Battle of Berestechko in the context of Hetmans of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

The Batoh (Batih) massacre (Polish: Rzeź polskich jeńców pod Batohem) was a mass execution of Polish captives after the Battle of Batih on 3–4 June 1652 near Ladyzhyn (now in Ukraine). It was carried out by Ukrainian Cossacks under the command of Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky.

Initially the captured Polish soldiers belonged to the Cossacks' allies, the Crimean Tatars. After the battle, the Cossacks paid the Tatars for possession of the prisoners, and promptly slaughtered the Polish captives to avenge Khmelnytsky's defeat at Berestechko in June 1651. According to Jasienica, it was the Cossack colonels Ivan Zolotaryenko and Ivan Vysochin who bought them from the Tatars. According to Widacka, Cossack's commander Khmelnytsky himself contributed 50,000 thalers for that purpose. According to Hrushevsky and Pasicznyk, Duda, and Sikora, the decision to execute the prisoners was made by Khmelnytsky himself. Afterward, between 3,000 and 5,000 and 8,000 Polish soldiers were tied up and massacred in two days of methodical beheadings and disembowelments. Zolotaryenko supervised the executions yelling "Revenge for Berestechko!", a reference to an earlier Cossack defeat at the hands of the Poles in the Battle of Berestechko.

The Battle of Batih (Ukrainian: Битва під Батогом, Polish: Bitwa pod Batohem; 1–2 June 1652) was fought between the Cossack Hetmanate and Crimean Khanate against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth as a part of the Khmelnytskyi Uprising. Near the village of Batih in the Bratslav Regiment, a forces of the Zaporozhian Cossacks and Crimean Tatars under the command of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Tymofiy Khmelnytsky, Ivan Zolotarenko, Ivan Sirko and Ivan Bohun attacked and completely defeated the Polish–Lithuanian forces under the command of Marcin Kalinowski, Zygmunt Przyjemski, Marek Sobieski, Marcin Czarniecki and Samuel Kalinowski, all of them were killed in action or taken captive. After the battle, the captured Polish–Lithuanian troops were brutally slain and beheaded by the Zaporozhian Cossacks and Crimean Tatars, as a revenge for the Battle of Berestechko.

During the battle, the forces of Cossack Hetmanate and Crimean Khanate destroyed many and one of the best Polish–Lithuanian military units. Although the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth managed to rebuild their army soon after the battle, the losses of the most experienced troops resulted in its temporary weakness. Defeat of the Crown Army contributed to the wars to come with the Tsardom of Muscovy and Swedish Empire, which in turn resulted into the Deluge.