Anniversary of the beginning of the siege of the Podolski Stone. This event is known to Poles from the 3rd part of Henryk Sienkiewicz's Trilogy.
Today in our calendar we will look at events that led to the siege and fall of the city and fortress in Kamieniec Podolski.
In the spring of 1672, Turkey, utilizing the pretext of caring for the Cossack hetmanate, declared war on Poland. Thanks to the faction fights and the breaking of the Seymes, our country was completely unprepared to defend itself. On 18 August, the Turkish-Tatar army of over 80,000 soldiers led by Sultan Mehmed IV himself, began the siege of the Podolski Stone.
The town and fortress under the command of Mikołaj Potocki (the boy of hetman Mikołaj Potocki from the time of the hops) were poorly planted and equipped. The real-life soldiers were just over a thousand. The defence was supported by the townspeople.
On August 20, the Turks hit 1 of the ammunition depots located in the Old Castle Bast and after a gigantic detonation they attempted to storm, which was repulsed by inflicting crucial losses on the Turks. Therefore, the aggressors limited themselves to harassing defenders with continuous fire.
Soon, Poles were forced to retreat from the Turkish miners of Nowy Castle to the Old Castle, which was not prepared to lead the fire due to the fact that large guns could not be drawn into medieval walls. Hence, all withdrawn guns were placed in the towers, from which enemy fire was conducted effectively from their highest parties.
On August 25, the Turks dug into 1 of the Old Castle towers and blew it up, after which they reopened the storm, which was repulsed with large casualties. However, the Turks continued to undermine, this time from 3 sides. In this situation Potocki, due to the deficiency of the ability to defend the castle, decided to surrender on 26 August. He wanted to spare the townspeople due to the fact that Turkish law, in the event of taking the city, left the soldiers free of charge for 3 days. On August 30, defenders left the Stone.
The large vizier entered the Stone solemnly on September 3. Despite the honorable surrender, there have been considerable robberies in the acquired fortress and city. Most Catholic temples were converted into mosques, cemeteries, chapels and another objects of worship were destroyed. Additionally, the Turks drove Armenian merchants, where they came, utilizing the Sultanic protection of Jews.
After the surrender, the artillery commander Heyking, blew up the powder depot, killing many Polish soldiers leaving the fortress, including an experienced and well-deserved Crown Army Colonel, Jerzy Wołodyowski. The origin of this act was most likely the reluctance to hand over crucial amounts of gunpowder to the enemy. According to any sources, Heyking feared that while giving the Stones to the Turks, his embezzlement associated with the equipment of the fortress would emerge.
After taking the Stone, the Turks and the Tartars headed for the Lions.
Previous entry from our calendar is available Here.
