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In November 1632 the military forces in Germany that were under the control of Gustav II Adolf, both own troops and allied, approximately 150.000 men. Large parts of Germany was controlled in a great crescent from the Polish border in the east to the river Elbe in the west, from the Baltic sea in the north and almost all the way down to Bohemia in the south. The Catholic forces counted approximately 100.000 men. In 1631 Gustav II Adolf defeated the Imperial Army at Breitenfeld. The Imperial armies were then under the command of Johann Tserclaes Tilly.
In the beginning of November of 1632 Gustav II Adolf with his
19.000 men strong army was at Naumberg only two miles from the
Imperial Army in Weissenfels.By the fourth of November Albrecht
von Wallenstein, who had regained trust as Supreme Commander,
had let loose the larger parts of his cavalry, approximately 5000,
under the leadership of the Fieldmarshal Gottfrid
Henrik von Pappenheim, and these were now en route to Halle. The
rest of the army under the leadership of Wallenstein moved to
Lützen where they made camp. Obviously they had intended
to make winter camp.
Intelligence on the Imperial army's division into two parts
reached Gustav II Adolf. He therefore took the opportunity to
attack Wallenstein. Early in the morning of the 5th of November
the Swedish army broke camp and moved towards Lützen. When
the Imperial garrison, which was posted in Weissenfells received
knowledge of the Swedish army's advance they evacuated the city
and moved towards Lützen. The garrison was under the leadership
of General Rudolf von Colloredo. A Swedish cavalry detachement
attacked the garrison troops which were moving avay from the city.
The garrison took heavy casualties. A smaller force from this
garrison was left at Weissenfell to delay the Swedes. It only
took a couple of hours for the Swedish army to get past Weissenfell.
At midnight November 6, Wallenstein succeded in sending an order
to Pappenheim and tell him to move towards Lützen as fast
as possible.
In The evening of the fifth of November the Swedes made Camp
(yet on full alert) a bit southeast of Lützen. Here they
awaited dawn on the wet and muddy fields. The November night was
Cold.
Gustav II Adolf had at this moment been appointed the title of
"The Great", which made him Gustav Adolf the Great.
After a wound he had received at Dirschau in Poland he could not
wear body armour, therefore he wore moose fur instead, this ill-fated
November day.
When the morning fog finally released its grip, the attack could
commence. It was then 11 o'clock in the morning. The troops cross
the river Flossgraben. Cavalry and artillery could cross over
the bridges while the footsoldiers were to build rafts. The fog
returned though, (the infamous fog of Lützen has become something
of a proverb in Sweden) as the Swedish army was preparing to do
battle. The troops were now forced to wait untill the fog was
reduced and this happend at about 11.The Swedish then commenced
the attack on the Imperial troops.
Although we referr to the army of Gustav Adolf as a purely
Swedish army, there were actually many nationalities working together.
The Swedish position consisted of two lines, with cavalry on the
flanks and infantry in the centre. The second line also used to
be called the reserve. The Codes for the brigades and positions
can be seen on the image below:
The Swedish Order of Battle:
The First Line
Left Cavalrywing:
Courville's riders (VT1), Tiessenhause's riders (VT2,) Dönhoff's
Riders (VT3), Karbergs Riders (VT4) and Duke Bernard and Weimar's
Riders (VT5). Duke Bernhard was also commander of the entire left
cavalrywing.
CENTRE:
The Green brigade under the leadership of Leslie, Blue Brigade
under Cournell Winkel, Yellow Brigade under Nils Brahe and the
Swedish Brigade under Kyle. Nils Brahe was also commander of the
entire Center.
The Swedish brigade consisted of the following regiments: Östgöta,Västgöta
,Dala, Upplands and Savolax Regiments. In the Yellow Brigade it
was mainly German and Swedish Life Guard troops. The Lifeguards
wore yellow coats with
black stripes and its banner was black with the Coat of Arms in
Gold.
The Right CavalryWing:
Smålands Riders (HT1), Östgöta Riders (ht2), Upplands
Riders (HT3), Södermanlands Riders (HT4), Västgöra
Riders (ht5) and the Finnish riders (called Hakkapelites after
their Finnish warcry) under the leadership of Torsten Stålhandske
(Ht6)
The Second Line
Left Cavalry Wing:
Stechnitz riders (VR1), Steinbach's Riders (VR2), Brandenstein's
Riders (VR3), Löwenstein's Riders (VR4), Ernst von Anhalt's
Riders (VR5) and Hofkirchen's Riders (VR6).
