lutzen.html

Wallensteins move to the swedish base areas and his threat to Saxony forced Gustaf to abort his invasion of Austria and go on a forced march to the north to intercept the machiavellan lord Wallenstein. With the lines of communications and supply threatened the imperial army must be ejected. The prince Johan-Georg of Saxony had always been rather reluctant about the alliance with the swedish and to keep him in the alliance his country must be saved from the imperial armys looting. The quick march to the north was historic in that the swedes travelled 40 km a day compared to the customary 4 km a day. The army was, as usual, acompanied by merchants, thieves, whores and the officers families and other assorted rabble effectively doubling the size of it. With thousands of wagons drawn by horses and oxen an army was a huge lumbering creature that moved slowly absorbing all edible within a certain radius turning its trail into a logistical desert. The speed had its price however. Stragglers were common and the loss of horses severe. Gustaf decided to attack the imperials for two reasons.
The political situation was to Gustav advantage. His forces totalled 150 000 men and he controls greater parts of Germany. The imperials had 100 000. Gustav must retain the initiative and keep the rich Saxony in the alliance. The other reason was strategic. He controlled more territory but the communications were poor and if the opportunity to strike presented itself one must seize it. And it did present itself. Wallenstein had waited for an attack for two weeks and had decided that Gustav had gone into winterquarters and now did the same. It was the first really decisive mistake that Wallenstein committed and also his last. Gustav heard of Wallensteins forces going into winterquarters and immediately decided to attack. 4 o clock in the morning on the 5th of nvember the army moved towards Lutzen in battle formation.
While the swedish army was advancing on Lutzen hoping to surprise the enemy on the early morning of November 5th, Wallenstein gave the order to his army to go into winterquarters. Pappenheims corps of more than 5000 had already left for Halle. The others prepared to leave as well. At 10 o clock the swedes reached the town of Weissenfels where a cavalry force under Rudolf von Colloredo remained. The imperial commander immidietly realized the lethal threat and fired three rounds with cannon to alert the rest of the army. A courier was sent speeding as well. Then he deployed his perhaps 100 men at the crossing point of the river Rippach, being seven meters wide and 2 meters deep it was a good choise. He managed to delay the swedes for several hours. When Colloredos men had been thrown out of the way the last kilometers were in deep mud which further delayed the swedes. Dusk came at about 4 o clock and as the swedes saw the light of the town Luetzen ahead they halted and encamped the best they could in battle order on the muddy fields. The plan to surprise the enemy had failed. Gustaf still had the larger army and the decision to attack in the morning was taken.
Wallenstein had been reached by the news of the swedes in the afternoon and had at first refused to believe the news. He then immidietly fired three rounds as a signal to concentrate the forces at once. A messenger was sent to alert Pappenheim in Halle 30 km away. For some reason the courier didn't find Pappenheim before midnight when Wallensteins men were marching out on the fields. The king slept in his carriage with his closest men, Duke Bernard of Weimar and the dutchman Dodo von Knijphausen. Johan Banér was still recovering from his wounds from the debacle at Alte Feste and Lennart Torstensson was just being released from his wet dungeon in Ingolstadt while Horn was operating with his army on the Rhine. The 20 000 men of the army spent the night in the cold, slowly freezing mud, listening to the drums of the enemy as he deployed his 17 000 men.
Early in the morning the swedish generals were eager to attack but the autumn fog was evidently a devout catholic. It swept the battlefield in a dense white clothing that obscured both friend and foe. The swedes had to wait. The king dressed as he usually did in battle. Three shirts and a yellow leather jacket of mooseskin. After the wounds in the polish war he never wore a harness. Instead of a helmet he wore a widebrimmed hat. A religious service was ordered to strengthen the mens moral. The king also adressed the army. To the swedes and finns he said: - Dear friends and countrymen! Stand solid by each other and fence with vigour for your god, your county and your king. I will reward you all and you will find reason to thank me. The germans heard another speach: - My good brothers and friends! Go on with strength! You will not only fight under me but with and beside me as well. I will lead you and dare my blood and life! The king changed horse since the first one was already fatigued since the king was rather fat. The new one was a brown stallion named Streiff. Around 11 o clock a slight breeze dispersed some of the fog and it became evident how close the enemy was. The orders were quickly given, the infantry drums sounded like rolling thunder and the cavalrys trumpets like audible silver. The army started to move towards the now prepared enemy. The king rode with the right cavalry wing with Torsten Stålhandske and his finns while Duke Bernard rode with the left cavalry wing. The center, the swedish, blue, green and yellow brigades with the heavy artillery was commanded by Nils Brahe. Each wing had 20 more guns and every regiment their own regimental light guns. The national swedish-finnish units were in the center. They were a minority in the army that was dominated by foreign mercenaries.
