While the Swedish king had not been seriously threatened so far, he was still confined to the coastal area of Pomerania and Imperial forces were concentrating around him. To the west the count of Savelli commanded at Anklam, bringing reinforcements down the Tollense Valley. Torquato Conti was thoroughly entrenched a few miles up the Oder in Gartz and Greifenhagen on either side of the river. And to the east of Wollin Island, Colberg was held by Imperial forces. A chain of garrisons stretched between these strong points ringing Gustavo in on the coast.
In late summer the king received his second important voluntary ally in this German country. On August 1, 1630, Sweden concluded a treaty with the great city of Magdenburg, strategically located on the Elbe River. The city had already survived a siege by Wallenstein in 1629 and was now ready to throw its lot in with Gustav. The alliance was a real morale boaster and cost the king nothing, at least for the time being. The Imperial siege had not been very effective and the city was able to maintain good supplies of food and war materials via the river.
At the end of the month Wallenstein was relieved of his command. Tilly took control of the Imperial troops in addition to the Catholic League army he had commanded during the Danish War.
Before winter set in there was some activity on both sides. Gustav sailed with a portion of his army to Stralsund, leaving Horn in command at Stettin. Conti attacked the town in the king’s absence, but Horn drove him back with heavy losses.
Gustav, meanwhile, laid siege to the fortified town of Demmin that contained the bridge crossing the Tollense, part of the road to Auklam. The importance of Demmin was typical of the situation in northern Germany. Bridges on the main roads, crossing important rivers, were all guarded by fortified towns or cities. Thus military movement and supplies required the capture or cooperation of these strategic points throughout the country.
Savelli made an attempt to raise the siege, bringing 3,000 troops. The Italian arranged his soldiers in a long line in an attempt to outflank and envelop Gustav’s smaller force. The disciplined Swedes, who were concentrated in the center, split the middle of Savelli’s line then turned right and left and rolled up the Imperial line. Demmin fell to the Swedes and Savelli was forced out of Auklam giving Gustav control of the coast from Stettin to Stralsund.
With winter approaching Gustav moved a detachment of his Swedish troops used to winter warfare up the Oder and invested Gartz and Greifenhagen. They surrendered in January of the new year. Also in January 1631, Gustav concluded the Treaty of Bärwalde with France. Richelieu and Gustav agreed to an alliance to last five years. During that time France would pay Sweden 400,000 riksdalers per year to keep 30,000 foot and 6,000 horse in Germany. Gustav was to be tolerant of Roman Catholics in territories occupied by his army and treat Bavaria and the League as neutrals as long as they acted the same. This last was to be of short duration for Tilly was at the time investing Magdeburg and was mixing Imperial, League and Bavarian troops at will. Richelieu, who was trying to drive a wedge between the emperor and Maximilian turning Bavaria into a client state, would only see his plans frustrated.
By March Gustav had cleared Mecklenburg and Pomerania of Imperial garrisons. In that month Tilly pounced on a weak Swedish position at Neu-Brandenburg and put to the sword not only all the Swedes and Scots in the garrison, but every man woman and child in the town. He then turned his full attention to Magdeburg and by the end of the month had taken several of the outer works.
In an effort to divert Tilly’s attention Gustav marched on Frankfurt-on-Oder. The tactic worked and Tilly started for the city, taking a large portion of his besieging army to relieve Frankfurt. However, on Palm Sunday (April 3), the king called upon Banér’s Blue Brigade and Hepbar’s Yellow to storm the walls. At the same time a Scottish regiment blew the main gate and, after taking some casualties from cannon at the entrance, poured into the city streets. A second gate was opened from the inside and Bauditzen’s cavalry charged through into a garden area of the city. In street fighting an Irish regiment under Colonel Walter Butler resisted bravely and died to a man. The Imperialists asked for a truce, but were met with the cry “Neu-Brandenburg Quarter.” Uncharacteristically, the usually well disciplined troops committed scandalous excesses upon the Protestant population. The whole operation had ended so quickly that Tilly had no time to intervene. He returned to Magdeburg and intensified his siege.
