The peace of February has formally ended…

The peace of February has formally ended the Prussian uprising, but Marshal Heinrich Botel gathers men from Kulm, Elbing, and Balga for an expeditionary attack deeper into Prussia in autumn 1249.

They travel into the lands of Natangians and pillage the region.

On their way back, they are in turn attacked by an army of Natangians.

The Knights retreat to the nearby village of Krücken south of Kreuzburg (now Kamenka south of Slavskoye), where Prussians hesitate to attack, but the Prussian army is growing as fresh troops arrive from more distant territories, and the Knights do not have enough supplies to withstand a siege.

Therefore, the Teutonic Knights bargain for surrender: the marshal and three other knights are to remain as hostages while the others are to lay down their weapons.

The Natangians break the agreement and massacre fifty-four knights and a number of their followers.

Some knights are executed in religious ceremonies or tortured to death.

The severed head of Johann, vice-komtur of Balga, is mockingly displayed on a spear.

Others are ransomed or exchanged, including Marshal Botel.

Such barbarity gives the Knights an excuse not to treat the Prussians as civilized and honorable people.

Never again will the Knights surrender to pagans.

The Natangians do not exploit their victory and do not make offensive moves into the lands of the Teutonic Knights.

It will take two years for the crusading military order to recover and avenge the massacre.

The skirmishes will last until 1253.