The Centre:
Mitzlaff's Brigade, Thurn's Brigade, Dodo von Knijphausen's Brigade
and Bose's Brigade. Behind them the Öhm Riders and Hendersson's
brigade stood as reserves. Knijphausen was in command of the Center.
The Right Cavalry Wing:
Von Usslar's Riders (HR1), The Hessian Riders ( HR2), Beckerman's
Riders (HR3), Bulach's Riders (HR4), Goldstein's riders (HR5)
and Wilhelm of Weimar Riders (HR6). The three last mentioned were
south of the river
Flossgraben.
-filer/k_lutzen_1.jpg)
Between the cavalry on the right wing infantry was positioned.In
the Center the Swedes had 24 heavy artillery pieces. In front
of each of the wings 20 more cannons were positioned and in each
of the "Landskap" regiments light artillery was positioned.
South of Flossgraben the Swedish baggage was positioned.
Along the road to Leipzig there were deap ditches on both sides.
The Imperial forces had used (and improved) these ditches as trenches.
Hidden in these trenches a large number of musketeers were positioned.
And close to these troops, 7 cannons were positioned. North of
the country road The Imperial army was stationed on an 1 km wide
frontal line.
The Finnish cavalry on the right wing had huge problems crossing
these ditches (which were indeed very steep). The musketeers who
stood in the gap right to the left of the finns were able to clear
the ditches from enemy troops though. On the place where the Småländska
and Östgötska Cavalry were to cross the enemy was heavily
fortified. Nils Brahe succeeded though and
cleared the ditches from enemy sharpshooters; and now the Yellow,
Swedish and the Blue Brigades could cross the road. The Enemy
artillery that was there now fell into Swedish hands.
The Green Brigade came under heavy fire from the Imperial Artillery
that was positioned by the four windmills at the outskirts of
the city. The Imperial Troops standing on the left side of the
attackers, fired at the advancing Swedish troops. The battle continued
in stalemate on this front. Duke Bernhard who led the left wing
could not, despite repeated attacks, penetrate the enemy lines.
On the right wing the riders had greater success. The Imperial
Infantry was
forced to withdraw with Götzes iron Cuirassiers.
About afternoon things really looked good for the Swedish forces.
And yet then the fog once more regained in strength. The smoke
from the burning city did not make the battle any easier and thus,
the sight on the battlefield was very unsatisfactory indeed. In
contemporary Swedish war journals you can read about the situation;
"One could not see farther than about four paces in front
of oneself".
At the same time Fieldmarshal Gottfried
Heinrich von Pappenheim arrived with 2000 fresh cavalry, which
were, without hesitation, thrown at the Swedish right wing. On
this side the reinforcement was as largest. Pappenheim was at
the head of his force and he was mortally wounded. Stålhandske
with his Finnish Cavalry were those who got to take the blow by
Pappenheim. Ottavio Piccolominis Elite Cavalry, cuirassiers attacked
the Swedish brigades that had crossed the road. Five times Piccolomini
was forced to change horse since his the horses were rapidly killed
under him (He was wounded 5 times as well). Piccolomini was commander
over the Imperial cavalry units. The Swedish cavalry was forced
to withdraw from the road.
The cuirassiers could not take advantage of this succes though,
becasue the horses were at this time very tired and would not
be able to cross the ditches.
The Swedish Centre was now divided from the right wing. The
Swedish cavalry on the edge of the right wing under the leadership
of General Major Bulash was attacked by the Croatian cavalry.
The Croatians attacked on both sides of the River Flossgraben
and they were close to taking the Swedish baggage as well. But
the Swedish Cavalry under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel
Konrad von Rehlingen succeeded in halting the attack and push
back the Croatians.
The Yellow brigade suffered a lot of harsh attacks. But they did
not back one single inch, while they took heavy losses. Half of
the entire brigade was killled. The Swedish and the blue brigade
took even greater losses.
On the Swedish left wing more cavalry was sent forth from the
other battle line to reinforce Duke Bernhard's cavalry.
Knijphausen advanced with Thurn's and Mitzlaff's infantry to
reinforce the green brigade, which could not advance at this moment.
