Battle of Vienna
Battle

The battle started before all units were fully deployed. At 4:00 am on 12 September, the Ottoman army attacked, seeking to interfere with the deployment of Holy League troops. The Germans would be the first to counterattack. Charles of Lorraine moved forward with the imperial army on the left and other imperial forces in the center and, after heavy fighting and multiple Ottoman counterattacks, took several key positions, in particular the fortified villages of Nussdorf and Heiligenstadt. By midday, the imperial army had inflicted significant damage on the Ottoman forces and would come close to a breakthrough. At the same time, Cantacuzino and his soldiers (who secretly supported the Christian coalition) were trying to sabotage the Ottoman siege, by abandoning the bridge over the Danube on Brigittenau Island, where the Wallachians had been stationed in order to cover the left flank of the Ottoman Army. Mustafa Pasha launched counterattacks with most of his forces, but held back some of the elite Janissary and Sipahi units for a simultaneous assault on the city. The Ottoman leadership had planned, but ultimately failed, to capture Vienna prior to the arrival of Sobieski's forces. Their sappers had prepared a large, final detonation under the Löbelbastei to breach the walls. In total, ten mines were set to explode but they were located by the defenders and disarmed.

In the early afternoon, a large engagement started on the other side of the battlefield as the Polish infantry advanced on the Ottoman right flank. Despite the arrival of the relief army, several Ottoman forces persisted in their attempts to breach the city's defenses, allowing Polish troops to advance on the field. By 4:00 pm the Poles had captured the village of Gersthof, which would serve as a base for their cavalry charge. The Ottoman army was in a desperate position between Polish and Imperial forces. Charles of Lorraine and John III Sobieski both decided independently to press the offensive and decisively defeat the Ottoman forces.

The German forces resumed the offensive on the left front at 3:30 pm. At first, they encountered fierce resistance and were unable to make progress. However, by 5:00 pm they had begun to advance and taken the villages of Unterdöbling and Oberdöbling. Imperial forces were now closing in on the central Ottoman position (the "Türkenschanze", now the Türkenschanzpark), and as they made preparations for a final push, the Polish cavalry began to take action.

It is recorded that the Polish cavalry slowly emerged from a nearby forest to the cheers of onlooking infantry, which had been anticipating their arrival. At 4:00 pm, a detachment of 120 hussars engaged in a probing charge, successfully proving Ottoman vulnerability to attack but taking many casualties. During this action they would begin to approach the Türkenschanze, which was now threatened by three separate forces (the Poles from the west, the Saxons and Bavarians from the northwest and the Austrians from the north). At this point, the Ottoman vizier decided to leave this position and retreat to his headquarters in the main camp further south. However, by then many Ottoman soldiers were already leaving the battlefield.

The relief army was now ready for a final push. At around 6:00 pm, the Polish king ordered the cavalry to attack in four contingents, three Polish groups and one from the Holy Roman Empire. 18,000 horsemen charged down the hills, the largest cavalry charge in history. Sobieski led the charge at the head of 3,000 Polish heavy lancers, the " Winged Hussars ". Lipka Tatars who participated on the Polish side wore a sprig of straw in their helmets to distinguish them from the tatars fighting on the Ottoman side. The charge quickly broke the battle lines of the Ottomans, who were already exhausted and demoralized and would begin to retreat from the battlefield. The cavalry headed directly towards the Ottoman camps and Kara Mustafa's headquarters, while the remaining Viennese garrison sallied out of its defenses to join in the assault.

The Ottoman forces were tired and dispirited following the failure of the sapping attempt, the assault on the city and the advance of the Holy League infantry on the Türkenschanze. Less than three hours after the decisive cavalry charge, the Holy League forces had won the battle and successfully defended Vienna. The first Catholic officer who entered the city was Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden, at the head of his dragoons. Afterwards Sobieski paraphrased Julius Caesar 's famous quotation (Veni, vidi, vici) by saying " Venimus, vidimus, Deus vicit "- "We came, we saw, God conquered".
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