Battle of Oshmyany (1432)

December 8, 1432 at Oshmyany (present Belarus, Grodno region) in a fierce battle the two contenders for the throne of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania agreed.Grandchildren of Gedimin-Prokopy: Svidrigailo-Lev Olgerdovich (on the maternal line the grandson of Prince Alexander of Tver, executed in the Horde in 1339) and Zhigmont-Sigismund Keystutovich led troops of Oshmyany supporters. Svidrigailo led Lithuanians, Rusyns and Tatars, and even help from the great principality of Tver, and Zhigmont his supporters and detachments from Poland. Polish chroniclers attribute a numerical advantage to Svidrigailov's army, but it was unlikely to be significant, if at all. On both sides came together thousands of twenty soldiers. For that period, quite impressive forces. Svidrigailo first squeezed the shelves of Zhigmont, and the victory sloped in his direction, but his cousin was able to reverse the course of the battle (obviously thanks to Polish troops) and win. The battle lasted the entire light day until nightfall. Polish chroniclers talk about tens of thousands of dead and four thousand captive Ruthenians, but this is probably an exaggeration of the winners. Really, of course the Svidrigailovo army suffered quite significant losses, but the army of its rival and cousin was also greatly weakened. Svidrigailo was forced to retreat to Polotsk. Prisoners of Zhigmont were captured by his commanders - Yuri Gedigold, nephew Yuri Lungvenvich Prince Mstislavsky, and princes Drutskiy Fedor Odintsovich, Dmitry "Sekira" Zubrovitsky and Vasily Krasny.