Battle of Wittstock

Battle of Wittstock
Date of battle	October 4, 1636
Conflict	Thirty Years' War
Battle before	Battle of Nördlingen (1634)
Battle after	Battle of Rheinfelden[?]
Site of battle	Wittstock[?], about 95km northwest of Berlin, Germany
Combatant 1	Sweden, Scotland
Commanders	Johan Banér, Lennart Torstenson, James King[?], Alexander Leslie
Strength	22,000 troops
Combatant 2	Saxony, Holy Roman Empire
Commanders	John George I, Elector of Saxony[?]
Strength	30,000 troops
Result	Decisive Swedish victory
Casualties	(1): 5,000 (2): 11,000 killed or wounded, 8,000 captured

The Holy Roman Emperor in Vienna, with his Saxon and Catholic allies, was contesting Northern Germany with the Protestant princes, championed by the Swedes. Like boxers the two armies circled around each other for eleven days; the Swedish army like an aggressive, murderous lightweight which over and over again tries to take the advantage, while the heavyweight opponent over and over again is forced into small retreats. But on Saturday, the 24th of September 1636 Banér's army intercepted their opponents in the hilly landscape filled with forests slightly south of Wittstock. The Imperials decided to wait for the Swedes on a range of sandy hills, Scharfenberg; with a part of the front with six ditches swiftly dug to ensure victory and a wall of linked wagons. Their commanders waited for some time for the Swedish troops to appear on the open fields before their front, so that they could be destroyed by the artillery just as in the battle of Nördlingen. But instead the message arrived that the Swedish army against all expectations was attacking the left flank. The Imperials were forced to regroup their frontlines and set up a new front. The Battle of Wittstock had begun.

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