Battle of Lesnaya

The Battle of Lesnaya was fought on 9 October during the Swedish invasion of Russia in the Great Northern War. Russia was the sole remaining enemy of Sweden following the dissolution of the anti-Swedish coalition in 1706. Peter I of Russia led a flying corps (corps volant [ru]), supported by two additional divisions, to destroy a convoy under general Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt that was heading for the Swedish main army in Ukraine with reinforcements and supplies. Peter caught up with the convoy at the village of Lesnaya (Lyasnaya) in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, present-day Belarus.

The Swedes were attacked in the rear at 11:00 as they were crossing the stream of Lesnyanka, at Lesnaya, heading for Propoysk (Slawharad) on the river Sozh behind which Charles XII's army was expected. The initial phase of the battle was fought over a forest clearing a distance from Lesnaya, where a Swedish outpost attempted to stall the attack. The Swedes were pushed back to the village after some hours, where Lewenhaupt ordered a general assembly. The following phase saw Russian attempts to capture the Lesnyanka bridge, to cut him off from the road to Propoysk. Reinforcements arrived successively on both sides during the battle, which continued until 19:00 when the approach of night and a sudden snowfall compelled the Russians to disengage.

Lewenhaupt decided to continue the march in the night, but thousands of troops were either too exhausted to keep up the pace or got lost in the dark. The bulk of his forces arrived at Propoysk the next day, where most wagons were abandoned or destroyed in fear of a Russian pursuit. His army crossed the Sozh over the following days. Peter, who refrained from a general pursuit, sent only smaller units to round up Swedish stragglers along the road to Propoysk, which was taken by storm. Lewenhaupt rendezvoused with Charles at Rukova on 23 October with about half of his forces remaining. The next year, Peter defeated the Swedes at Poltava and forced them to surrender at Perevolochna, resulting in the formation of a new anti-Swedish coalition.