Battle of Breitenfeld, First (September 17, 1631)

Gustavus was looking for a fight. He needed to shore up shaky German alliances by proving to cautious Protestant princes that his army could hold its own in battle against the immense forces of the Habsburgs of Austria and Spain and the Catholic states of southern Germany. He got his wish at Breitenfeld, northwest of Leipzig. His artillery train of 70 small but highly mobile and rapid-firing field guns was under the able command of Lennart Torstensson. The Swedish army of 24,000 was supported by 18,000 coerced Saxons and troops of the Leipziger Bund. These were on the Swedish left flank, commanded by the timid Elector Johann Georg. Gustavus faced 35,000 Spanish on loan to Ferdinand II. Tilly’s tercios were supported by Bavarians, Croats, and others from the Catholic League. He had 30 big but immobile guns: the Catholic guns were large 24-pounders, not true field artillery. They required teams of 24 horses each to tow and an additional dozen or more draught animals to pull carts burdened with ammunition and casks of black powder.

Once emplaced, it was almost impossible to shift these behemoths even if the battle drifted out of range. Torstensson placed his highly mobile 3-pounders in batteries in front of his infantry. These true field pieces were served by crews of two men, and could be swung around or moved with speed and ease by a pair of horses. Gustavus had also integrated gunners into his army: he did not depend on civilian specialists for hire as did the Catholic army. Highly trained, the Swedish gunners supported equally well-drilled musketeers and achieved a rate of fire that may have exceeded that of their enemies by three-to-one. Gustavus also set blocks of infantry between his cavalry, so that each arm supported and steadied the other two. Tilly positioned his army in standard formation: solid blocks of infantry at the center, with two cavalry wings. His artillery was at his center-right in front of his infantry.

Torstensson opened the fight, peppering the Imperial cavalry with accurate fire from his forward field guns. This seems to have provoked Graf zu Pappenheim to charge with one wing of Imperial cavalry, but Swedish musketeers cut down the Imperial horse. Swedish light cavalry counterattacked and drove Pappenheim’s cuirassiers from the field. On Gustavus’ left Imperial cavalry under Count Fu¨rstenberg had attacked upon seeing Pappenheim move.

Unlike the Swedes on the right, after just a few salvoes the Saxons wavered, then ran, leaving their artillery to be overrun. Johann Georg also galloped off in fright, tending to neither the exposed flank of his ally nor to his own men. The suddenly exposed Swedes held fast, articulating their flexible infantry line to meet the onrushing Imperial horse, and blasted away at the surprised cavalrymen-who had expected to roll up an exposed flank-with heavy musket fire supported by their light field cannon, which had also repositioned and now blasted away with grapeshot at intimate ranges. The Imperials fell back under withering fire while taking heavy casualties. The Swedes rushed forward and recovered the Saxon cannon which Fu¨rstenberg’s cavalry had overrun but was forced to leave behind. As the Imperials also neglected to spike the guns, the Swedes turned them around and fired into what was now the enemy’s exposed flank. Then the Swedes again articulated their line, moving with a tactical speed the clumsy tercios simply could not match. Thus, they enfiladed the Spaniards (and Walloons and Croats) and poured musket fire into exposed ranks and files from both front and side. Meanwhile, some Swedish cavalry maneuvered to the rear of the tercios, cutting at their back ranks with sabers or stabbing with lances.