Battle at Varja 28 oktober 1700 (Old swedish calendar) (Voorepera)

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The battle at Varja took place on 7 November( Old swedish calendar ) 1700 near Varja and Aa villages in Estonia during the first year of the Great Northern War. A Swedish force consisting of 800 soldiers under the command of the generals Georg Reinhold Patkul and Hans Henrik von Tiesenhausen was sent out of Rakvere to secure the way with which King Karl XII's main army would use to assist the city of Narva, besieged by Russian troops. The villages Varja and Aa surprised them with a Russian force of 2,000 soldiers from Boris Sjeremetev's detachment gathering supplies to their army at Narva. The Russians were taken to bed and then sheltered in the houses to avoid Swedes' attacks. These were, however, burned by the Swedes, an act that resulted in 1,500 killed, wounded or captured Russians, and only 500 Russians managed to escape. The Swedes themselves lost 200 men. Later during the day, while the Swedes plundered the Russian necessities, a greater force of 3,000 soldiers arrived under the command of Sjeremevev, who in turn surprised the Swedes who were driven away with a loss of 80 soldiers, among them the Swedish commander Georg Reinhold Patkul as Captured during the retreat. The Russians received important information about the advance of the Swedish main army, which arrived at the two villages about two weeks later. [2] Sjeremetev would later meet the Swedish proletariat at Pühhajoggi passport, but after some skirmishes he returned, which later led to the battle at Narva where the Russian army was defeated by the Swedish army