Source:
Memoirs of Christina, Queen of Sweden, volume 1, pages 109 to 131, by Henry Woodhead, 1863; original at the University of Michigan
The account:
Meanwhile[,] important events were taking place in Germany. John Banér, the Commander-in-Chief of the Swedish army, was aware of the Elector of Saxony's unfriendliness, and endeavoured by all means to conciliate him. The Elector, however, made peace with the Emperor in 1635. He had probably already made up his mind that it would be impossible for him to remain neutral, but he acted on this idea in a treacherous and dishonourable way. He suddenly attacked the dispersed Swedish detachments without any declarations of war, and published an order to kill every Swede. A little more ability and less cruelty would have rendered him worthy of respect, for Germany groaned under the tyranny of the foreign troops which had originally come there as the champions of freedom.
Banér now lost no time in temporizing, and it soon appeared that the Saxon generals were no match for him. He immediately recalled his detachments under Duval, Slange, and Ruthven, and sent the latter to relieve Dörnitz, which was besieged by Bandis with seven thousand infantry, but without cavalry or artillery. Ruthven fell on the besiegers with a much smaller force of the three arms combined, and almost annihilated their army. Slange met with equal success in another direction, and in a fortnight every Saxon force which ventured to face the Swedes, was totally defeated. Still[,] Banér was in a most critical position. He had been almost overmatched before, but now a new enemy had sprung up, and he was in the heart of that enemy's country. The wisdom of the recent truce with Poland was now experienced; the Swedish troops, no longer required there, marched with all haste into Germany, under the command of Torstenson, a general destined to surpass even Banér. Torstenson, at the head of four cavalry regiments which formed the advanced guard, met with eight Saxon regiments, which he completely routed, and took the whole of their baggage and standards, with two thousand prisoners. The best troops had everywhere the advantage in this sudden outbreak, but nearly all Germany was hostile to them, and they were surrounded by enemies whose numbers were constantly increasing.
Although the Swedish troops continued to fight well, their discipline had greatly declined, and they now equalled the Imperialists in licentiousness and cruelty. The city of Naumberg capitulated when summoned by Banér, and paid fifteen thousand rixdollars to be exempted from plunder. In defiance of this engagement the place was sacked by the Swedish troops, with all the circumstances of atrocity which had made the name of Tilly infamous at Magdeburg. It was only three years since the inhabitants of Naumberg had kissed the clothes of Gustavus Adolphus, and received him as their guardian angel; so rapidly demoralizing is war. Naumberg was no exception to the general rule; the Swedes treated every place they took in the same way; but such crimes no longer caused any astonishment, and the Protestant writers have naturally dwelt more on the cruelties practised by the Imperialists than on those practised by the Swedes.
The relaxation of discipline soon produced its natural result, — a mutiny in the Swedish army, which extended to the officers as well as the soldiery. At the same time that the men uttered tumultuous and mutinous cries, a deputation of colonels waited on Banér to express their dissatisfaction at the way French subsidies were employed, and to demand that a certain portion of them should be appropriated to each regiment.
Banér guessed their intention, and, instead of allowing the deputation to state their business, he received them with loud and vehement reproaches for the disorderly state of the troops, and for the outrages which had been perpetrated. But now, he said, "I shall suffer it no longer, but shall punish them, as well as those who ought to keep them in better order." Then, without waiting for any answer, he went into an inner room, he called on Colonel Krokow, one of the ringleaders, to accompany him. "I consider", said Banér, "that this amounts to a conspiracy; but I am not a fool, to suffer and remain silent; I will have the heads of the ringleaders. Go back to your regiments, and keep your men in order, and you, Colonel Krokow, take with you two hundred cavalry and arrest these plunderers."
Krokow was not inclined to lose his head the first; he therefore obeyed, and soon returned with four soldiers who had been caught in the act of plundering.
These men were immediately put to death, and the mutiny was quelled.
Banér took care that idleness should not be among his soldiers' faults. The Saxons were supported by two Imperial armies under Hatzfield and Marazini, amounting to 30,000 men, and large reinforcements were daily expected under General Götz. Banér determined to fight before these arrived, although his own army was still greatly outnumbered, as he had only 16,000 men. The Imperial Generals knew that their force would soon be overwhelming, and they declined meanwhile to give battle. They took up a strongly entrenched position at Wittstock, with the intention of resuming the offensive when they were in such force as to crush their enemy with ease.
