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.[1] According to the Russian military historian Alexander Filyushkin, this is practically a half of the overall Russian military forces of Ivan the Terrible.[2] He considered the battle as neither a Russian victory nor a Russian defeat but just a missed chance to spontaneously punish the pillagers. He also considers that the battle was massively exaggerated for political reasons in the Polish-Lithuanian chronicles.[3] The Russian losses caused by a 1,500 men strong Lithuanian force grew to over 8,000[4] while the overall strength of the Russian army was described as 40,000 people.
^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
^Филюшкин А.И. Мифология и реалии битвы под Невелем 1562г. // Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana/ Петербургские славянские и балканские исследования. 2012. № 1. С. 197-202