Gustav’s only alternative was to aid his ally by direct intervention, but the route to the city lay through the territories of George William of Brandenburg and John George of Saxony. At the beginning of May Gustav marched on Berlin and his father-in-law allowed Gustav to place a Swedish garrison at Spandau to guard his supply line. Gustav proceeded to Potsdam and was negotiating with the elector of Saxony for permission to cross his territory when he received news that Magdeburg had fallen on May 10. But there was more.
During the sacking that followed, a great fire swept through the city destroying nearly all of it; 20,000 persons were killed or died in the flames. Though the fire deprived Tilly of an important base of operations it was a propaganda disaster for the Swedish king. An open ally that Gustav had pledged to help and protect had been defeated and destroyed.
In the end Gustav was able to work out an agreement with John George. The elector allowed his domain to be divided into 10 quartering areas, each to contribute 30,000 riksdalers per month to the Swedish war effort.
Turning his attention to Mecklenburg, Gustav finally took Greifswald and reinstated the dukes ousted by Wallenstein to their rightful rule. Swedish general Todt was left in command of troops in the country with orders to clear the duchy of Imperial forces.
During the winter months the Protestant princes held a congress at Leipzig to try to come to terms with developments in Germany. If they could revive the old Protestant Union, they might induce Gustav to retire from Germany or at least stop further adventurism. At the same time they would be unified against the emperor and in a position to protect their rights. The congress failed, however, and the only result was to encourage a revolt against the emperor in southern Germany. In Württemberg, Prince Wilhelm von Baden and a group of the princes were arming themselves. Nearby, William V of Hesse-Kassel was preparing for war. Tilly now turned south to deal with these upstarts leaving a military vacuum in northern Germany. Gustav wasted little time in filling it.
He left Brandenburg and on July 2 took the bridge, town and fortification of Tangermünde giving him access to the west side of the Elbe and a new area for supplies. He was followed by Tilly’s lieutenant, Pappenheim, who could do little, being badly outnumbered.
On the tenth of July Gustav moved down river to a big bend at Werben where he built a fortified camp. As usual the Swedish sappers did an excellent job of constructing field works. Pappenheim was completely powerless to take any action and sent messages to Tilly to return with the main body of the Imperial Army.
Meanwhile, Tilly had crushed the rebellious princes in the south with more than the usual pillaging, massacres and destruction. However, when he turned to the Landgrave of Hesse he found an adversary of some mattle. While the Hessians did not have sufficient forces to meet the old general in open battle, they did fall back from his approach skillfully, destroying supplies and ambushing isolated units. Because of these Fabian tactics and Pappenheim’s pleas Tilly finally broke off his pursuit of the Landgrave and returned to northern Germany and his primary concern, the Swedish king.
Tilly arrived with 27,000 men against Gustav’s 16,000 entrenched troops. The king was not about to be drawn out into a pitched battle. But he did lead 4,000 men on a cavalry attack on detachments of Imperial horse guarding three towns. Tilly’s troops were severely mauled, irritating the old general even more.
Tilly advanced on Gustav’s works on August 6 with 15,000 foot, 7,000 horse and 16 heavy guns. He bombarded the earthworks then on the 7th assaulted the encampment. The Swedish works had suffered little damage from the heavy barrage and the attack was easily thrown back. In
addition Baudetzen led a cavalry attack that outflanked Tilly and added to his losses. Then word came that Horn was on his way with another 9,000 soldiers.
Tilly pulled out to lick his wounds, having lost some 6,000 men. It was the first time in his life the 72-year-old general had lost an engagement he was personally commanding. In the Lion of the North Tilly had met a worthy adversary.
Shortly after the successful defense Gustav received a contingent of English troops as a result of a previously concluded agreement with Charles I. So 6,000 men under the earl of Hamilton landed at Peenemünde and began to make their way to Gustav’s headquarters. Additional troops and money would trickle in but never reach the promised level. The English king had his own problems with his Parliament, leading eventually to civil war.
