Battle of Karuse (1270)

Battle of Karuse or Battle on the Ice was fought on February 16, 1270 between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Livonian Order on the frozen Baltic Sea. In 1270 Lithuanians and Semigallians led by Traidenis, Grand Duke of Lithuania from ca. 1269 to 1282, raided Livonia and reached as far as Saaremaa island by marching across the frozen sea. On their way back they were confronted by the Livonian Order and its Danish allies from Tallinn on the Muhu Strait. The Order was well-prepared for the battle: for a year it was recruiting soldiers for an expedition into Semigalia. Lithuanians arranged their sleighs as a barricade and successfully stopped the main cavalry force. As horses got stuck in the improvised barricade, 52 knights, including the Grand Master Otto von Lutterberg, and some 600 low-ranking soldiers were killed. It was the fifth-largest defeat of the Livonian or Teutonic Orders in the 13th century. Vice-Master Andreas von Westfalen, who acted as a Grand Master before proper elections could be held, decided to restore lost morale of the knights by winning a quick victory. In the middle of 1270 he learned about another Lithuanian raid into Livonia and hurried his soldiers to seek out the enemy. While they were resting, Lithuanians attacked the camp and killed Andreas and twenty more knights. It is sometimes known as the Battle of Padaugava, and was the tenth-largest defeat of the Teutonic Knights in its own right. Traidenis dealt another big defeat in 1279 during the Battle of Aizkraukle.