Banér, with a prudent audacity, determined to attack an army which was double his own strength, and which was strongly entrenched; but he did so that he might not presently be obliged to fight under still greater disadvantages. He knew that nothing could save his army from destruction, but a complete victory. After his arrangements had been made with the utmost care and deliberation, he fought like a common trooper, because he knew that, without any exaggeration, he must conquer or die.
Banér and Torstenson began the attack by leading a furious charge with the cavalry of the right wing. The Fins fought desperately, and the two chiefs vied with their men in personal prowess; they fought hand to hand in the deadly struggle both on horseback and on foot. It was in vain; their efforts became fainter and fainter, and they were obliged to give ground before the overpowering numbers of the enemy. Leslie, with five regiments of infantry, advanced in support. The Scots fought gallantly as usual, but they also were repulsed. The tide of battle had set against the Swedes, and from the assailers they became the assailed. The enemy's cavalry and infantry surrounded them on all sides; two of Leslie's regiments lost their colours, and were totally destroyed. Banér himself thought the battle was lost. He sent repeated messages to Witzthum, to advance with the reserve; Witzthum coolly observed that this was a repetition of the battle of Nordlingen, that he knew how it would be, and that he would not lead his division to share in the general destruction. It does not appear whether his conduct was actuated by cowardice or by treachery. Perhaps he thought the opportunity of promotion too good to be lost, when he saw his two senior officers in such a predicament.
The battle seemed lost, when a sudden change took place. King and Stållhandske had been sent a long detour with the cavalry of the left wing, to take the enemy in the rear. The impediments they had met with were greater than had been foreseen, and their arrival was now despaired of. The obstacles were, however, at last surmounted, and they came up at the critical moment. The effect produced by a fresh body of troops in a well-contested battle is easily imagined.
Although the Swedes had been repulsed, yet the Imperialists were obliged to strain every nerve to keep the advantage; their whole army was already engaged, and was doing its utmost. The Swedish cavalry fell like a thunderbolt upon the wearied and disordered combatants, for King and Stållhandske were burning to retrieve the disasters caused by their involuntary delay. At the same time, a gallant officer in the reserve, named Berghoff, indignant at his commander's conduct, resolved to share the fate of his brave companions. He advanced without orders, and Witzthum then thought it advisable to do the same.
The event was not long doubtful. The Imperialists fled in all directions. They left five thousand men on the field, and lost one hundred and fifty stands of colours. The Swedes lost eleven hundred killed, among whom was the brave Berghoff; but the chasms in their ranks were not perceived, for whole regiments of the prisoners went over to the winning side.
The battle of Wittstock made a great sensation in Germany. The Protestant princes who had signed the peace of Prague, reproached the Elector of Saxony for enticing them to desert the common cause, and began to negotiate separately with the Swedes, whose prowess they now thought invincible.
Banér was, however, outnumbered more than ever in the campaign of 1637. He invested Leipsic, but was obliged to raise the siege and to retire before an army of thirty thousand Imperialists.
His intention was to cross the river Warta, at Landsberg; but when he arrived there he found Marazini before him, with an army double the strength of his own. Although nearly surrounded, Banér managed to deceive the enemy, and to make a most masterly retreat.
The Imperial generals wrote to Vienna, "Now we have caught Banér in a sack." The Swedish general spread the report that he was going to Poland, and his enemies made their dispositions to intercept him; but Banér turned suddenly back, passed the Oder, and entered Stettin. He had fairly doubled on the pursuers, and it was now too late to stop him. When afterwards informed of his adversaries' boast, he said, "Yes, they caught me in a sack, but they forgot to close up its mouth." This retreat from Torgau established Banér's claim to be ranked among generals of the first order.
Banér was driven, by the want of supplies, to the desperate measure of again falling upon his enemies; but his force was too small, and he was obliged to continue his retreat. The pursuing army, however, suffered the most from hunger, not only because it was the largest, but also because it had to pass over a country already drained to the utmost by Banér. Great part of Brandenburg, Pomerania, and Mecklenburg was now desert; the fields were covered with the bodies of the slaughtered peasants, the houses were in ashes, and, as winter approached, the soldiers suffered greatly from passing the cold nights in the open air.
