25.3. 1420 Battle of Sudomera

600 years ago, Jan Žižka of Trocnov won the Battle of Sudoměř. He was helped by tactics in which he took advantage of the muddy terrain, but also the thick fog. The opponents practically fought each other.

In the second half of March 1420, a detachment of four hundred Hussite warriors, accompanied by women and children, left Pilsen and headed for the new Calixtines' centre on the Hradiste of Mount Tabor. This small group was led by Břenek Švihovský from Riesenburk, Valkoun from Adlar and Jan Žižka. As soon as Bohuslav of Švamberk heard about them, he set out with his horsemen from the West Bohemian Landfryd to follow them. From Strakonice he was joined by the prior of the Johannites, Henry of Hradec and Pisek, and the royal cash inheaded by the Kutná Hora mintmaster Mikš Divoký of Jemniště and Petr Konopiště of Šternberk.

"When the Caliphs' troop made its way through Sudoměř, its patrols discovered that they had a very numerous pursuer at their backs from two directions. In the given situation they could hardly escape. It was high time to rally the defenses. Žižka, as the oldest and most experienced of the Hussite warlords, therefore ordered them to take up a position between the Markovec and Škaredý ponds, which were at that time without water. However, its impassable muddy bottom did not allow a direct attack by cavalry," writes Jan Bauer in his book The Mysterious Pages of Czech History.

Žižka then had the only possible access between the two ponds dammed up with collapsed wagons. The Hussites could not afford a circular chariot wall, as we know it from later depictions, because they had only twelve chariots. The strategy of the Battle of Sudoměř came from the mind of Žižka. "The attackers, who were aware of their superiority, did not, on the contrary, make any wrinkles with their strategy, except perhaps Bohuslav of Švamberk, who had already had one bad experience with Žižka. The Johannites and the royal cash set out recklessly against the wagon wall, thinking that they would easily sweep away the numerous host," Bauer adds.

It was only when the Hussites greeted the enemy with light firearms that the Johannites and the royal cash attempted a flanking attack. But the muddy bottom of the drained pond forced them to dismount their horses. The terrible fog that descended over the region in the afternoon also played a role.

"But the Lord God was with Žižek, for Žižek was his faithful servant. And so an unprecedented miracle happened: though it was only evening, about the hour of Vespers, the sun suddenly set behind the mountain, as if someone had withdrawn there, and such darkness fell that they did not know who was beating whom... On the royal side many were killed and wounded. It is evident that most of the slaughter was among themselves. When the enemies saw the miracle, there were voices among them saying, "My spear does not pierce them, my sword does not cut them, my crossbow does not shoot them. And so they went away to different sides in shame and with great damage," says the Old Czech Chronicles.

The leader of the victors, Brenek Švihovský of Riesenburg, also fell during the battle. "The battle of Sudoměřská broke the imperial and lordly power in southern Bohemia for a long time, and the prudent Žižka looked most to the fact that the others the remnants of the scattered army and to rid the Bohemian land of its most formidable adversaries," says the book Pictures of Life.

Jan Bauer: Tajemné stránky českých dějin, Kolektiv autorů: Obrazy života -Domaci ilurovana biblioteka zabavneho i pouceni cteni, www.wikipedia.org, https://husitstvi.cz/