For this decisive battle the Tartars fielded an army that included Polovtsy, Circassians, Alani, Burtas, Turks, Armenians, and even a body of Genoese infantry from Kaffa. Khan Mamai in fact claimed that he had with him 12 hordes, 3 kingdoms and 33 princes, totalling 703,000 men in all, but in reality his troops cannot have numbered more than 150,000. The Russians, on the other hand, allegedly numbered up to 450,000 (several sources say 200,000) but at the most probably totalled no more than 100,000; a ratio of 7 Tartars to 2 Russians is probably a fairly accurate assessment of the rivals’ proportions. (Vernadsky, it should be noted, reckoned both armies at only about 30,000, with the Tartars possessing a numerical superiority in cavalry.)
The Russians, under Grand Duke Dmitri, drew up in 3 lines with their right on the River Nepryadva and their left on woods along the River Smolka, thereby preventing Tartar encirclement. Their first line consisted of the ‘guard regiment’ (all cavalry, under Semion Melik), the second line comprised the ‘forward regiment’ (mainly infantry, intended to absorb the impact of the Tartar charge), and the third and main line was made up of the ‘right arm’, ‘grand regiment’ (in which Dmitri himself fought as an ordinary trooper) and ‘left arm’, with in addition a reserve behind the grand regiment’s left flank, and an ambush force of elite cavalry concealed in the woods on the army’s extreme left flank under Prince Dmitri Bebrok of Volhynia and Prince Vladimir of Serpukhov. Since Grand Duke Dmitri was fighting in the ranks, command of the army was entrusted to an experienced boyar, Mikhail Brenk, who was killed in the battle. Meanwhile Mamai drew up his forces with a vanguard of light cavalry, centre of infantry, and both wings and a strong reserve made up entirely of cavalry.
In the first Tartar onslaught the Russian infantry of the ‘forward regiment’ ‘like wood was broken, and like straw, mowed down’; however, they had fulfilled their prime tactical role in that the Tartars’ initial attack, and thus their hope of a quick victory, was frustrated. The Tartar main body collided next with the Russian ‘grand regiment’ and right and left flanks, and a bloody melee of some 3 hours ensued. Their attack against the right flank was eventually repulsed, and here the Tartars subsequently refused to continue to fight in what they deemed unfavourable terrain, but the Russian left, after suffering grievous losses and with most of its commanders dead, was driven back by a concerted Tartar effort. At this the ‘grand regiment’ too began to waver, itself suffering heavy casualties (Dmitri himself being stunned by a mace blow after having 2 horses killed under him), and the reserve, attempting to prevent the Tartars from exploiting their advantage to fall on the rear of the ‘grand regiment’, was pinned down and decimated in turn as Mamai sent in his last reserves in the hope of thus securing the victory.
This was the precise moment the Russian cavalry concealed in the woods had been waiting for. They emerged from hiding and fell on the Tartar rear as it swept past, routing them utterly as the ‘grand regiment’ and ‘left arm’ rallied and counter-attacked, Mamai’s own troop allegedly being the first to flee. Both sides lost about half of their forces in the battle, there perhaps being only 40,000 Russians left alive at the end of the day. Small wonder, therefore, that contemporary accounts refer to the battle as ‘The Mamai Carnage’.
World History
