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| - After the Battle of Jaroslaw, which took place on March 15, 1656, Swedish forces under king Charles X Gustav found themselves in a difficult situation. They needed reinforcements, so on March 16, the king ordered his brother, Adolph John, to send the army of Frederick VI, Margrave of Baden-Durlach, which was stationed in Warsaw.
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abstract
| - After the Battle of Jaroslaw, which took place on March 15, 1656, Swedish forces under king Charles X Gustav found themselves in a difficult situation. They needed reinforcements, so on March 16, the king ordered his brother, Adolph John, to send the army of Frederick VI, Margrave of Baden-Durlach, which was stationed in Warsaw. In the second half of March 1656, the margrave left Warsaw, with 2,500 reiters and dragoons. His mission was to relieve main Swedish army, together with the king himself, which was trapped and surrounded by Poles and Lithuanians in the confluence of the Vistula and San rivers. The margrave and his soldiers had to cross the dense Kozienice Wilderness, where Swedish units were constantly attacked by Polish guerillas. After a few days, Frederick VI received a message from Charles Gustav, ordering him to return to Warsaw. The Swedish king realized that main Polish forces, which had trapped him in the area of Gorzyce, headed northwards, to face Frederick. Polish hetmans Jerzy Lubomirski and Stefan Czarniecki were no longer in the area, which gave Charles Gustav a chance to escape the trap. Frederick VI obeyed royal order, and began a retreat, via Kozienice and Warka. The Polish forces under Czarniecki and Lubomirski that chased him had to cover the distance of some 80 kilometers, which was difficult in the conditions of early spring, when roads were flooded by melting snow. The forces of Frederick VI could have escaped the Poles, but the margrave made a grave mistake, when he decided to wait for a column of Swedish soldiers together with heavy wagons, which marched slowly to Warka from Radom. When Polish forces reached Zwolen, after a quick march from Sandomierz, Frederick’s unit was still located south of the Pilica river.
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