Dictionary of Battles / From the Earliest Date to the Present Time

by Thomas Benfield Harbottle

Lesno (Russo-Swedish War).

A series of actions, fought 1709 between 40,000 Russians, under Peter the Great, and 15,000 Swedes, under General Levenhaupt, who was escorting a convoy of 8,000 waggons to the army of Charles XII. The battle lasted over five days, at the end of which time the remnant of the Swedes, though defeated, were permitted to retire in good order, but without their convoy. The Swedes lost in this series of actions two-thirds of their numbers. The Russians lost 10,000 men.