fighting, many Polish prisoners of war found ways to escape and hide in the nearby woods. The Polish defeat was partly influenced by the initially successful Polish knights having been distracted by looting. Invasion of Lands of the Bohemian crown (Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia) After the defeat of the European forces at Liegnitz, the Mongols then continued pillaging throughout Poland's neighboring kingdoms, particularly Silesia and Moravia. King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia fled back to protect his kingdom after arriving late and discovering the devastation the Mongols caused in those places; gathering reinforcements from Thuringia and Saxony as he retreated. He stationed his troops in the mountainous regions of Bohemia where the Mongols would not be able to utilize their cavalry effectively. By that time, Mongolian forces had divided into two, one led by Batu and Subutai who were planning to invade Hungary, and another led by Baidar and Kadan who were ravaging their way through Silesia and Moravia. When they arrived to attack Bohemia, the kingdom's defenses discouraged them from attacking and they withdrew to the town of Othmachau. A small force of Mongolians did attack the strategic located (on the way to the mountain passes towards Bohemia) Silesian town of Glatz but the Bohemian cavalry under Wenceslaus managed to fend them off. The Mongols then tried to take the town of Olmuetz, but Wenceslaus managed to get the aid of Austrian Babenbergs and they repulsed the raid. A Mongol commander was captured in a sortie near Olmuetz. Under Wenceslaus' leadership during the Mongol invasion, Bohemia remained one of a few eastern European kingdoms that was never pillaged by the Mongols even though most kingdoms around it such as Poland and Moravia were ravaged. Such was his success that chroniclers sent messages to Emperor Frederick II of his "victorious defense". After these failed attempts, Baidar and Kadan continued raiding Moravia (via the Moravian Gate route into the valley of the river March towards the Danube) before finally going southward to reunite with Batu and Subutai in Hungary. Invasion of Hungary The Hungarians had first learned about the Mongol threat in 1229, when King Andrew II granted asylum to some fleeing Ruthenian boyars. Some Magyars (Hungarians), left behind during the main migration to the Pannonian basin, still lived on the banks of the upper Volga (it is believed by some that the descendants of this group are the modern-day Bashkirs, although this