Brandenburg was such a complete waste that Banér was obliged to relinquish the idea of crossing it, to fall upon Gallas. He was obliged to remain in Mecklenburg, while the north of Germany, devastated and ruined, remained as a barrier between the hostile commanders.
1639. — In the next campaign the rival armies had been reduced more nearly to an equality, by the ravages of disease and famine. Banér attacked the Austrian general Gallas, and pursued him through Saxony to the borders of Bohemia. Here Gallas was joined by Marazini, and took up a strong position at Chemnitz.
A battle was fought on the 4th of April, when the Swedes gained a complete victory. The Imperialists left eight thousand men on the field, and a great many more were taken prisoners. The Swedes only lost three hundred men.
Banér then ranged through Bohemia, committing his usual excesses. One of his officers, named Adam Pfuel, boasted that he had himself burned eight hundred villages and small towns, and other lieutenants imitated his atrocious proceedings. Some one ventured to ask Banér how he would answer for all his cruelties, when he replied, "Those must answer for them who gave me my orders."
Bernhard of Weimar had been for some time in the service of France, and although he performed no great exploits, yet he made a diversion towards the west in favour of Sweden. He died suddenly, in July, 1639, at the early age of thirty-five. By this event Piccolomini, the ablest of the Imperial Generals, was enabled to join the rest in attacking Banér, and he brought with him from the Netherlands some of the famous Spanish infantry, which had not yet lost at Rocroi its claim to be considered the finest in Europe.
The remains of Bernhard's army, under the French Commanders Longueville and Guébriant, now joined the Swedes. The Landgrave of Hesse also sent a contingent under Menander [sic], which, however, effected very little, owing to the treachery of its commander, who shortly after went over to the Imperialists.
The hostile armies were more nearly equal than before, but neither of the commanders cared to stake the fate of the campaign on a single battle; they endeavoured, therefore, to starve one another out.
This strange contest is said to have cost as many lives as two ordinary battles. Either the famine was more severe, or the endurance was less, on the side of the Imperialists, for at the end of a month Piccolomini broke up his camp and passed into Hesse.
As the Swedish army no longer required to be concentrated, Banér parted from his French and German allies. The leaders had a grand farewell banquet at Hildesheim, where they drowned the recollection of their late privations in excessive drinking. Two of the guests sickened and died immediately after the debauch; six months later they were followed by Prince George of Lüneburg and Banér. The popular belief attributed these deaths to poison, and the banquet of Hildesheim acquired an infamous celebrity.
Banér's health, however, had been failing for some time; fatigue, debauchery, and anxiety, had combined to destroy his constitution.
His state had been represented in Sweden, and he earnestly solicited leave to retire after the death of his second wife, to whom he was much attached. His brother, Axel Banér, supported his request in the Council, but it was opposed by Oxenstiern, who said that Banér could manage the soldiers better from his bed than anyone else could do from the saddle. The matter was warmly discussed, but the Chancellor had the last word; he said that Sweden required John Banér's services, and that John Banér must serve.
Want of patriotism was not one of Banér's faults. His zeal and energy seemed almost to increase as his bodily strength decayed. A young officer full of vigour, and burning with ambition, could not have exerted himself more than the sick general did in his last campaign.
The year 1641 began with unusual and excessive cold. Banér determined to take advantage of the frozen rivers, to make a sudden incursion into Bavaria, with the intention of surprising the Emperor and the chief notables of the Empire, who were assembled at the Diet of Ratisbon. The rivers, indeed, might thaw and leave him among his enemies, but the prize was great, and Banér had a right to trust to his genius for making a retreat.
On the 17th of January the army reached Regenstauf. Banér pushed on from here with the cavalry, one thousand infantry, and a few pieces of cannon, until he reached the banks of the Danube, opposite to Ratisbon, and so near, that voices could be heard across the stream. The assembled dignitaries were in the greatest alarm; the Emperor alone was firm. With a seasonable and proper pride[,] he determined rather to perish than to abandon the city, and he made arrangements for its defence with coolness and judgment.
His courage was not put to any further proof. The south wind, mightier than general or Emperor, frustrated Banér's scheme. The very day of his arrival[,] a sudden thaw took place. The ice of the Danube broke up, and Ratisbon was saved. The situations of the enemies were reversed by those few hours' south wind, and Banér's position was almost one for despair. The mercenaries paid by France, and commanded by Guébriant, had reunited with the Swedes to make this inroad. Its bad success produced the usual consequences; the allied commanders were dissatisfied with each other. It was said that Guébriant feared Banér might entice his army to resume their old service under Sweden. Whatever was the cause, he determined, in spite of all remonstrances, to separate from the Swedes.