Nils Brahe with his three companies from the right in the Swedish
Brigade was under heavy attack at this time. Gustav II Adolf,
who was on the right wing, must have received knowledge about
this. Because the King decided to intervene with cavalry to ease
the pressure on the infantry. Those who were closest at hand were
Smålands and Östgöta riders who had withdrawn
from the road. The commander of the Småland cavalry, colonel
Fredrik Stenbock was wounded (shot in his foot) and Östgöta's
commander Major Lennart Nilsson Bååt had been killed.
The King now took command himself over those troops and led them
over the road. The passage where they crossed was narrow and they
were forced to use marching formation to cross. The Småland
cavalry crossed first and the King rode before them towards the
enemy before the Östgöta had crossed.
They rode pass Piccolomini's forces and met Götz' Irondressed
cuirassiers which earier had been pushed back by the swedes. Piccolomini
now turned his forces agains the Östgöta Cavalry (which
once more is driven back). But now the pressure on the Swedish
Brigade faded.
This attack which Gustav II Adolf was commanding came to be
his final. Early in the morning he rode on his horse Streiff.
This horse was very fast and the king therefore rode ahead of
his troops (Smålänningarna). He was first hit by a
bullet in his left arm, which crushed his bonepipe. Even the horse
was hit in its neck. To control the horse the king was forced
to use his right hand. The few companions who were near the king
tried to help him. The cavalry intensified and the king was hit
by another shot from a cavalry gun which penetrated his right
shoulderblade and then went through his lung. The king fell of
his horse. According to some sources the king's companions who
now defended him were horsemaster Von der Schulenberg, courtmaster,
Truchsess, The page Leublfing and the Lifeguard Anders Jönsson.
The Life Guard who tried to protect the king was chopped down.
Leublfing tried to get the king back on his horse but was wounded
seriously.
A Short while after the two first shots Gustav II Adolf received
the fatal shot through his head. The time was now about one o'clock
in the afternoon. The king was plundered. And the horse, Streiff
ran back to the Swedish lines with the fired guns left in the
belt.
The Cross on the image above shows where
the king died.
Even the foot soldiers now were forced to withdraw to the other
side of the road. The Swedish troops now formed behind the road
and retook its battle formation. When the king started his final
operation, Stålhandske succedeed with his Småland
cavalry to stop an attack by Pappenheim's cavalry. Bulach succeeded
in driving the Croatians to flee and then reinforced his right
wing's forward lines with units from the second battle line.
Hendersson's reserve force now replaced the heavy losses in the
Swedish, yellow and blue Brigades. The commander of the Center's
first line, Nils Brahe, had been wounded badly and later died.
Kyle, the commander of the Swedish brigade and the commander of
the blue Brigade, Colonel Winkel, had also been wounded. Behind
the first line Boses and Knijphausens brigades and Öhms Cavalry
advanced a couple of hundred metres behind the first line. Knijphausen
was also commander of the entire denter of the second line.
The Swedes now attacked along the road and succeeded in taking
the Imperial North and Middle artillery. Von Wallenstein still
stood his ground though, at the Windmills. Wallenstein who had
been wounded in his leg.
When the Croatians fled, Pappenheim's and Von hagens troops also
became disordered. Duke Bernhard started a maneuvre to try and
outflank Wallenstein's positions on the Heights of the Windmills.
At the Same time the green brigade charged the now weakened Imperial
Right Wing. The Swedes had drawn forth heavy artillery which now
bombarded the Imperial troops at
the Windmill Heights. Knijphausen's troops succeeded in taking
the Windmill Heights. After heavy fighting the heights were finally
under Swedish rule.
The time had now reached around 4 o' clock in the afternoon and
it was getting dark. Wallenstein decided to withdraw even though
he had been reinforced by 2.700 infantry from Pappenheim. In the
cover of darkness the retreat towards Leipzig started.
The battle was over and the exhausted Swedish troops made camp
on the battlefield. The whole night thousands of soldiers with
torches were on the lookout for the king's corpse. Over 5.000
had been wounded and killed in the Swedish army. One out of six
musketeers had survived the battle. After The King's and Nils
Brahe's death, Duke Bernhard took the command. It would
be approximately a month before Stockholm heard the news of these
deaths . On the Imperial side both Wallenstein and his son Berthold
were wounded. Pappenheim, Piccolomini, Colloredo, the Duke Bishop
Fulda along with other commanders had been killed.
