After Russian forces took Nevel, Polish forces undertook a pillaging raid into the new Russian-held territory. A bigger Russian detachment led by Andrey Kurbsky could not defeat the retreating Polish detachment under the command of Stanisław Leśniowolski.
Modern Polish researches estimating the number of Russians as 25,000.[3] According to the Russian military historian Alexander Filyushkin, this is practically a half of the overall Russian military forces of Ivan the Terrible.[4] He also considers that the battle was massively exaggerated for political reasons in the Polish-Lithuanian chronicles.[5] The Russian losses caused by a 1,500 men strong Lithuanian force grew to over 8,000[6] while the overall strength of the Russian army was described as 40,000 people.
Result
In modern historiography, the assessment of events is interpreted in different ways, for example, Alexander Filyushkin (2012) and Vitaly Penskoi [ru] (2018) believe that the battle ended in a draw.[5][7] Another opinion is expressed by Polish sources, who assess the battle as a defensive polish victory.[8][9][10]
References and notes
Reference
^Янушкевіч, А Інфлянцкая вайна 1558—82 // Вялікае княства Літоўскае: Энцыклапедыя. У 3 т. Т.1: Абаленскі — Кадэнцыя / Рэдкал.: Г.П. Пашкоў (гал.рэд.) і інш.; Маст. З.Э. Герасімовіч. – Мн.: БелЭн, 2007. – 684 с.: іл. С. 671.
^Starowolski, Szymon; Lewandowski, Ignacy (1991). Wybór z pism (in Polish). Zakład Narod. im. Ossolińskich. p. 131. ISBN978-83-04-03334-4.
^Marek Plewczyński, Wojny i wojskowość polska w XVI wieku Tom II. Lata 1548-1575, Zabrze-Tarnowskie Góry 2012, Infort Editions, p 159, ISBN978-83-89943-82-8
^ abФилюшкин А.И. Мифология и реалии битвы под Невелем 1562г. // Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana/ Петербургские славянские и балканские исследования. 2012. № 1. С. 197-202