Led by Prince Alexander Nevski of Novgorod, Russian troops-the Novgorodian infantry militia making their bulk-confronted German crusaders and routed them on the ice-clad lake near Pskov, April 18 (5, Gregorian calendar), 1242. Historians ascribe the victory to timely Novgorodian reinforcement, led by Andrei son of Yaroslav, Prince Alexander's elder brother.
Many Western experts are sceptical about the battle, and say its importance was greatly exaggerated. Thus, in a sensational work of the 1960s, German author Paul von Rohrbach revised the event as a small-scale armed clash bloated by contemporaneous Russian chroniclers.
The sceptics point out blatant discrepancies between the various Russian chronicles, and contrasting facts cited in other historical documents.
Thus, Russia's Simeonian Chronicle evaluated Teutonic casualties at five hundred, while other sources specify the entire number of 13th century Teutonic knights as slightly exceeding a hundred. Twenty knights fell in battle and another six were captured, says the Livonian Chronicle.
Experts also highlight fact juggling in the 20th century Soviet cinema, meaning Sergei Eisenstein's renowned film Alexander Nevsky, to Sergei Prokofiev's superb music. Circulated during World War II, it was inevitably tinted by ideology. Joseph Stalin mentioned Alexander Nevsky among heroes of the Russian past to inspire the nation in its war with Nazis. There were many historical inaccuracies in the film-suffice it to mention Von Balck, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, who appeared on the screen as invaders' commander, though 13th century manuscripts date his death to c. 1240.