To the left of the Swedish and at the imperial right flank the town of Luetzen had been put to the torch and was burning. It was Wallensteins way of protecting his exposed flank since Pappenheim and his men were still missing. His army was nothing like the one that Tilly had led at Breitenfeldt the year before. It was organized in a manner similar to the swedish and similarly equipped. Three cleverly deployed batterys, one on a hill with some windmills close to the burning town immidietly sent their heavy projectiles bouncing into the advancing rectangles. As the swedes advanced and reached the road they found that the enemy had entrenched behind it with dense musketeer formations and that the ditch on the close side was deep followed by a steep roadbank. The finns had a hard time to get their horses up the bank in the slippery mud. Horses and riders falling over each other in the mud. The advance was stopped by the musketry and the ditch/roadbank.
Only on the right part of the center was a swift success achieved. The reliable swedish-finnish units of the threw the enemy out of their entrenchements. The swedish brigade consisted of the men from Västergötland, Östergötland, Dalarna, Uppland and Finland and the swedish and german guard units of the yellow brigade went over the road. Behind the road was one of the imperial batterys deployed. But the sight of the yellow brigades men in yellow uniforms trimmed in black and with the black banners embroided with the royal coat of arms sent the guns crews into a rout. The guns were seized and the blue brigade could follow the yellow and swedish. The musketeers attached to the finnish cavalry managed to clear the ditch from enemy musketeers at that point as well with the aid of their regimental guns after a fierce fight. The green brigade had bogged down at the centers left close to the left cavalry wing that was under heavy fire from the windmills. A horrible melee was taking place in visual conditions that were appalling even for its time. The remaining fog mixed with the drifting banks of powdersmoke and the smoke from the burning town made it even worse than the usual "fog of battle". The swedish war diary tells that one could hardly see eachother at four paces distance. At noon the battle was going well. The swedish right and center was pressing the enemy back. Then two things happened: the fog got denser again and Pappenheim arrived with his cavalry.
The reinforcements were thrown into the fight at the imperial left were the inferiority was turned into superiority. The ever so yearning for a fight Pappenheim threw his heavily armored kuerrassiers into a wild charge that hit generalmajor Bulachs right cavalrywing. The imperials also threw the croat cavalry in a wild attack that sent Vilhelm of Weimars unit into a rout but colonellieutenant Konrad von Rehlingen managed to check them with his swedish cavalry. The wild cavalrybattle in the impossible visual conditions must have been an unimaginable horror with awful losses to both sides. The fieldmarshall Gottfrid Henrik von Pappenheim was close to winning the battle for the imperials at their left flank. Not that he was very imaginative or even thinking, but his wild offensive spirit and ruthlessness made him one of the best imperial commanders. He drew with him waves of pikemen and musketeers with his kuerrassiers and hit the blue, yellow and swedish brigades as well as Stålhandskes cavalry in a fierce attack. Time after time the imperials hit the swedes. Pappenheim himself was shot from his horse almost immidetly and was carried from the field hit by two musketballs as well as grapeshot from a regimental gun. He died a few hours later on the way to Leipzig. In the swedish brigade seven out of ten pikemen fell and four out of ten musketeers. The men of the yellow brigade fell in rows as they stood suffering worse than the swedish brigade, going into history as the heroes of the yellow brigade in boyhood litterature. The italian commander Piccolominis cavalry unit was almost annihilated by the swedish fire and he had five horses shot under him and he was wounded five times without leaving the frey.
On the left flank an imperial kuerassier attack drove the swedish cavalry from Småland and Östergötland from the road but then the imperials got stuck in the ditch themselves since the men were to heavy in their armor for the poor animals. On the right flank the carnage continued. The blue brigade suffered as badly as the yellow fighting the veteran regiment of the leauger Comargo. The men of the blue brigade were as experienced as their enemy and gave as good as they got, dying on the spot where they stood. But the swedes were finally pressed back and the imperials recaptured their battery. The king decided to act to save the situation. He assumed command of Smålands cavalry regiment whose commander Fredrik Stenbock had been shot in the foot and led it to the right flank. They attacked the enemy cavalry attacking the infantrybrigades. The pressure was relieved somewhat.
