The Battle of Lund, part of the Swedish-Brandenburgian war, was fought in an area north of the city of Lund in Sweden between the invading Danish army and the army of Charles XI of Sweden on December 4, 1676. The Danish army of about 12,300 was under the personal command of 21-year-old King Christian V of Denmark and aided by General Carl von Arensdorff, and the Swedish army, which numbered about 8,000, was commanded by Field Marshal Simon Grundel-Helmfelt. ImageMetadata File history File links Beskrivelse King of Sweden, Charles XI, during the battle of Lund in 1676. ... Scanian War (Danish: Skånske Krig) was the Nordic part of the Franco-Dutch War (1672-1678). ... December 4 is the 338th day (339th on leap years) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Events January 29 - Feodor III becomes Tsar of Russia First measurement of the speed of light, by Ole Rømer Bacons Rebellion Russo-Turkish Wars commence. ... Lund is a city in Scania in southernmost Sweden, and the center of the Lund Municipality. ... Charles XI (Karl XI) (November 24, 1655 – April 5, 1697) was King of Sweden from 1660 until his death. ... Baron Simon Grundel-Helmfelt (1617–1677) was a Swedish Field marshal. ... Christian V (April 15, 1646 - August 25, 1699), was king of Denmark and Norway from 1670-1699. ... Carl von Arensdorff (Danish: Carl von Arenstorff) (1625-1676), was an officer born in Mecklenburg, who served with the Swedish, Danish and Dutch armies. ... Lund is a city in Scania in southernmost Sweden, and the center of the Lund Municipality. ... Charles XI (Karl XI) (November 24, 1655 – April 5, 1697) was King of Sweden from 1660 until his death. ... December 4 is the 338th day (339th on leap years) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Events January 29 - Feodor III becomes Tsar of Russia First measurement of the speed of light, by Ole Rømer Bacons Rebellion Russo-Turkish Wars commence. ... Christian V (April 15, 1646 - August 25, 1699), was king of Denmark and Norway from 1670-1699. ... Carl von Arensdorff (Danish: Carl von Arenstorff) (1625-1676), was an officer born in Mecklenburg, who served with the Swedish, Danish and Dutch armies. ... Baron Simon Grundel-Helmfelt (1617–1677) was a Swedish Field marshal. ...

Events leading up to the battle

After the Swedish defeat at Fehrbellin and a number of Danish triumphs at sea the Swedish situation in Germany was, to say the least, troublesome.

The Danes saw this as an opportunity to regain control over Scania, which was lost to Sweden in the 1658 Treaty of Roskilde, and invaded via Helsingborg in late June 1676 with an army of 14,000 men. The local peasantry sided with the Danes and this made it impossible for the outnumbered Swedish troops to effectively defend the recently gained province. In a month's time only the fortified town of Malmö remained under Swedish control. Terra Scania, or Skåneland, once constituted the eastern part of the Danish kingdom. ... The Treaty of Roskilde was signed on February 26, 1658 in the Danish city Roskilde, whereby the king of Denmark-Norway sacrificed nearly half his territory to save the rest. ... Helsingborg [hɛlsiŋbɔrj] is a municipality (population 117,737) and city in Scania in southernmost Sweden. ...   Malmö? IPA: [málmø:] is a town and municipality in the southernmost Swedish province of SkÃ¥ne. ...

King Charles XI was preparing a new army in the province of Småland. In August, Danish troops trying to advance North were defeated at the battle of Halmstad. In October the Swedes had gathered 14,000 men, of which three-fourths were mounted, and felt confident enough to march south. They slowly fought their way in an attempt to rescue Malmö. Supplies were sparse as convoys were often intercepted and plundered by local peasants under the command of Danish officers.   SmÃ¥land? is a historical province (landskap) in southern Sweden. ... The Battle of Halmstad (also known as the Battle at Fyllebro) was fought at Fyllebro 5 km south of the town Halmstad in southwest Sweden on August 17, 1676. ...

