The epic battle of Freiburg in 1644 showed that the Holy Roman Empire still had enough
strength to defend against the Franco-Swedish alliance, but the empire was getting low on
resources, their allies were leaving their cause, and their enemies were on all sides.
A new Swedish offensive in 1645 proved able to push the Habsburgs to their limit, as the
brilliant commander Lennart Torstensson was eager to outshine even his late king Gustavus
Adolphus. The battle of Jankov was a great chance to prove if Torstensson had what it
takes to do just that.
Although the Bavarian leader prevailed in the battle of Freiburg using his defensive
skills, Mercy’s indecisiveness gave the French commanders the opportunity to recall
most of the nearby garrisons, and within 24 hours more than 6000 men were marching to
join them. The Bavarian commander probably knew that the enemy would be shortly reinforced
and decided to retreat. His army still lacked horses, so retreating into the open would
have been dangerous. Simultaneously, the French might have gone for Mannheim or Stuttgart,
and losing these cities wasn’t an option. As a result, on the 7th Mercy moved to a more
defensible St. Peter valley. The French received their reinforcements the
next day and started chasing Imperials on the 9th. However, due to lack of knowledge
of the terrain, the French advance was slow, so Conde sent general Rosen and his cavalry
to cut the Bavarian retreat. On the 10th, Rosen almost succeeded in doing that, but
the slowness of extremely tired French infantry didn’t allow Conde to build on Rosen's actions.
By the end of the day Mercy broke through the French cavalry and was in Villingen. Conde
stayed in the area for a day taking the Imperial outposts, and as Freiburg’s strategic importance
was lower than that of the regions of Baden and Wurttemberg, the French began their march
north. Mercy changed his trajectory and started moving
parallel to them, however he was still wary of the enemy cavalry, and therefore moved
with caution. This meant that he was too far away to do anything when Conde besieged Philippsburg
on the 25th of August and took it on September 12th. This threatened Stuttgart and Mannheim,
which forced Mercy to get closer to the French and start building fortifications at Neckarsulm.
Conde possibly thought about attacking, but winter was coming, so the campaign of 1644
was over. To the north, Torstensson was preparing for
the campaign of 1645. He now had around 16 thousand troops and an agreement with the
French and Transylvanians to attack Vienna together, while the Protestant minority in
Upper Austria was asked to revolt. It was expected that this four-pronged attack would
finally break Habsburg resistance. The Empire's situation was dire: Denmark left
the war and was negotiating with Sweden for a future treaty, which meant Torstensson was
free to attack. Gallas’ action basically destroyed the Imperial army in the area, so
the new commander Hatzfeld had to rebuild it from scratch. Reinforcements from Bohemia,
Hungary, and Silesia brought his numbers to 12 thousand , but those were untrained and
badly equipped troops, so Hatzfeld asked the emperor for more troops. Ferdinand III pleaded
with Bavarian elector Maximilian I to help, and the latter sent a letter to Mercy ordering
him to send a portion of his force. Indeed, General Werth and his 5 thousand soon
joined Hatzfeld at Pilsen, where the new imperial commander was trying to weld his soldiers
into a real army. However, Torstensson wasn’t going to give his foes the time they needed,
and began his campaign months earlier than expected – on January 19th.
The Swedes moved into Bohemia via Pressnitz 5 days later, completely surprising Hatzfeld
and crushing a few of his outposts in the process . Unfortunately for Torstensson, he
fell ill, which slowed down the advance. That and the thawing allowed the Imperials to somewhat
recover. Still, when the Swedes passed them from the east on the 18th of February, Hatzfeld
was in a difficult position, as Torstensson could have attacked either Prague or Vienna.
It became clear that the Swedish commander was going for the capital of the empire, and
Hatzfeld force marched his men south, managing to reach the town of Horazdovice first on
the 25th. This allowed him to secure the crossings of the Wottawa river.
For 4 days straight the Swedes attempted to cross by attacking head on and by attempting
a feigned retreat, but nothing worked, so on March 2nd Torstensson moved west, which
made the Imperials abandon their positions and pursue him. Once again, the Swedes were
slower, as Hatzfeld double-timed his soldiers to take positions at Tabor. Indeed, on the
4th of March the tired imperial army was in the town with the Swedes to the northwest.
With no time to lose, Hatzfeld moved to the north again, this time establishing a defensive
position near the village of Jankov. Soon, Torstensson was in the area .
