The Battle of Płowce took place on 27 September 1331 between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order. Background The Teutonic plan was to support John of Bohemia in an invasion of Silesia. Władysław I the Elbow-high had claimed lordship over Silesia, but John believed that he had an equally valid claim to it. The Bohemian king marched in with an army and occupied Silesia. Luther von Braunschweig believed that Władysław would be so outraged by this move that he would muster all of the Polish forces to drive John out of Silesia, leaving the Germans free to invade Samogitia without Polish interference. In order to increase the chances of John securing Silesia, Braunschweig aided the Bohemian army with his own forces and any other force that he could muster. A rather large army consisting of Bohemians (Czechs), knights from the Teutonic order, rebel Polish noblemen who wished to make a stand against Władysław, mercenaries from the Holy Roman Empire and some English crusaders all set off for Poland. Władysław scrambled to assemble the Polish forces, along with soldiers from Lithuania and Hungary, into position. The elderly Władysław delegated a significant portion of the command to his son, Casimir III of Poland. Many of the Polish soldiers were not confident of Casimir's military capabilities, and large-scale desertions occurred when Władysław took measures to increased Casimir's authority. Casimir did not offer much resistance to the invasion of Poland by the Teutonic Order, and he was nearly captured by the Teutonic knights before narrowly escaping into a nearby forest. Władysław led the remainder of the Polish forces south toward the Bohemian army. The Teutonic army reached Silesia successfully and met up with the Bohemians. Władysław determined that his forces were insufficient to repel the invaders, so John of Bohemia set himself up as the occupier of Silesia. John then set off to matters in Italy when there still was a pocket of resistance in Silesia. Well-fortified Polish castles in the region held out and little would be done to capture them. This led to Braunschweig to believe that Poland would still be a major threat and that his forces could not act as they wished in the Baltic region. Braunschweig sent word to John and wanted to start a second invasion of Poland, hoping that it would be more decisive than the previous invasion attempt. Battle The plan for the Teutonic