Battle of Mir (1812)
Part of theFrench invasion of Russia
Cossack cavalry deployed at Mir (by V. Mazurovsky)
Date 9–10 July 1812 Location Mir,Russian Empire 53°27′N26°28′E / 53.450°N 26.467°E /53.450; 26.467 Result Russian victory[1]
Belligerents
Duchy of Warsaw	Russia
Commanders and leaders
Aleksander Rożniecki [pl]	Matvei Platov Dmitry V. Vasilchikov [ru]
Strength
3,600 men (1,300 on the 1st day[2]), 3 guns:[3] 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 11th, 15th, and 16thUhlan Regiments Polish 4thChasseurs One horse battery	8,500 men (3,500 on the 1st day[2]), 12 guns:[4] ElevenCossack regiments (5,000 men[3]) Two Don Cossack batteries, two horse batteries AkhtyrkaHussars, Kiev, and New RussiaDragoons, Lithuanian Uhlans (2,500 men[5]) 5thJaegers (1,000 men[5])
Casualties and losses
308 (1st day)[6] 500–600 (2nd day)[7] 808–908 total losses, including 256 taken prisoner[6]	25 (1st day)[6] Totally around 180 dead and wounded,[1] including two colonels killed.

French invasion of Russia

330km
205miles

Mir

15

Pultusk

14

Gorodeczno

13

Drohiczyn

12

Tauroggen

11

Riga

10

Tilsit

9

Warsaw

8

Berezina

7

Maloyaro-
slavets

6

Moscow

5

Borodino

4

Smolensk

3

Vitebsk

2

Vilna

1

Kowno

   

  current battle

  Prussian corps

  Napoleon

  Austrian corps

TheBattle of Mir took place on 9 and 10 July 1812 duringNapoleon'sinvasion of Russia. ThreePolish Lancers divisions battled against Russiancavalry, ending in the first major Russian victory in the war.^[8]

Russian generalMatvei Platov had eightCossack regiments and two Don batteries deployed south of the village ofMir, when one brigade of the Polish Fourth Light Cavalry attacked his advance posts, numbering about 100 men. These advance posts had the dual job of both observation and sentry duty, and to entice the enemy to attack; ambushes of a hundred men each were set up farther down the road to Mir, on either side of it.^[9] The Polish general Alexander Rosniecki's forces clashed with Russian Dmitry Vasilchikov's cavalry, resulting inhand-to-hand combat with fairly even losses. Followed byUhlans, they swept through the village, attacking Platov's main force. A third Polish brigade attempting to join the fight was encircled and broken byCossacks, after which the entire Polish force gave ground, driven back with the aid of Russian Hussars.^[10] After the arrival of Vasilchikov'sAkhtyrkaHussars,Dragoons, and other reinforcements, the battle raged for six hours, shifting to the nearby village of Simiakovo. Platov defeated the enemy there, and moved on to Mir, where he inflicted further losses on the enemy before tactically withdrawing.^[11] A complete rout was only averted by Tyszkiewicz's brigade, which covered the Polish retreat.^[10]

The town of Mir and fort ruins were used as aheadquarters byJérôme Bonaparte, until he decided on the 16th to leave the army, after quarrels with Vandamme, Davout and with his older brother. After retreating, theMir Castle was destroyed with gunpowder.^[12]

• List of battles of the French invasion of Russia

• Smith, Digby (1998).The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London.ISBN 1-85367-276-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• napoleon-series (2021)."War Against Russia". Retrieved6 April 2021.
• journal (1896).Journal of the Military Service Institution of the United States, Volume 19.
• Foord, Edward A. (1915).Napoleon's Russian campaign of 1812. Little, Brown and Co.
• cossacks (2021)."Cossacks". Retrieved6 April 2021.
• Davies, Norman (1998).Europe: a History. HarperCollins.ISBN 9780060974688. Retrieved6 April 2021.mir cossacks 1812

• Media related toBattle of Mir (1812) at Wikimedia Commons

• Battles of the French invasion of Russia
• Battles involving the Russian Empire
• 1812 in the Russian Empire
• 1812 in Belarus
• July 1812
• Military history of Belarus
• Mir, Belarus
• Minsk Governorate

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