At this point of the war, both armies liked to send cavalry detachments to raid and counter-raid,
so when large concentrations happened, the armies were unusually cavalry heavy. The Imperials
had 11 thousand horsemen across 50 squadrons and 5 thousand footmen in 6 brigades, supported
by 26 guns. Although the Swedish army was similar in terms of the numbers, it was far
superior in terms of training, equipment, unit cohesion and, most importantly, unlike
Hatzfeld, Torstensson had the complete obedience of his subordinates. The latter also had artillery
advantage with 60 guns, alongside 6 thousand infantry in 8 brigades and 10 thousand cavalry
in 47 squadrons. On the afternoon of the 5th of March, the
Swedish army approached the Chotýšanka river. Their commander ascended to the top of Hill
554 to observe the enemy. His counterpart occupied a great defensive position among
the hills and woods, which limited the Swedish artillery advantage, and made any frontal
cavalry charge impossible, so Torstensson had to think of a better plan.
Around 5 AM the next morning, part of his right-wing cavalry joined him on the hill,
and then turned left and started marching north. Hatzfeld was informed of this and deduced
that although his left flank was more vulnerable, the Swedes will attack from his right. Meanwhile,
the rest of the Swedish army reformed in the dark into columns, with infantry on the left,
cavalry in the center, and guns and baggage on the right, and started moving to the south.
Swedish cavalry to the north was making much more noise, but Hatzfeld was still not sure
about his left flank. The highest elevation in the area was Chapel
hill to the southwest of his position, and the imperial leader probably wanted to use
this high ground to get a better idea of what the Swedes were up to. However, it is not
clear if the commander of the left wing, Gotz, was ordered to move his entire force to occupy
Chapel hill, or just create a forward outpost there. Hatzfeld himself went to his right
flank to conduct a personal reconnaissance, which basically left his army leaderless.
Gotz either misunderstood the directive or decided that it was a good moment to show
his disobedience, so he started moving the first echelon of the Imperial left towards
Chapel hill. While most of the troops marched slowly, the dragoons were double-timed with
orders to occupy the elevation. They established themselves on the hill, but
around 7:30 AM the Swedish vanguard was in the area, and the dragoons fled without offering
any resistance, soon informing Gotz. The latter concluded that his foes were trying to get
their own forward outpost, and continued towards the Chapel hill.
Simultaneously, Hatzfeld finally started to understand that Torstensson had tricked him
and no attack was coming from the right. He personally galloped towards Gotz to inform
him that the Swedes would attack from the south or southwest, but when he reached the
left flank, he only found the second echelon under Pompeji and these troops were also going
for the elevation. Enraged, the Imperial commander rode to find Gotz.
Although Gotz moved fast he didn’t scout the terrain ahead and had no idea that the
Swedes had already formed up on the hill and to the west of it. At 8:15 he ended up around
the village of Nosakov and almost immediately his disjointed units were attacked by the
enemy. That was the moment when Hatzfeld at last found his unruly underling. Gotz was
ordered to retreat, but began to argue and insisted that they need to retake Chapel Hill
. It is not clear if Hatzfeld was persuaded or just decided that the only way to save
his wayward left was to bring the whole army to the area, but he started galloping towards
his main forces. Gotz’s troops were attacking, but these
attacks were disorganized and easily repelled by the Swedes. As their artillery arrived
at Chapel Hill, they started sending deadly volleys against the imperials. Ever-stubborn,
Gotz refused to retreat, and his charismatic personality held his troops together for some
time, despite all the losses. However around 9 AM, Gotz was killed by musket fire, and
that broke his troops. Swedish cavalry started pursuing them, but
by that time, the Imperial footmen under Suys were able to form a defensive line in the
woods to the south of Nosakov. The cavalry charge was repelled, but as Suys’ infantry
had to move fast, they left their artillery behind, and now were under withering artillery
fire from the Swedes. Unlike Gotz, Suys wasn’t too proud to retreat, and quickly repositioned
in the forest to the northeast. Torstensson smelled blood and was eager to
destroy the enemy here and now, so he sent part of the cavalry to take Hill 535, which
threatened the south of the Imperial infantry. Fortunately for the latter, Hatzfeld soon
arrived and reformed what remained of Gotz’s cavalry. He then repositioned to the south
of Suys just in time to repel the first attack by the Swedish squadrons.
Now that the entirety of Torstensson’s army was between Chapel Hill and Hill 535, he attacked
Suys head on, and reinforced his right flank to push Hatzfeld, who was in turn reinforced
by Werth’s left flank cavalry. The initial Swedish attack in the center was repelled
as part of Werth’s cavalry charged from the flank, but the Swedes continued and slowly,
but surely, the Imperials were pushed back by their superior arms and guns. It was impossible
for Hatzfeld to continue his resistance, so by noon he ordered the army to disengage and
retreat to the north. Although the Swedes attempted to chase their foe, Werth managed
to use his cavalry to expertly cover the escape. The Swedes showed their excellent discipline
and formed up in their initial alignment with cavalry on the wings and with the center consisting
of infantry and cavalry. They captured some of the artillery lost by the enemy and placed
it on Hill 537 alongside their own, with the baggage train behind the main army. Despite
the fact that his army was clearly the winner of the battle, Torstensson wasn’t eager
to chase the enemy across broken terrain, so he decided to allow the Imperials to flee.