Even with this setback at Werben, the emperor felt he was in a strong position. The rebellion in the south had been crushed. Hesse was on the defensive and the war in Italy had been concluded. Veterans of that campaign now joined Tilley’s army bringing it to over 40,000 men. Ferdinand ordered Tilly to settle with Saxony, the only other rebellious prince of any military consequence. John George had 16,000 men under arms commanded by the capable Hans Georg von Arnim. The emperor ordered the Saxon elector to turn this force over to Tilly and when he was refused ordered the old general to march on Leipzig. Ravaging the countryside as he went Tilly advanced on the city.
John George was finally forced to commit and he turned to the Swedish king for help. On September 2 the Saxon prince, “concluded an alliance with Gustav, ‘for as long as the danger from the enemy shall continue.’”10 John George would keep his own army and generals. It was a contract forced by necessity upon both parties fully agreeable to neither.
All forces now converged on Leipzig with Tilly getting there first. The burghers resisted stoutly, burning the suburbs outside the walls and closing the gates. Tilly commenced his attack on September 4, opening with his heavy batteries. As he learned of the advance of the allies he offered reasonable terms to the city and the gates were opened. The old general now turned to greet his adversaries in an open-field pitched battle, exactly the situation for which he had hoped.
On September 7, 1631, the two armies drew up their forces near the small town of Breitenfeld not far from Leipzig. The allies had the numerical advantage with 24,000 Swedish troops and 18,000 Saxons. Tilly fielded 35,000 men.
The Imperial and League forces were deployed in the Spanish fashion with the massed tercios in the center, seventeen battalia, fifty files, ten deep. On the left flank was Pappenheim with his heavy cavalry, the famous Black Cuirassiers. Covering the right flank was Furstemberg with his veteran heavy cavalry just arrived from Italy. Light Croatian cavalry was scattered in front and between the wings. Tilly arranged his troops on a ridge with his heavy guns commanding the field down the slope where his enemy would have to cross a marshy area then attack up the incline. He encouraged his troops, riding before the ranks to the shouts of “Father Tilly.”
The allies crossed the marshy area then formed up half a mile away. The Swedish right wing was commanded by Marshal Banér. Here five brigades of cavalry under Todt formed the first line. Four more formed the second. In the center of the line was the infantry, four Swedish brigades under Winkel, Cur Hall, Teuffel and Aken Oxenstierna. A cavalry regiment and two Scottish regiments of foot were in ready reserve. The second line was composed of one Scottish and two German brigades of foot under Hepburn, Vitzhum and Thurn respectively. Behind this second line were two more regiments of cavalry in reserve.
The left cavalry wing was commanded by Marshal Horn. Three brigades of cavalry formed the first line. A second line was composed of two regiments of horse. As usual detachments of musketeers were deployed with the cavalry units. Regimental guns were arranged in front of their units and the army’s heavy guns were deployed to the left of center under Torstensson. To the left of Horn, but separated by the Leipzig-Düben road, was the Saxon army under Arnim drawn up in a single line, Spanish style. Again infantry and guns were concentrated in the middle with cavalry on the wings. This army looked magnificent with gleaming armor and bright embroidery as contrasted with the Swedes’ worn and battlefield look. But the main difference was in training and experience, and the Saxons had neither. Gustav was careful that there was separation between the two as he wanted to make sure his Swedes had room to maneuver without becoming entangled with the Saxon mass. The great pitched battle for which Tilly had yearned and Gustav had seen as inevitable was underway.
The engagement opened with the two armies’ artillery pounding each other for two hours. Pappenheim then launched an attack on the Swedish right. He led his Black Cavalry in an oblique charge to the front of Banér’s right, smashing the line and outflanking him at the same time. The Imperial heavy cavalry was trained in the caracole tactic. This pitted pistol against Swedish muskets, a fight the shoulder weapons were going to win. The combined use of the light regimental guns and muskets shattered Pappenheim’s attack. Seven times the Bohemian general advanced and seven times he was thrown back with heavy losses.
