Filon Kmita
Filon Kmita (1530 Kyiv Voivodeship – 1587), also known as Kmita the Chernobylan, was a noble in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Filon Kmita was notable for conducting counter-intelligence in the Muscovite wars and establishing a spy network in the Grand Duchy of Muscovy, as well as successfully leading ambush attacks with considerably fewer soldiers than the enemy. Biography Early years and first position Filon Kmita was born in 1530 in the Kyiv Voivodeship to the Kmitów noble family as a son of Semion Kmita and Tatiana Kroszyńska. His father participated in battles between the Ukrainian Cossacks and Tatars, and as a result, Filon from a young age would be involved in various wars alongside his father. Filon Kmita first began his service in 1552 as the leader of a small border fortress on the Ostyor river. Here in 1562, he was noted for repelling a Muscovite regiment of 2,000 soldiers with just 300 horsemen. In the same year, he would gather a regiment of 1,400 soldiers and occupy Chernihiv, a Muscovite fortress that up until then had not been taken. Skirmishes with the Muscovites For his success in Chernihiv, Filon Kmita would receive to govern the area of Chernobyl (and as such would be called Kmita the Chernobylian). In 1566 he would become the starost of Orsha. Kmita would also be noted for his excellent organizational skills and fast attack into the Muscovite lands in the summer of 1579, at the same time as commander Krzysztof Radziwiłł almost captured the Russian ruler. In the same year, he became Voivode of Smolensk. Final years In 1580, Kmita was mistaken by a message of a double agent and attempted to take over the strongest Muscovite fortress - Smolensk - with only 9,000 soldiers but failed. Despite the failure, Filon Kmita would continue to organize raids and various ambushes along the border. In 1582 Kmita also silently ambushed a Muscovite unit belonging to the Smolensk region. Filon Kmita would die in 1587, being a senator of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. His grave did not survive, but the epitaph did. It reads: "Manly, glorious senator of Sarmatia, lord of Smolensk, clever in the field of battle, first among the first." Methods during leadership Unit During the wars with the Muscovites, Filon Kmita was the head of a small unit of 200 hussars. It is believed that the unit consisted of battle-hardened and heavily armored 140 hussars and 60 Cossacks. Introduction to the unit was based on the skill of the soldier, rather than the soldier's ethnicity or religious beliefs. Kmita's unit consisted of not only Lithuanians but also Poles and Ruthenians. Intelligence gathering Once Kmita captured the city of Orsha, he made it the center of his intelligence operations, which he would use to receive information about the movement of Tatar or Muscovite units. A part of the useful information Filon Kmita would receive, he would simply buy or receive it from deserters, merchants, or various others travelers. Such