initially he had planned to attack already the day before, but the garrison from Brandenburg had been delayed for unknown reasons, and he did not want to begin this battle before they arrived. They were still not there, but as the weather had changed from clear to being this foggy, he felt that it was worth taking that risk. The concealment was more important than the men were, and there was still a chance that they might turn up in time to contribute something before the battle was over.
On the other side of the battlefield there was a church standing on a small hill, and Theodericus's scouts had earlier reported that the Poles had chosen to make their stand there. Indeed, even from the distance that Theodericus viewed it from, you could, despite of the fog, still see tiny silhouettes moving against the sky. In his speech before the battle, Theodericus had pointed this out to his men and derided them for being cowards, as they hid in the Church and prayed to God for mercy for as long as they could, even down to the very last minute. "But their prayers will go unanswered", he had said, "for they go up against the might of Brandenburg-Bohemia, whose Margrave is a well-known servant of the Lord; and for by their cowardice, they are forcing us to spill blood on Holy and Sacred ground, for which God will know no forgivess for our foes!"
Just as he had ordered his men to move on towards the church, he heard is second-in-command Engelbrekt cry out: "Look! There comes captain Wenceslaus to reinforce us, and just at the right moment! God truly is on our side!" As he said this, he himself shone up, and the men who heard it had their morale gain a visible boost, as if they had completely forgotten and forgiven the cold weather. "Of course", they thought, "God made the good Captain late so we would fight under this favourable weather. There's no way we can lose now!" This turn of events made Theodericus' words echo even louder in their minds, and their confidence grew exponentially.
As Theodericus approached the church, the Polish missile cavalry, by themselves called "Strzelcy", rode out in front of the church and welcomed Theodericus and his men with a hail of bolts from their crossbows. Despite their clear advantage in numbers and height, the first casualty of this battle was still a Pole, who was hit by a bolt from one of Theodericus' mercenary crossbowmen. Indeed, the Poles' inefficiency with their crossbows surprised even Theodericus, as it took until around their third volley to take out even a single German soldier. Thanking God for this divine protection, he still knew that it wouldn't last, so he moved to his right wing and together charged at the left flank of the Poles, who retreated. Instead of chasing after them, he swung around, reorganized and charged at the Polish cavalry who had stayed. When they tried to flee the only way they could go, they were caught by surprise as captain Wenceslaus had crept up a bit to the left of Theodericus' men, and thanks to fog and a slight hill, had managed to trap the Polish cavalry. Despite this, the Poles still fought strongly, but were eventually routed.
Chasing after the Polish cavalry, Theodericus was immediately engaged by the remaining Polish cavalry as he passed the church, and this included the Polish general himself. They had been unable to come to aid the rest of their cavalry because they had retreated on their left side of the church, while the rest had tried to do so on their right. As this had happened and Theodericus had chased after the trapped Poles, his spearmen had moved up to prevent the first group to attack him in his back. Thus they weren't able to engage him until now, but at this point they had already lost so many of their men that Theodericus was in a clear advantage. Still many Brandenburgian cavalrymen fell to the arrows of the Polish foot archers, who were firing straight into the melee, but Theodericus remained unharmed and kept the advantage.
Even the Polish general realized the futility of his resistance, and so he turned to flee as well. However, his engagement had at least given the cavalry that was routing first to reorganize and come back, and this forced Theodericus to chase after them instead of turning around and taking care of the enemy archers. This was instead taken care of by his infantry, who had just cought up with them. By this time the battle was already decided, but they still tried to take as many Imperial soldiers with them as they could, but their courage wavered quickly. The last few Strzelcy fled from the battlefield, while the enemy that was on foot were either killed or taken as prisoners of war.
The price for the ransom was set at 1456, but it was refused and the prisoners were executed. The Poles who got away scattered in the countryside, never to be seen again.
Because of this magnificent battle, the Poles feel humiliated and as a result our relationship with them has worsened.
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