Meanwhile, Hatzfeld was worried that his battered army would not survive a fighting retreat,
so he was going to wait until sunset in order to avoid the Swedes. To that end his troops
formed up between Jankov and Hrzin, where he had previously erected 1-meter-high fortifications.
On the left he had Werth’s mostly intact Bavarian cavalry, with Bruay commanding whatever
was left of Gotz’s cavalry, and the second echelon cavalry from the center on the right
with an infantry brigade joining them. In the center he positioned 5 infantry brigades
and Callenberk’s Saxon cavalry reserve, alongside his artillery. He now had just 9
guns and had no chance to survive any artillery duel, so he hoped the uneven forest terrain
would cover his army. The Imperials also claimed Hill 548 as a forward outpost.
The Swedish commander learned about the new Imperial disposition and concluded that he
couldn’t leave a strong enemy in his rear and march for Prague or Vienna, so around
1 PM he sent 400 musketeers with 10 cannons to take the Hill 548. The German infantry
unit occupying it retreated without offering any resistance. Hatzfeld rebuked Suys and
Bruay for allowing it to happen. After ordering them to retake the hill, he returned to Hrzin.
And once again… his instructions were misunderstood and his captains sent almost their entire
force to take the hill, a disproportionate response that took them out of their great
defensive position to say the least. Obviously, this counterattack succeeded and the Imperials
drove back the musketeers and captured all 10 guns. However, this action showed Torstensson
that the enemy was still in the area in full force. He immediately sent his left under
Douglas and center under Mortaigne, while Wittenberg’s right was left as the reserve,
with guns on Hill 537 providing artillery support.
Indeed, the fact that the Swedes had artillery on that hill was a great surprise for the
Imperials – artillery just wasn’t as mobile during that period and the fact that it was
moved into new positions so quickly proved the professionalism of the Swedish army. Torstensson
was adding a new military tactic that would become key in the next centuries. For the
imperials this professionalism meant death, as Swedish artillery killed hundreds with
each volley, especially among the Imperial right. Indeed, when Douglas’ horse attacked
here, they easily dispersed the enemy, breaking them and sending them into full flight, while
Bruay was killed. The Swedes weren’t as successful in the center, as the high ground
allowed the Imperial footmen to dig in, and the guns they had captured were effective,
so Mortaigne’s charge here was stopped and the two sides were then locked in a bitter
melee . The Imperial left flank was relatively unscathed
and was ordered to attack Torstensson’s right side. Wittenberg didn’t expect this
attack and it took his troops by surprise. Most of the first echelon was routed, while
the second was now chased by Werth, who was probably eager to destroy it and then swing
back north. During the chase, the Swedes retreated close to their baggage train, and that was
too tempting for the Imperial troops. They allowed the Swedes to slip away and started
looting! The wives of the Swedish officers were captured here, including Torstensson’s
wife. Eventually 5 squadrons attempted to continue
the chase, but by that time the Swedes had reformed their ranks. Their counterattack
began around 2:30, and was fast and furious. The Bavarians didn’t expect that, and were
completely routed in a matter of minutes. This proved to be too much to the least disciplined
part of the Imperial army. The Saxons just recently joined the Habsburg cause and just
weren’t as invested. Immediately after the left wing was crushed, Callenberk ordered
his horsemen to leave the field, abandoning Suys’ infantry to their fate. Hatzfeld’s
only remaining cavalry attempted to wheel around the center and attack the Swedish center
from behind, but Mortaigne had enough reserves to block them, and soon Douglas sent reinforcements,
who crushed this detachment. Hatzfeld’s infantry was surrounded on Hill
548. Although they managed to defend for an hour, soon it was all over. The battle was
very bloody, and the winners lost 2000 dead and as many wounded, while the Imperial casualties
were more than 10 thousand, half of them prisoners, including Hatzfeld and many other officers.
The inability of the imperial commanders to strike an accord, alongside superiority of
the Swedish troops and officers, proved to be too much for the Habsburg army to overcome.
The road to the Habsburg capital was open, with Torstensson seemingly closer to complete
victory than his late king Gustavus Adolphus ever was. But not everything was so simple,
and our next episode will prove it, so make sure you are subscribed to our channel and
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