Battle of Chmielnik

As part of the wider Mongol invasion of Europe, Mongol forces began operating against the Polish duchies in late 1240 and opened their main campaign in early 1241. A detachment advancing from Volodymyr-Volhynskyi crossed the frozen Vistula and on 13 February 1241 defeated Polish forces near Tursko and captured and burned Sandomierz. Around this time the Mongol army split: the main column under Baidar advanced through Lesser Poland towards Kraków (Cracow), then the principal city and de facto capital of the fragmented Kingdom of Poland, while detachments under Kadan and Orda Khan operated further north in central Poland. ==Battle==

Details of the battle were recorded in the chronicles of Jan Długosz. ==Aftermath==

Having withdrawn from the fighting, Duke Bolesław V the Chaste escaped south to Moravia. When the Mongol forces reached Kraków later in March 1241 they encountered little organised resistance. Those residents who had remained took shelter on Wawel Hill or in fortified churches, while the main part of the town was looted and then set on fire. After devastating Kraków and parts of Lesser Poland, the Mongol army continued west towards Silesia, where on 9 April 1241 it defeated the forces of Henry II the Pious at the Battle of Legnica. In the modern town of Chmielnik there is a monument commemorating the battle. ==References==