In early November the Danish King and his army had taken post at Lund, south of the Kävlinge River. The Swedish army, unable to cross the river as the Danes controlled all crossings, camped on the North side. This went on for a month, but in late November snow arrived and the river surface began to freeze. On the morning of December 3 the Swedish General of Fortifications Erik Dahlberg reported to the king that the ice would carry. The Danes were now confident that the Swedes had gone into winter camp and that they would not attack until spring. Charles XI, on the other hand, knew that his freezing and starving army would not last for long in Scania - it was now or never. Kävlinge River (KävlingeÃ¥n in Swedish, but also known as Lödde Ã¥) is the name of a small river on the flat lands of Scania in southern Sweden. ... December 3 is the 337th (in leap years the 338th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Erik Dahlberg in Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna Erik Dahlberg Count Erik Dahlberg, (1625-1703), Swedish soldier and engineer, was born at Stockholm. ...

The battle

Already 01.30 in the morning the Swedish army broke camp. After one hour the moon set and the troops started moving towards the river. At 04.00 the crossing commenced and 05.30 the whole army found itself safe and sound on the south bank. Strangely enough the Danes had not been alarmed.

According to the initial plan the Swedes should attack the sleeping Danish camp in south-east head on. But as reconnaissance patrols reported that the ground between the two armies was clearly unsuitable for cavalry Charles and his generals gathered to discuss the new situation. Most advisors pointed out that since the Danish army counted more troops it would be foolish to attack by foot and the Swedish army had to rely on its cavalry to win, and that in any case the Danes would surely be awake long before the Swedish army could reach the camp if they had to walk there.

The king, for once, listened to reason and though he himself wanted to attack at once he decided that the troops should advance towards the hills just north of Lund. To seize the hills would mean a tactical advantage and the town itself would prevent the Danes from outflanking the Swedish army to the south. At the same time the Danes had discovered the Swedish movement and soon started moving in the same direction. This developed into a race to control the hills outside the town wall.

The first skirmish between the Swedish right wing and the Danish left wing for the hills more or less came to a tie with hills under Swedish control.

It was nine o'clock in the morning and the sun had just risen when the real battle began. The front now stretched one kilometer in North-South, with the Danes to the east and the Swedes to the west. The Danish army was supported by 56 guns of various calibers, while the Swedes only brought 8 six-pounders and 4 three-pounders.

After a fearsome fight the Danish left wing was outflanked, dissolved and left the field at 10.00. Their commander Carl von Arensdorff had been badly wounded already at the initial skirmish and forced to leave the battle. Charles XI had personally led the flanking maneuver. Now the King, his men and Field Marshal Helmfelt started pursuing the Danish soldiers. Any Dane who lagged behind was cut down. The terrible chase went on all the 8 kilometers to the river, with a short stop at the Danish camp, where some Danish officers tried to organize a form of resistance. Carl von Arensdorff (Danish: Carl von Arenstorff) (1625-1676), was an officer born in Mecklenburg, who served with the Swedish, Danish and Dutch armies. ... Baron Simon Grundel Helmfelt (1617-1677), Swedish Field marshal. ...

During the crossing, the ice broke under the weight of the movement, and a great number of the remaining Danish left wing drowned. The Swedish king was not sure what to do next: Should he rout the fleeing Danish cavalry all the way to Landskrona or should he return to Lund? Available intelligence told him that the whole Danish army was on the run. The old water tower in Landskrona is perhaps the local landmark and can be seen from far away Landskrona is a city in southernmost Sweden with some 27,000 inhabitants. ...

However, while the Danish left wing fled, the right wing pushed the Swedes back, and further back, until the Swedish left was scattered.

When King Christian V left the field with his left at the beginning of the battle and General Arensdorff was wounded his brother Friedrich von Arensdorff had assumed command of the Danish army. Though he was a brave man his formalism now hindered him from attacking the Swedish Centers vulnerable left flank. Instead he stopped to regroup. Friedrich von Arensdorff (Danish: Fredrik von Arenstorff) (1626-1689) was a officer in Swedish and Danish service. ...