Banér remained in the Upper Palatinate to refresh his soldiers, and he narrowly escaped destruction from a well-formed combination of the Emperor's.
Troops were concentrated with the greatest secrecy under Gleen and Mercy, the Archduke Leopold, and Piccolomini.
They were all to converge upon Chamb in the Upper Palatinate on the same day, the 9th of March. The bridges which Piccolomini threw over the Danube were reported to be for the Emperor's journey to Vienna.
The gates of Ratisbon were closed for several days, that no friend of the Swedes might escape and give them notice.
Everything was well planned, but it was not easy to catch Banér off his guard.
The division of the Imperial army under Gleen came from Bohemia, and was obliged to pass near the country occupied by the Swedes: the movement was seen and reported to Banér. The keen-witted general knew very well that a single division would not venture to come into his neighbourhood. He required no further hint to make the whole scheme flash upon his mind. He broke up his camp that very day and marched towards Bohemia.
He was only just in time. Slange, who commanded a brigade nearest to the enemy, was surrounded at Neuburg. This gallant officer knew the importance of gaining time for his Chief, and resolved to earn the title of the Swedish Leonidas. The Archduke summoned him to surrender, and pointed out the hopelessness of resistance. Slange answered that he would defend himself so long as he had his right arm remaining, the pith of the declaration consisting in the circumstance that he had lately lost his left arm. He had no artillery, very few infantry, and about 2,000 cavalry. The walls were breached, his ammunition was soon exhausted, and his only projectiles were stones. Under all these disadvantages he supported the attacks of the enemy four days. He had the proud satisfaction of knowing that the main army was saved by his courage and devotion.
Even as it was, Banér escaped most narrowly — Gleen pressed closely on his rear, Piccolomini made a forced march to seize a pass that would have completely cut him off, and only arrived one hour too late. Banér had been first in the advance, and was last in the retreat: he defended a post from mid-day until night with some light troops and a few pieces of cannon, and so brought off his army with little loss. The Elector of Saxony considered the destruction of the Swedish army so certain, that he ordered public thanksgivings to be returned for it. The experience he had already had of Banér might have made him more careful in hazarding an opinion. The Swedish light cavalry were plundering the country round Dresden just three hours after Hohenegg, his Court Chaplain, quitted the pulpit.
The defence of the pass of Prosnitz was Banér's last exploit. The fatigues and privations of this retreat completed the ruin of his constitution. He was carried in a litter when too ill to sit on horseback, but soon became unable even to bear this. A few days' rest revived him a little, but Piccolomini was approaching with a greatly superior army, and the Swedes were obliged to continue their retreat. The motion and fatigue made Banér worse again.
He reached Merseburg on the 8th of April, so altered by sickness as hardly to be recognised, and the doctors said he could not survive another day's journey.
It was then determined to make a stand to prevent Piccolomini from crossing the Saal. After a sharp action, however, the passage was forced and some of the enemy's troops nearly took Banér prisoner in Merseburg. They were driven out for the moment, but it was necessary to evacuate the place, for the defences were slight. The conqueror of so many battles had only the choice to remain behind and pass his few remaining days in captivity, or to die among his own troops. Like a gallant soldier as he was, he chose the latter alternative.
On the 8th of May he reached Halberstadt with the enemy still in pursuit. He was now delirious, but in a lucid interval he called his generals round his death-bed, exhorted them to unity, and recommended Torstenson as his successor. Then came a few more pangs and the great soldier was gone; but, whatever rest his spirit might find, it was long before his body was left in peace. The corpse of their general was carried off by the retreating Swedes before it was cold. His genius had carried them safely through two famous retreats, and they felt his devotion in remaining with them to the last. His remains were defended more jealously than either cannon or colours. Day after day the foe thundered in pursuit, and it was a month before the Swedes had sufficient respite to send the body of the warrior to the country he had served so faithfully.
