The Thirty Years war had already continued
for 27 years and took the lives of millions,
but millions more would die to sate the appetites
of the Kings, and not every General care about
their soldiers. The Holy Roman Empire is being
pushed back by the Franco-Swedish alliance.
It seems that it is on the brink and its best
general is now dead. The battle of Zusmarshausen
in the heart of Bavaria will be pivotal.
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In the aftermath of the 2nd battle of Nordlingen
on August 3rd 1645, the Bavarians retreated
southeast, while the battered French took
Nordlingen, and 2 weeks later, Dinkelsbuhl.
Their commander Conde was afflicted with dysentery
and immediately left for France, leaving Turenne
in command of 12 thousand troops. The latter
decided to gather provisions to the north.
Meanwhile, the Bavarian army was now under
the command of Geleen, who was released from
the French captivity in exchange for Gramont.
To the north, Swedish commander in Westphalia,
Konigsmarck, marched towards Saxony and united
his forces with those under Axel Lillie sent
from Sweden. This united army was strong enough
to force the Elector of Saxony, Johan Georg,
to sign a separate treaty and leave the alliance
with the emperor Ferdinand III. Konigsmarck
then started moving to reinforce Torstensson.
On the Bohemian front, Torstensson was seemingly
defeated, but as usual, he put his energy
to good use and drew from his garrisons, getting
his army to more than 14 thousand troops.
Still, his enemies had around 30 thousand.
Despite that, he surprised Archduke Leopold
by appearing directly to his east at Mistelbach
on August 28th. As this move threatened Vienna,
the Austrians had to leave their position
around Morava and retire beyond the Danube.
This technically opened up the route for the
30 thousand Transylvanians of George I Rákóczi
to join Torstensson in his attack on Vienna,
but another major player joined the game:
The Ottoman sultan Ibrahim had just started
the Cretan War against the Venetians, and
didn’t want the Habsburgs to attack his
realm, so he rescinded all support he was
giving to Rákóczi and forced him to sign
a treaty with the emperor. The Transylvanians
retreated from modern Slovakia and, left with
no help, Torstensson had to abandon his position
around the Danube and move to northwestern
Bohemia. The Swedes would not get this close
to Vienna ever again, while Torstensson, whose
health deteriorated, resigned his post, handing
the army to Gustav Wrangel.
The end of the Swedish threat against Vienna
allowed Leopold to move to bolster Geleen,
and by October 5th, the Bavarians had 18 thousand
troops. Soon they started their advance against
Turenne, who had no choice but to evacuate
to Philippsburg. Hot on his heels, the Bavarians
canceled most of the French gains of 1645.
Despite that and Torstensson’s failure to
take Vienna, the defeats at Jankow and Nordlingen,
as well as the separate peace signed by Saxony,
had demoralized the Imperials, and the Emperor
sent orders to his diplomats in Osnabrück
and Münster to accelerate the negotiations
with the Swedes and French. The latter were
still asking for too much, making peace impossible
at the moment.
The Imperials considered Bohemia to be crucial
for the defense of Vienna, so in early 1646,
their main army under Gallas was concentrated
on this front, and were able to expel the
remaining Swedish garrisons in Bohemia by
early March. These small groups joined Konigsmarck
in south Saxony, creating parity on the front.
Neither Konigsmarck nor Gallas were eager
to take a rash action, so nothing of note
happened here in 1646.
Meanwhile, the goal of the French in 1646
was to knock Bavaria out of the war, but the
chief minister of France, Cardinal Mazarin,
was sure that he could achieve that through
diplomacy, so Turenne was ordered to not advance.
The French and Bavaria were negotiating separate
peace, but the progress of the Swedish army
under Wrangel against Leopold once again changed
the situation. In June the Swedes were near
Hanau in Hesse, and the Imperial commander
asked for Bavarian assistance. As Geleen reinforced
Leopold, Turenne decided that the negotiations
had failed and joined the Swedes, who were
falling back from Leopold at Wetzlar on August
10th. Their united armies were too strong
for the Imperials, forcing the Archduke to
start a slow retreat with a number of rearguard
actions. This didn’t stop the allies from
taking Aschaffenburg on August 21st and then
Nordlingen on September 8th.
The Imperials were then pushed across the
Danube and Rain fell to the Franco-Swedish
army on September 21st. As Werth, who defended
Augsburg, showed readiness to defend, the
allies turned against Landsberg and took it.
The beginning of winter halted the Franco-Swedish
advance, but Bavaria was devastated, and the
fall of Landsberg opened the route to Munich,
so the outraged elector of Bavaria Maximilian
I restarted negotiations with Mazarin, and
on March 14th 1647 , signed the Truce of Ulm
unilaterally abandoning the war.
This forced the emperor to hasten his own
diplomatic efforts and it seems that he was
able to persuade his cousin – the king of
Spain - to become more active on the Flanders
front. The Spanish commander in the area,
de Beck, moved his troops to Luxemburg, possibly
threatening the French conquests in the Holy
Roman Empire. Turenne was ordered to move
to Flanders to prevent that from happening.
Turenne’s march north wasn’t without problems.
