Battle of Warksow

Part of: the Swedish-Brandenburg War
and the Scandinavian War

Order of battle for the Battle of Warksow, 1678; with names of the commanders

date	January 18, 1678
place	Warksow at Gustow on Rügen
output	Victory of Sweden, provisional recapture of Rügen by Sweden

Parties to the conflict
Sweden 1650 Sweden	Denmark Denmark Brandenburg-Prussia Brandenburg Prussia
Commander
Field Marshal General Otto Wilhelm von Königsmarck	Denmark Major General Detlef von Rumohr † Colonel von Hülsen Brandenburg Prussia
Troop strength
3,500–3,800 riders	5,000–5,400 men, 16 cannons
losses
170 dead	entire army went into captivity

The battle of Warksow on Rügen was a battle of the Swedish-Brandenburg War . It took place on January 8th ^./ January 18, 1678 ^greg.instead of. Swedish forces defeated a united army, the majority of which consisted of Danes and a smaller part of Brandenburgers. On the Danish side, a Hessen-Kassel auxiliary contingent fought , consisting of an infantry regiment under Colonel Johann ufm Keller and a cavalry regiment under Lieutenant Colonel Wilhelm von Hornumb .

The Swedes had about 3,500 to 3,800 men in battle. The allied Danes, Brandenburgers and Hessians had about 5,000 to 5,400 men (including a few hundred Brandenburgers and around 1000 Hessians) and 16 cannons.

170 Swedes and about 4,000 of the allies were killed in the battle. Almost the entire remaining armed force of the allies, about 3,600 men, was captured after the battle and in the following days or joined the Swedish flag under duress.

prehistory

In 1675 the Kingdom of Sweden, a recognized war power at the time , got involved in a war against Brandenburg-Prussia, which was at war with France ( Dutch War ) , after being urged by the King of France, Louis XIV . After a Swedish army was defeated by the Brandenburgers in the Battle of Fehrbellin in 1675, Sweden fell on the defensive in the course of the war. His possessions in northern Germany ( Swedish-Pomerania ) suddenly came into danger due to the two-party alliance from Denmark and Brandenburg-Prussia.

In 1677 the Swedish fleet was almost completely destroyed in the battle in the Køgebucht ( Køgebucht bei Copenhagen) by the Danish fleet under the command of Admiral Nils Juel . This defeat meant for the Swedish Rügen that it was now cut off from all support from Sweden, since the Danes exercised maritime rule over the Baltic Sea.

After winning the sea battle, the Danish King Christian V decided to conquer the island of Rügen as a necessary prerequisite for conquering the Stralsund fortress on the opposite shore of the mainland for the Allies. According to internal agreements between Brandenburg-Prussia and Denmark, the island of Rügen should pass into Danish possession after the peace agreement with Sweden.

On September 17, 1677, Danish and Hessian troops landed under the command of the Danish king on the east coast of the island near Prorer Wiek . The approximately 4,200-strong Danish armed force did not encounter any resistance, however, since the Swedish general Otto Wilhelm von Königsmarck did not suspect a Danish invasion at that time and had therefore largely relocated his troops to the besieged city of Stralsund.

So the Danes could entrench themselves unmolested on the wooded range of hills located on site. After the Danes had received further support from Colonel Wilhelm Friedrich von Hülsen (2110 riders) from the Brandenburg cavalry regiment in October, they took action against the Swedish troops who had meanwhile crossed to Rügen and had taken position near Bergen . The Swedes were defeated in the ensuing battle near Bergen and withdrew to Altefähr and the Prosnitzer Schanze (Neufährschanze). Soon afterwards the Swedes under Königsmarck had to evacuate Altefähr and bring all troops back to Stralsund. Only the Prosnitzer Schanze remained in the hands of the Swedes.

Due to the ongoing looting and devastation of the Swedish, Danish and Brandenburg troops, the island was completely looted in the meantime, so that the stationed troops could no longer be supplied. The Danish king returned to Denmark on October 21st. Some of the Brandenburg troops were withdrawn from the island. So only 970 Brandenburg-Prussians remained on the island.

The Danish-Brandenburg troops were now under the command of Major General Detlef von Rumohr and Colonel von Hülsen. These were instructed not to engage in any combat with the Swedes until further reinforcements arrived. However, the Danish army, weakened by disease, was not strengthened. Therefore, the Swedish commander, Field Marshal Otto Wilhelm von Königsmarck, saw the time to attempt to recapture the island as a good time and transferred his 3,500-strong troops from Brandshagen in January 1678 . The landing point of the Swedes was the Neufährschanze, which is still in Swedish hands.

