The baggage train or ‘Tabor’ was an important part of the army. The Poles adapted from the Czechs and Cossacks a train specially designed for tactical use. It was particularly important in Eastern territories, where there were few towns or fortified places. Both wagons and horses were protected by thick wooden mantlets, and the wagons were adapted to be pushed as well as pulled. They could be hitched together, and on the move up to 40 wagons formed a continuous train, a team of two horses being hitched to every second wagon, and one of four to every fourth one. Chief battle use was as a fortified base. The wagons, linked up in double lines, formed an oblong, often with artillery at the corners. The short sides of the oblong were of a single row, with teams still harnessed up, thus they could be suddenly opened for a surprise sortie by the Polish cavalry, a very successful tactic, as, for example at Obertyn (1530) where the Poles beat over three times their number of Wallachians.
In emergency, the tabor could even be used in the attack. To escape a surprise by stronger forces, the wagons, packed with infantry, were formed into several small columns and driven full-tilt at the enemy centre, the cavalry riding on the flanks and exploiting the break-through. This actually worked on more than one occasion, though at the cost of losing the slower-moving artillery.
World History