The Danish front was now facing south and the Swedish forces found themselves under constant attack and with their back against the town wall. The situation for the Swedes were getting more and more desperate and no one had seen the king, the Household cavalry or the Field Marshal for hours. At noon the battle came to a halt while the two forces regrouped. It is assumed that the Danes now counted 4,500 infantry and 2,100 cavalry, and the Swedes 1,400 infantry and 2,500 cavalry. When the fighting started again the Swedes were forced further back and it looked like a Danish victory was not far of.

At 15.00 the sun began to set when the Swedish King returned from north with his cavalry. He had also picked up some cavalry units from the scattered Swedish left wing and now decided to try to circle the Danish army to the west to join the remains of the Swedish center.

However, the Danish commander Arensdorff made the decision to leave the Swedish center where it was for the moment and attend to the enemy cavalry in the northwest. As it turned out the two forces lined up very much in a similar manner as the battle had started six hours earlier.

As soon as the battle started over again King Charles XI, two of his generals and three of his guards managed to break through the Danish lines and joined the diminished Swedish Center. Inspired by the return of their king the exhausted troops now attacked the Danish forces in the back.

Though the Danes still outnumbered the Swedes, by approximately 4,500 to 4,000, Arensdorff had lost the initiative and after just half an hour his army had disintegrated.

Charles XI wanted to clear the field but while the Danish General Bibow bravely protected the retreat, the remaining Danish cavalry disappeared into the smoke and the darkness. The infantry that could not get away were massacred until Field Marshal Helmfelt ordered that the killing should stop and that Danish and Dutch soldiers that surrendered should be spared. At 17.00 in the evening cease fire was sounded.

Aftermath

The exact losses on each side are not known, but the bodies were counted the next day. The original notes have been lost but contemporary Swedish sources mention the numbers 8,357, 8,892 and 8,993 dead bodies on the battlefield. Then there were the Danish cavalry men that drowned and all the soldiers that died from their wounds the following weeks. A Danish contemporary source talks about a total of 9,300 dead.

Anyhow, in percentage the losses were truly horrible on both sides and the Battle of Lund is known to be the bloodiest in the history of Scandinavia.

The Dutch marines were exceptionally unfortunate, according to some sources only 60 of them survived. Another source mentions 47 survivors. If these figures are correct it would mean that more than 95 % were killed during the battle.

One of the main reasons for the Swedish victory have been said to be that Swedish units, due to better discipline and fewer mercenaries, had the ability to gather and regroup after a local defeat. The Swedish habit of mixing Cavalry and Infantry also made it possible for the Swedes to administer swift counter attacks as soon as an infantry unit buckled. Another reason was that the Danish cavalry still used the caracole while the Swedes as usual relied on the momentum of the body of troops and just charged head on. The caracole or caracol (from the Spanish caracol - spiral) consists of a manoeuvre on horseback in dressage and, previously, in military tactics. ...

The victory at Lund served as an immense moral boost to the Swedish army, and even if Charles XI were criticised for letting himself be carried away by the success on the right flank it also bonded the King and his army together. But even if the Swedes won the battle their army was so weakened that they could not fully exploit the victory. However, there are little doubt that a Swedish defeat at Lund would have cost them the whole Terra Scania for ever.

The remnants of the Danish forces retreated to the fortress of Landskrona. This was not however to be the end of the campaign since they were reinforced by sea by their Austrian and German allies and were not driven from Sweden until the summer of the following year in the wake of their defeat at the Battle of Landskrona. The old water tower in Landskrona is perhaps the local landmark and can be seen from far away Landskrona is a city in southernmost Sweden with some 27,000 inhabitants. ... Categories: 1677 | Battles of Sweden | Battles of Denmark | Battle stubs ...

References

• Björlin, Gustaf.: Kriget mot Danmark 1675-1679. Stockholm 1885. [1]
• Holm, Nils F. (Ed.): Det svenska svärdet. Stockholm 1948.
• Stevns, Arne.: Vor Hær i Krig og Fred. NLB 1943.
• Wahlöö, Claes. Larsson, Göran.: Slaget vid Lund. Lund 1998.