| Baner's invasion of Bohemia | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Thirty Years' War | |||||||||
.svg) Map showing the territory of Bohemia (in red) in 1618 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Swedish Empire | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Johan Banér Torsten Stålhandske |
 Leopold William Melchior von Hatzfeldt Matthias Gallas Georg Lorenz von Hofkirchen (POW) Raimondo Montecuccoli (POW) | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 16,000 men |
13,500 infantry 8,350 cavalry | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown | Heavy | ||||||||
Baner's invasion of Bohemia (Swedish: Baner's invasion av Böhmen) also called Baner’s Blitzkrieg[1] refers to a campaign led by Swedish field marshal Johan Banér against Imperial forces in Bohemia during the Thirty Years' War spanning from 1639 to 1640. The campaign led to widespread destruction.
Background
editIn January 1639, Johan Banér decided to go on an offensive. He shipped his army over the Elbe by Lauenberg in order to relieve the besieged city of Erfurt, which was at that point the only eastern place in inner Germany in Swedish control. This mission succeeds, and Banér then turns to Freiberg, with the city defending itself fiercly and two Imperial armies rushing to relieve the city, one under Marazini and the other under Melchior von Hatzfeldt. Banér decides to prevent the combining of the armies, and turns to Marazini, who quickly retreats. However, despite this, Banér pursues him and wins a victory at Chemnitz.[2]
Invasion
editAfter his victory at Chemnitz, Banér continued into Bohemia. In late April, he reached Pirna, which he subsequently captured a week later. In May, Stålhandske marched towards Leitmeritz with a force of nine cavalry regiments and 500 musketeers, which he captured. In order to defend Bohemia, the Imperial commander, Georg Lorenz von Hofkirchen, attemped a defense of the Elbe line, assisted by Raimondo Montecuccoli. Hofkirchen, who had previously been in both Saxon and Swedish service, prepared his positions at Altbunzlau, where there was a pontoon bridge across to Brandeis.[3]
However, Banér crossed the river further downstream, close to Melnik. He employed tactics similar to the ones used by Gustavus Adolphus when he crossed the Lech in 1632, Banér only sent some artillery and infantry towards Brandeis, in order to create a diversion with artillery fire. The Swedish infantry was shipped across the river on around 30 boats and barges on the evening of 28 May, in addition, Banér had a redoubt built to protect his artillery while it bombarded the opposite shore.[3]
The Swedish artillery fire pushed Montecuccoli's men back, who were contesting the crossing. Meanwhile, the Swedish cavalry forded the river in another location. On 29 May, Hofkirchen led 10 cavalry regiments towards the crossing point, but they were quickly defeated and pursued. According to Banér, they lost 1,000 men in this attack, along with 500 captured, including both Hofkirchen and Montecuccoli.[3]
After this, Banér marched towards Prague, reaching it on 30 May. Hearing of the Imperial defeat at Chemnitz, Hatzfeldt quickly went towards Prague, where the commander Gallas had prepared a camp at White Mountain outside the city. Due to their safety in Prague, they quickly refused battle. Banér considered his forces insufficient for a storm of the city, and it had been impossible to bring siege artillery on his forced marches.[4]
In October of the same year, Archduke Leopold William had assumed overall command of the Imperial army. Because he was the younger brother of Emperor Ferdinand III, he was able to end the rivalry between Gallas and Hatzfeldt, which hampered their cooperation with eachother. As a result, Hatzfeldt was told to leave Prague and return to the west, with Banér pursuing him for a while before returning to Prague. Gallas was less fortunate, being dismissed and returned to Vienna.[5]
So far, Banér had issued orders to not pillage Bohemia, claiming to have come to "liberate the oppressed Bohemians",[6] and he possibly believed that the spirit of the Bohemian Revolt still lingered there, however, most of the Bohemians had become Catholic as a consequence of Ferdinand II's recatholicisation campaign there. When Banér realized that it was impossible to create popular support for the Swedes, he realized that he could not take control of Bohemia, and instead decided to deny its resources to his enemies, just as he had done in Saxony previously.[5]
In early November, Banér issued orders to devastate Bohemia, and also the parts of Silesia and Moravia that were within its reach. Thus, the Swedes in Bohemia began engaging primarily in small war, such as raids and foraging, which Hatzfeldt also did. Just as in Saxony, Banér devastated Bohemia as a delibarate policy, in order to prevent the Imperial army from using the territory for its own purpose, but also in order to pressure he Emperor, since Bohemia formed an important part of his ancestral and core territories, with Prague being the capital and administrative ccentre of Bohemia, it was as important as Vienna.[5]
In early December, Leopold William received reinforcement in the form of Ottavio Piccolomini with 6,000 cavalry and 124 companies of infantry, mostly Walloons. After these reinforcements, the Imperial army consisted of some 8,350 cavalry and 13,500 infantry, in addition the Croats, who according to reports available to Banér were uncountable. In comparison, Banér had some 16,000 men in his army and an additional 4,000 at the Elbe.[7]
In March of 1640, Banér moved out from Leitmeritz, departing from Bohemia, where he had stayed for more than nine months. He marched through Saxony and arrived at Erfurt in late April. He left Stålhandske in charge of the army at the Oder, which he used to apply pressure on Silesia and eastern Saxony.[8]
Aftermath
editReferences
edit- ^ Sláma 2021, p. 11.
- ^ Sundberg 1998, p. 177.
- ^ a b c Essen 2020, p. 80.
- ^ Essen 2020, p. 80–81.
- ^ a b c Essen 2020, p. 81.
- ^ Sláma 2021, p. 16.
- ^ Essen 2020, p. 81–82.
- ^ Essen 2020, p. 82.
Works cited
edit- Essen, Michael Fredholm von (2020). The Lion from the North: Volume 2, The Swedish Army during the Thirty Years War 1632-48. Helion & Company. pp. 80–82. ISBN 978-1913118839.
- Wolke, Lars Ericson (2018). Sveriges tio främsta fältherrar: stormaktstiden 1561-1718 [Sweden's top ten most prominent generals: the great power period 1561-1718] (in Swedish). Svenskt militärhistoriskt bibliotek. pp. 55–56. ISBN 9789188053787.
- Sundberg, Ulf (1998). Svenska krig 1521-1814 [Swedish wars 1521-1814] (in Swedish). Hjalmarson & Högberg. pp. 177–178. ISBN 9789189660106.
- Sláma, Lukáš (2021). Johann Banér in Bohemia: The military implications of “Baner’s Blitzkrieg” to Bohemia. Wydawnictwo Adam Marszalek. pp. 11–36.