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THE LAST HURRAH OF THE WINGED HUSSARS

TradCatKnight: THE LAST HURRAH OF THE WINGED HUSSARS

THE LAST HURRAH OF THE WINGED HUSSARS
By: The Deadliest Blogger
We saw it…. the hussars let loose their horses. God, what power! They ran through the smoke and the sound was like that of a thousand blacksmiths beating with a thousand hammers. We saw it…Jezus Maria! The elite’s lances bent forward like stalks of rye, driven by a great storm, bent on glory! The fire of the guns before them glitters! They rush on to the Swedes! They crash into the Swedish reiters (cavalry)…. Overwhelming them! They crash into the second regiment – Overwhelmed! Resistance collapses, dissolves, they move forward as easily as if they were parading on a grand boulevard. They sliced without effort through the whole army…” from Potop (“The Deluge”), by Henry Sienkievich

The Last Knights of Europe (Polish Winged Hussars)

This breathless account of a 17th century battle captures well the furious charge of the famed Polish “Winged Hussars”. For roughly a century (1576-1683) they were the premiere cavalry in Europe (if not the world). In battle-after-battle, their crushing charge dealt the coup-de-grace to every enemy they faced. While suffering the occasional (even crushing) defeat, their century-long record of success is unsurpassed in the annals of cavalry warfare.

The Husaria towarzysz (“comrades”) were armored horsemen, their primary weapon the very long (and light) kopia. This differed from the standard lance of the Medieval knights in that it was hollow, thus allowing greater length without commensurate weight. Many have opined as to the reason for the great length of the 18-21 foot kopia was to give the lancer greater reach in order to defeat infantry pike formations. But such action is only apparent in one battle of the many the Husaria engaged in; and accounts differ as to wither or not the enemy square was broken by flank or frontal attack.
As backup weapon, the Hussar carried a variety of weapons: sabre, long sword, mace and even war-hammer! Pistols, musketoons, and even composite bows could be carried as well.

The most famous piece of a Hussar’s equipment was his wings.

These varied over the heyday of the Husaria, from mere wings painted on or hanging from the Hussars shield; to two large “skoklosters”, hooped wooden frames onto which eagle feathers were attached. These latter were mounted on the Hussars back, or the back of his saddle.

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