The Battle of Wolfenbüttel (29 June 1641) took place near the town of

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbüttel (; nds, Wulfenbüddel) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, the administrative capital of Wolfenbüttel District. It is best known as the location of the internationally renowned Herzog August Library and for having the largest c ...

, in what is now

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

, during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

. Swedish forces led by

Carl Gustaf Wrangel ''Fältmarskalk'' Carl Gustaf Wrangel (also Carl Gustav von Wrangel; 23 December 1613 – 5 July 1676) was a Swedish Statesman and Military Commander who commanded the Swedish forces in the Thirty Years', Torstenson, Bremen, Second Northe ...

and

Hans Christoff von Königsmarck Count Hans Christoff von Königsmarck, of Tjust (4 March 1600 – 8 March 1663), son of Conrad von Königsmarck and Beatrix von Blumenthal, was a German soldier who commanded Sweden's legendary flying column, a force which played a key role i ...

and Bernardines led by

Jean-Baptiste Budes, Comte de Guébriant Jean-Baptiste Budes, comte de Guébriant (1602 – 17 November 1643) was marshal of France. Life He was born at Plessis-Budes, near St Brieuc, in a Breton family. He served as a soldier first in the Netherlands, and in the Thirty Years' War he ...

withstood an assault by Imperial forces led by

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (5 January 1614 – 20 November 1662), younger brother of Emperor Ferdinand III, was an Austrian soldier, administrator and patron of the arts. He held a number of military commands, with limited success, and ...

, forcing the Imperials to retreat.

Background

Wolfenbüttel, occupied by Imperial forces, was a strategically insignificant town, but it held great value to the Swedes'

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

allies. A Guelph army under

Hans Caspar von Klitzing Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi ...

had blockaded the Imperial garrison under Johann Ernst, Baron von Ruischenberg since the previous autumn, but its 7,000 troops had been too small a force to reduce the town. Facing growing uncertainty in the wake of the death of General

Johan Banér Johan Banér (23 June 1596 – 10 May 1641) was a Swedish field marshal in the Thirty Years' War. Early life Johan Banér was born at Djursholm Castle in Uppland. As a four-year-old he was forced to witness how his father, the Privy Councillou ...

and mutinous troops following a year of inaction and failure, the Swedes needed to do something to ensure Guelph loyalty and prove to other German Protestant allies that they were still a reliable partner. Thus, they decided to assist in the Guelph siege of Wolfenbüttel. Hearing word of the Swedish advance, an Imperial army under

and

Ottavio Piccolomini Ottavio Piccolomini, 1st Duke of Amalfi (11 November 1599 – 11 August 1656) was an Italian nobleman whose military career included service as a Spanish general and then as a field marshal of the Holy Roman Empire. Early life Ottavio was born ...

raced to meet them. The race was essentially a draw. The Swedes under

and their Bernardine allies led by French general

joined Klitzing's troops on 28 June, and the Imperial army arrived just two hours later.

Battle

The besiegers had created a fortified camp that was too hard to take by frontal assault, so Leopold Wilhelm ordered flanking attacks on both sides. Piccolomini's cavalry attacked the Swedish left, but was driven back with light casualties. Meanwhile, the Bavarians under

Joachim Christian von Wahl Joachim (; ''Yəhōyāqīm'', "he whom Tetragrammaton, Yahweh has set up"; ; ) was, according to Christian tradition, the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Bibl ...

attacked the Swedish right through a woods containing a small redoubt manned by Banér's legendary " Old Blue" Swedish regiment. The Bavarians took heavy casualties storming the woods but finally succeeded in taking the redoubt from the "Old Blue," only to be driven back by a cavalry counterattack dispatched by Guébriant from the main camp. At this point, Leopold Wilhelm decided to withdraw, having taken around 3,000 casualties in total, although the Swedes had also paid a heavy price for their victory, having lost 2,000 men, with the heaviest toll coming out of the most experienced and veteran troops of the "Old Blue" regiment.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Battle of Wolfenbuttel (1641)

Wolfenbüttel Wolfenbuttel (1641) Wolfenbuttel (1641) Wolfenbuttel

1641 in Europe