The Weimarian troops who had fought for Turenne
for years now were unhappy about the salary
situation and thought that they had been discriminated
against by the French officers. When they
learned that the army was leaving Germany,
they mutinied. The French and the Weimarians
actually started fighting, until Turenne decided
to leave them alone, and they left his army
to join the Swedes. This left the French commander
weakened, and he failed to conquer Luxemburg.
On the other hand, Conde also became active
in Flanders, which prompted the Spanish to
ask for imperial help, and the Archduke was
sent to reinforce this front.
The Swedes weren’t fairing much better.
Initially, Wrangel was able to enter the western
part of Austria and took Bregenz, which was
considered safe before and therefore contained
the riches of many Imperial nobles. Wrangel
was planning to launch an attack on Vienna,
but the area was mountainous and the new imperial
commander, Melander, proved to be energetic
and blocked his advance. After not being able
to defeat Melander, Wrangel changed his plan:
In spring and summer he moved to Hesse and
then Thuringia to attack Austria via Bohemia,
but Melander was able to follow every move
of his foe. On August 19th, the Swedes attempted
to break into the Bohemian heartland to the
west of Pilsen, but were stopped with minor
casualties. Wrangel was then ordered to draw
Melander away, and he did just that by moving
north. Both armies moved to winter quarters
in Westphalia and Hesse.
Simultaneously, events were transpiring in
Bavaria. Maximilian’s officers were enraged
by his betrayal of the Catholic cause and
a group of them, led by Werth, mutinied. The
loyal forces were able to defeat the mutineers,
but the latter just escaped to Austria and
joined the emperor’s service. Still, the
Catholics were resentful, and when Mazarin
demanded more concessions in the aftermath
of the mutiny, Maximilian terminated the truce
with France and rejoined the Imperial alliance
in September.
With the resumption of Bavarian participation
in 1648, Gronsfeld was appointed the leader
of the Electorate’s army, so Melander, who
had a hard time feeding his troops in Hesse,
fell back to Nuremberg, where the Bavarians
joined him, bringing their total to 24 thousand
men. Using the Imperial retreat, Wrangel started
advancing south in February and was soon reinforced
by Konigsmarck. The Swedes now had around
22 thousand soldiers, and by March 13th, occupied
the area around Wurzburg. Turenne was finally
allowed to cross the Rhine, and in March his
9000 took a position at Aschaffenburg. On
the 18th the allies linked up near Dinkelsbuhl.
In response Melander left Ingolstadt and started
moving towards Lech, leaving garrisons to
defend Donauwerth and Lauingen. However, the
former fell by the end of the month and the
allies gained a crossing across the Danube.
At this point, Turenne and Wrangel started
arguing what their next move should be. Turenne
wanted to march southwest to secure more lands
for his country and knock Bavaria out of the
war again, however the Swedish commander was
eager to retake Bohemia. In the end they reached
a consensus: the Swedes would take the Upper
Palatinate and then both armies would attack
Swabia.
To that end, Turenne moved to Ansbach, while
Wrangel attacked Neumarkt and Konigsmarck
Amberg. The Imperials answered with a march
to Regensburg. They weren’t able to stop
the fall of Neumarkt in early April, but stopped
Konigsmarck from taking Amberg and then Eger.
Unable to force a battle with Melander, Wrangel
rejoined Turenne on the 17th near Dinkelsbuhl,
which fell to their forces by the 21st. All
this movement only exacerbated the supply
situation of the allies and they were compelled
to reposition to Württemberg, which was left
relatively unscathed by the absence of war
in the last few years. By the end of April
they were to the south of Stuttgart, while
the Imperial commander left garrisons to the
south of the Danube and relocated to Zusmarshausen
on May 1st. Thus, Melander’s forces were
dispersed around the area, meaning that he
decreased the supply strain, but at the same
time meant that a surprise attack could have
caught him unprepared. Over the next 2 weeks,
the armies raided, and counter raided with
minor results. However, this was done deliberately
by Turenne, who managed to cover his real
advance with all the raiding.
On the 16th the allies started traversing
the Danube at Lauingen, unbeknownst to the
Imperials. The allies probably were just looking
for a way to force the river and initially
didn’t know where Melander was. However,
upon crossing the Danube, Turenne was informed
by his scouts that the main portion of the
enemy troops was at Zusmarshausen, but their
army was dispersed around the area. The French
commander, alongside Wrangel and Konigsmarck,
led 6000 horsemen to engage the Imperials,
ordering the rest of the army to cross the
river. In total, the allies had more than
25000 troops.
Melander’s scouts had also informed him
of Turenne’s advance, so on the night of
the 16th he and his 3000 started their retreat
towards the east. His army had to get through
3 passes and cross 2 rivers to reach the safety
of Augsburg, and that would prove hard to
do with a baggage train on difficult terrain.
He ordered the Italian general Montecuccoli
to cover the retreat.