Tilly sent a regiment of Holstein foot in to save the situation, but it was destroyed by the Swedish pikemen. Pappenheim’s flanking movement was outflanked by a regiment of Swedish reserves and crushed. Horn then went on the offense sending his Gotland and Finnish horse in a saber charge into the ranks of the Imperial cavalry. Not only did he clear Pappenheim from his front, but he drove him from the field.
It was a different story, however, on the left of the allied line. Here Furstemberg had also charged forward with his veteran heavy cavalry straight at the Saxon body of troops. The inexperienced Saxons in all their finery stood for only a moment then began to yield. John George and his bodyguard tried to hold the line and encourage the troops, but as the mass of horse thundered into their ranks, unit after unit turned and fled. The elector was swept from the field by his retreating army. The whole Saxon line disintegrated, the proud and shiny troops broke and ran. Almost half the allied forces had been routed and the left flank completely exposed.
Tilly quickly took advantage of the situation. He set his tercios in motion forward and to the right. As his mass of infantry passed the allied line and moved into the space previously occupied by the Saxons, he wheeled them to the left ready to roll up the Swedish flank, a classic prescription for victory. But the maneuvering of such a large body of troops had taken some time and Gustav was able to react with his smaller, well disciplined units. Horn wheeled his left flank to a position behind the Düben road using the ditches to provide rough ground to his front. The king reinforced him with two brigades from the center. By the time Furstenberg had returned from driving the Saxons from the field, rejoining Tilly’s massed infantry in attack, it was against a well formed front line. The Swedish army not only held, but inflicted dreadful casualties.
Once Gustav could see his new line was in good order and holding, he hurried back to the center, sending more troops to the left, into the line. Then with four regiments of Swedish cavalry he led a charge up the hill directly at the Imperial artillery on the crest. His fast moving light cavalry swept through the batteries sabering the gunners until the gun crews abandoned their weapons and fled the field. The king’s men now turned the heavy pieces on Tilly’s massed infantry pressing against Horn’s Düben Road line. Torslensen wheeled the Swedish artillery into line to join the onslaught.
Rushing back down the slope the king took command again of the center, wheeling it in line with Horn and the Düben Road so that the whole front was now 90 degrees to the original front orientation. Furstenberg’s horsemen had become dispersed. Tilly’s infantry was an inert mass stacked up against the Swedish pikemen. Raked by musket fire, pounded by their own heavy artillery and the Swedish lighter guns, it was unable to even disengage in any kind of orderly manner. Command control no longer existed among the Imperial forces and finally, near sunset, men began to stream away. By dusk the withdrawal had turned into a stampede and the Impe
rial mass of infantry melted before the Swedes.
The retreat was covered by Count Cronenburg’s cuirassiers, the only unbroken Imperial unit left. But the Swedish army was too exhausted to maintain any kind of hot pursuit. Tilly, twice wounded, collected his forces as best he could and withdrew to Halberstad, then to Weser.
The great battle that was to put an end to the Lion of the North was over. Imperial losses were 7,000 killed with 6,000 wounded or captured. Swedish losses were 2,100 killed or wounded. Gustav’s victory at Breitenfeld was cheered by his supporters, Louis of France, Charles I of England and the Dutch Republic. It catapulted Sweden to the level of a great European power and caused military experts to reevaluate contemporary tactics. The Snow King, it seems, was made more of iron than of ice.
16. Gustav’s Court on the Rhine and the Battle of Lützen
Between September 14 and 16 Gustav and John George met to discuss strategy. The elector was very apologetic for the performance of his army, but Gustav would not make it an issue and instead insisted on discussing the future. It was decided the two would spilt up, Saxons advancing up the Oder into Silesia and the Swedes into Thurigia toward the Rhine.
By September 22, Gustav had taken Erfurt and made it his supply depot and command center in central Germany. On October 4 he took Würzburg, storming the castle of Marienburg which produced a rich haul of booty and a store of books that he sent to the Uppsala University library. At Würzburg, however, he found himself in immediate danger.
Warrior Kings of Sweden Page 29