Course of the battle

Major General Otto Wilhelm von Königsmarck, Commander of the Swedes

The allied Danes, Brandenburgers and Hessians under Major General von Rumohr accepted the battle contrary to instructions. In the morning around 9 o'clock the fight began with a cannon duel on the road between Poseritz and Gustow near Gut Warksow.

When Detlef von Rumohr fell from a cannon shot, confusion arose in the ranks of the allies. Thereupon the Swedish general von Königsmarck let his troops attack. The Brandenburg cavalry went to meet the attack on the right Swedish wing. She succeeded in driving the Swedish cavalry apart. After this had gathered again and had been strengthened by reserves, the Brandenburg cavalry was thrown back again by the Swedish cavalry.

The Brandenburg and Hessians rallied again, but received no effective support from the Danes, so that they were thrown back by a numerical superiority. Then Swedish forces attacked the Danes in their flank and back. Demoralized, they raced apart in wild flight. The Swedes managed to capture almost all of the Danish infantry. After four hours of fighting, victory was won for the Swedish side.

Result of the battle

The Allies invaded again on September 23, 1678

The following day the Swedes occupied Bergen, pursued the enemies who had fled to Jasmund and Wittow, and captured the last of the allies there. The captured soldiers were integrated into the Swedish military and deployed on Rügen. Rügen became Swedish again for a short time. However, the allied Danes and Brandenburgers quickly recovered from this setback. During the summer of 1678, the Danes attacked Rügen several times. The Danes and Brandenburgers also planned a new expedition to recapture Rügen. The invasion of Rügen began on September 23, 1678, when Brandenburg troops landed on Rügen again and recaptured the entire island within two days. The prisoners from the Battle of Warksow, pressed into Swedish services, were able to hand over the Neuefähr Fortress to the Brandenburg invasion troops without a fight.

literature

Curt Jany: History of the Prussian Army. From the 15th century to 1914. Volume 1. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1967, pp. 256-257
Martin Meier: The battle on the Warksower field . In: Military Museum Brandenburg-Prussia , 3, 2007, p. 5 f.
Battle of Warksow . In: Theodor Westrin (Ed.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 15 : Kromat – Ledvätska . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1911, Sp. 636 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
Battle summary. In: Theatrum Europaeum , Volume 11, p. 1158, urn : nbn: de: bvb: 384-uba000246-1334-0 (PDF; 250 kB)

Individual evidence

^ Battle of Warksow . In: Theodor Westrin (Ed.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 15 : Kromat – Ledvätska . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1911, Sp. 636 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
^ The Hesse-Kassel war power under Landgrave Karl until the Peace of Ryswick in 1697. In: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies , eighth volume, Kassel 1860, pp. 125–126
^ Carl von Stamford: The campaigns of the regiments Ufm Keller and von Hornumb von Hessen-Cassel in the Imperial War against Sweden, on Schonen and on Rügen in 1677 and 1678: a contribution to the history of the Hessian war as well as the history of the Hessian war constitutions. Published by U. Freyschmidt Hofbuchhandlung, Kassel 1882
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Curt Jany: History of the Prussian Army. From the 15th century to 1914. Volume 1. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1967, p. 257
^ Battle of Warksow . In: Theodor Westrin (Ed.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 15 : Kromat – Ledvätska . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1911, Sp. 636 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).

54.3051 13.2273Coordinates: 54 ° 18 '18.4 " N , 13 ° 13' 38.3" E

[1] Battle of Warksow . In: Theodor Westrin (Ed.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 15 : Kromat – Ledvätska . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1911, Sp. 636 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).

[2] The Hesse-Kassel war power under Landgrave Karl until the Peace of Ryswick in 1697. In: Journal of the Association for Hessian History and Regional Studies , eighth volume, Kassel 1860, pp. 125–126

[3] Carl von Stamford: The campaigns of the regiments Ufm Keller and von Hornumb von Hessen-Cassel in the Imperial War against Sweden, on Schonen and on Rügen in 1677 and 1678: a contribution to the history of the Hessian war as well as the history of the Hessian war constitutions. Published by U. Freyschmidt Hofbuchhandlung, Kassel 1882

[Jany_257-4] Curt Jany: History of the Prussian Army. From the 15th century to 1914. Volume 1. Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1967, p. 257

[5] Battle of Warksow . In: Theodor Westrin (Ed.): Nordisk familjebok konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi . 2nd Edition. tape 15 : Kromat – Ledvätska . Nordisk familjeboks förlag, Stockholm 1911, Sp. 636 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).