By 7 AM on the 7th Turenne was at Zusmarshausen
and noticed Montecuccoli’s 1500 horsemen
defending the first pass. As someone who didn’t
appreciate Conde’s frontal charges, he ordered
Wrangel to use the northern bypass route to
outflank the foe, but the Italian general
was too cunning for that, and immediately
started to retreat to the second pass. Unfortunately,
the rest of the Imperial army was too slow
and the baggage train was still not beyond
the second pass, which forced Montecuccoli
to stop and fight. However, his 1500 were
no match for Turenne’s 3000 and he was pushed
back with losses in the direction of the third
pass.
It was now 9 AM and Turenne was reinforced
by 1000 horsemen. Montecuccoli attempted to
stop the allies at the entry of the third
pass using 800 musketeers and 4 guns in the
first echelon, and his horsemen in the second.
As they didn’t have time to properly set
up, the French leader ordered ¾ of his army
to charge directly, while Wrangel was sent
to envelop the enemy from the south. At first,
the allied attack was successful and they
pushed the musketeers into the second echelon,
but then Melander was bolstered by 1000 or
so troops and joined the fray, which halted
Turenne’s breakthrough. For some time, the
sides were evenly matched, but then Wrangel
appeared in the Imperial rear. His attack
finally broke Melander’s lines. The Imperial
commander was killed, while Montecuccoli was
able to escape with a few hundred others.
The allied casualties were light, while the
Imperials lost almost 3000 troops and hundreds
of baggage carts, which probably was even
more detrimental than any manpower losses.
By that point, more allied troops were in
the area and Turenne decided to push and take
the strategically crucial Augsburg, but Gronsfeld
arrived on the scene with 2000 infantry, 5000
cavalry and 30 guns. Turenne had just 6 guns,
and in the ensuing artillery duel, the allies
suffered casualties. Gronsfeld then ordered
the best of his cavalry to attack and push
back his foe. This attack succeeded, and the
allied forces had to retreat beyond the third
pass. Using this, Gronsfeld moved his troops
across the river.
Despite this minor success, Gronsfeld was
still heavily outnumbered. Thankfully for
him, the allies had no desire to cross the
Lech via a narrow passage, and started moving
north towards Oberndorf. Konigsmarck and 2000
men were sent to attack Bohemia. Turenne’s
somewhat slow movement allowed the Bavarian
commander to gather almost 15 thousand troops,
and although he was outnumbered by 23 thousand
allies, he only had to defend the crossing.
Two armies almost copied the same positions
Gustavus Adolphus and Tilly held 15 years
before during the first battle of Lech. To
prevent the enemy from forcing the river,
the Bavarians built a sconce on its eastern
bank. Unlike Tilly, who had most of his infantry
near the bank, which allowed the Swedes to
destroy their formation, Gronsfeld kept most
of his 8000 footmen further back, planning
to counterattack the allies when they attempted
to cross. This was a good plan that required
precise timing.
The allies spent the 26th of May preparing
for the battle. 12 heavy guns were raised
to bombard the Bavarians and a portable bridge
was built. The cannon fire didn’t do much
damage, as Gronsfeld’s troops were out of
range, so the allies decided to cross on the
27th. A few cavalry units were ordered to
force the river on a number of occasions to
act as scouts. The Bavarian patrols noticed
some of them and came to the conclusion that
the enemy was on the east side of the river.
When Gronsfeld was told about it, he abandoned
his excellent position and started fleeing.
Turenne didn’t know about that and on the
27th began the crossing. A few more cavalry
squadrons were sent forth to find where the
Imperials were. They bypassed Rain and engaged
the retreating foe. This only sped up Gronsfeld’s
retreat and a number of cannons were captured
by the allies.
The bridge across was dropped, but at first,
the defenders of the sconce and the garrison
of Rain managed to set it on fire. Despite
their valiant efforts, Turenne’s troops
soon pushed them back and started crossing.
With most of their army on the right side,
the allies attacked and razed Rain in a vicious
manner, probably hoping to scare Bavaria into
submission.
Desperately outnumbered, Gronsfeld continued
to retreat, but on June 3rd was relieved of
command due to this and replaced with Hunoldstein.
The new commander retreated beyond Isar river
and used the garrisons to get his army to
15 thousand troops. The allies, who left a
garrison at Rain, now had around 22 thousand
and their decisive advantage in mounted troops
meant that the Bavarians had to keep the river
crossings to prevent the rest of the electorate
from falling to the enemy. Mazarin continued
negotiations with Maximilian, so Turenne was
ordered not to attack Munich directly, to
prevent the elector from backing off from
the peace talks. The allies marched for Freising.
On June 3rd the city fell, opening the path
across the river. The allies continued with
a siege and conquest of Landshut, while the
Bavarians fell behind the river Inn.
Thankfully for the latter, in June they were
reinforced by Piccolomini, sent by the emperor,
bringing the number of their troops to 24
thousand. Not willing to fight the fresh troops,
the allies retreated north beyond the Isar.
The two sides wrestled between 2 rivers for
a few more months, fighting in a number of
skirmishes, but the armies were exhausted,
and finding provisions was becoming a bigger
problem, so the action on this front stalled.
Ironically, the fate of the war that took
more than 5 million German lives would not
be decided in Germany, but on other fronts.
We will conclude our series on the Thirty
Years’ War next time, with the battles of
Lens and Prague, and the details of the Westphalian
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