The king was in the middle of the intense fightning. The swedes under the kings command had hit Götz kuerrassiers and in the wild and wooly fight friend and foe were quickly mixed. It all happened very rapidly. A pistolball from behind struck the kings left elbow breaking it. The king had to drop his sword to control Streiff. Maybe it was due to the combination of the kings bad eyesight, he was very nearsighted, and the extremely bad visual conditions or just that Steiff was difficult to control but he and his small number of companions became separated from the rest of the regiment as he tried to get out of the battle. They rode straight into a group of imperial kuerrassiers. A confused fight ensued. They were from Piccolominis regiment and one of them, Moritz von Falkenberg, recognozed the king. He cried: That the right bird! Thats the one we are looking for! He fired his pistol into the kings back from only a meters range. The ball entered under the right shoulderblade and went into the lung. A second later von Falkenberg fell of his horse impaled on the sword of one of kings life guards. Another man in the kings company, Franz Albrekt von Sachsen-Lauenburg tried to hold the staggering king into his saddle. Another pistolshot. It hit Streiff in the neck. The horse reared. The kings page Anders was killed. Another pistolshot. The muzzle was pressed to Lauenburgs head but he managed to strike it away but had to let go of the king. The muzzleflash burned his face and he fled. The king slid to the gound but got caught in the stirrup with one foot and was dragged behind for a short distance but finally he lay still on his back. Still alive. Three imperial riders appeared. They got off and one thrusted his sword into the helpless kings chest while the other pierced his left arm. Then they rode away. After a while Ottavio Piccolomini appeared since he had heard that the king was dead. But the king was still alive. Some in his company looted the still breathing king and one gave his leatherjacket to Piccolomini, another took his ring and a third his necklace and watch. They administered yet some cuts and thusts o the man with the large belly. Another pistolshot. A fifth. A pistol was pressed against the kings temple and fired. Gustaf II Adolf, king of Sweden, was dead. One casualty of the days 7000. He had lived as a conqueror and had died as one. It was not a surprising end for a man who always lived so dangerously.
The battle went on however. The swedish reform their order of battle behind the road and units from the second lie are brought up to reinforce the first that is badly mauled. Stålhandske checked Pappenheims cavalry and von Bulach finally threw the croats back. Henderssons reserves filled up the blue, swedish and yellow brigades. Kyle, commander of the swedish brigade, was wounded as was colonel Winkel of the blue brigade. Nils Brahe had been fatally wounded in the thigh and was down. No one knows who led the first line. From behind the brigades of Bose and Knijphausen as well as Öhm cavalry advanced. Duke Bernard assumes command and he orders a renewed attack. When the news of the kings death spreads among the soldiers the swedes and finns are thrown into a berserker rage that spreads to the foreign mercenaries and with new rageinspired strength they cross the road. Both the northern and the center batteries are captured by the swedes while the windmill battery holds. The fog again becomes more dense. The croats are routed and plunder the imperial train on their way back. Pappenheims cavalry are routed as well as is the kuerrassier regiment Haagen. Duke Bernard starts to outflank the imperial central position at the windmills with the green brigade that charges and breaks the enemy resistance on the imperial right flank. At three o clock the battle now centers on the windmills. In a pause in the battle duke Bernard meets with Knijphausen. Knijphausens forces are disorganized and have little grasp of the situation and Knijphausen himself had lost heart after an imperial counter attack has recaptured the windmills. The duke decides to continue anyway despite Knijphausens objections. While the imperials have recaptured their thirteen guns by the windmills the siuation is not disadvatagous to the swedes. So the attack was renewed after a fierce cannonade and the guns in their emplacements filled with dead are captured again.
At five o clock dusk was setting and the duke Bernard of Weimar, a young but cool and experienced mercenary who disguised himself as a lutheran and patriot but really fought for himself, evaluated the situation. The troops were exhausted and chocked after the horrible battle on the wet and muddy fields. The duke was chocked as well. Only one out of six swedish and finnish men in the green, blue and yellow brigades had survived. The losses totalled 5000 dead and wounded making it one of the bloodiest battles in swedish history. He started to prepare for a retreat. Another day of battle was not what he wanted. Wallenstein had been lightly wounded in the hip by a musketball and his son Bertold was wounded. Piccolomini and eight colonellieutenents were wounded. Fifteen colonels and the abbot of Fulda who so dearly had wanted to see and even participate in a battle against the heretics were dead (the abbot shot through the head) as well as the flamboyant Pappenheim (who died with the bloody letter orderering him to Luetzen in forced marsch in his pocket, it can be seen at the warmuseum in Vienna) and Colloredo. Wallenstein feared that the swedes were expecting reinforcements from the saxon army (which was not the case) and since his army was starting to show signs of panic due to the high losses and extreme fatigue since no one had slept last night he decided to withdraw despite the fact that Pappenheims infantry at last had arrived with 2700 men (in poor shape and fatigued as well). It was not a rout, it was a retreat in order with forty captured colors. The news of the imperial withdrawal reached Bernard before had had given his order of withdrawal. So the swedish army remained on the field the following night in the slippery, cold mud among the dead and dying.
History has considered Luetzen to be a swedish grand victory at a terrible prize, the kings death. More modern historians describe it either as a draw or as a defeat due to the conequenses the battle had. My view is that the battle must be considered a victory. The swedes remained on the field and had captured all of the enemies guns. They remained in contact with their lines of supply and communication. The enemy was ejected from Saxony and Johan Georg kept in the alliance. But it was not a decisive victory. A new Breitenfeldt had probably broken the emperor and the imperials. The hope of a quick and decicive victory over the imperials was gone. The great leader of the protestants was gone and both sides equally strong again. A tactical victory but a strategic setback is probably the best description.