Banér was certainly one of the greatest generals in the Thirty Years' War. He showed his ability in his brilliant victories, in his extraordinary retreats, and in maintaining the fidelity of his soldiers. His own fidelity was incorruptible at a period when this virtue was not a common one. The Emperor tried several times to win him. In 1639, as he was entering the hereditary states of Austria, Count Schlitt, the Governor of Prague, and a relation of Banér's, was directed to make proposals to him for a separate peace between Sweden and Austria, and to offer as his reward Glogan [sic] and Sagan, which had belonged to Wallenstein, as well as the rank of Prince of the Empire. Although these proposals were not entertained for a moment, they were renewed in the last year of Banér's life, and he was promised in addition the command of the Emperor's army against the Turks. The Austrian minister could not believe such magnificent bribes would be rejected.
"Banér's talking is all nonsense", he said, "a revenue of forty thousand ducats may surely dazzle any one." The Austrian knew very little of Banér to suppose that, when wearied and broken with service, he would stain his hitherto unspotted integrity, and spend his few remaining days an outcast from his country.
The popular belief was that if he had accepted these proposals, his career would not have been cut short so soon, and that the Court which employed the swords of assassins against Wallenstein, did not scruple to use poison at the banquet of Hildesheim. It would be difficult to set any limits to the crimes of this period, but actions of this nature are so abhorrent, even to the loosest code of honour, that, in default of positive evidence, we must incline to the belief that Banér's death may be accounted for by fatigues, anxieties, privations, and excesses.
He was married three times, and was certainly strongly attached to his two first wives, as each time that he became a widower his sorrow was so great that he wished to retire from the service.
His first wife was a lady who came from Brandenburg with Maria Leonora. She died in Germany in 1636, and Banér then wished to give up his command, that he might carry her over to Sweden and bury her there; but his desire was overruled by Oxenstiern. His second wife was the Countess Löwenstein. She had been the most intimate friend of his late wife, who had with her dying breath expressed the wish that she should marry Banér. This arrangement seems to have suited all parties, for the marriage took place the same year. The Countess Löwenstein was remarkable for understanding, amiability, and virtue; she was Banér's good angel, and inspired all his best actions; but she died three years after their marriage. Banér was inconsolable, and vehemently urged his application for leave to return to Sweden, both on account of his affliction and his own failing health. He lamented her loss sincerely, although during her life, as well as that of her predecessor, he had continually carried on intrigues with other ladies.
Very shortly after her death he fell in love with the Margravine of Baden-Durlach, a beautiful girl of sixteen. The preliminaries were soon arranged, and the marriage took place. The priest had just pronounced his blessing on this new alliance, when a messenger rushed in to announce the advance of Piccolomini. Banér did not even stop to take leave of his bride, but rode off at full speed to his camp.
Banér's character was arbitrary, and, though beloved by his army, he was never liked by his colleagues. He was on bad terms with Oxenstiern, Salvius, and Wrangel, and it has already been related how Guébriant refused to act with him, to the great detriment of the service.
His maxim was to have no princes, and as few as possible of the high nobility in his army, because he found by experience that they were unwilling to render the implicit obedience which he required. "What is the reason", said he, "that Gallas and Piccolomini get on so badly? Because they are obliged to obey a council at Vienna which does not understand war, while I on the contrary am absolute commander of my army."
Another of his maxims was to employ old officers in fortresses, and young ones in the field. The soundness of his opinions was proved by his success. Thirty thousand Saxons and sixty thousand Imperialists fell before his sword, and he sent home to Sweden six hundred stand of colours which he had taken from the enemy.
.jpg)
Above: Johan Banér.
Notes: The river Warta is a river rising in central Poland, meandering greatly through the Polish Plain in a northwesterly direction to flow into the Oder at Kostrzyn nad Odrą (Küstrin). Its name in German is Warthe.
Landsberg an der Warthe is the German name for what is now the Polish city of Gorzów Wielkopolski, in the Lubusz Voivodeship in western Poland.
Stettin is the German name for the city of Szczecin in what is now the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland.
Johan Banér passed away on May 10, 1641, at the age of 44. His likely cause of death was cirrhosis of the liver due to excessive alcohol consumption.
Glogau is the German name for the city of Głogów in what is now the Lower Silesian Voivodeship in Poland. Its name in Czech is Hlohov.
Sagan is the German name for the town of Żagań in what is now the Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland.
Banér's three successive wives by name were Catharina Elisabet von Pfuel (1598-1636; married 1623); Countess Elisabeth Juliana of Erpach (1600-1640; married July 25, 1636); and Margravine Johanna Margareta of Baden-Hochberg (1623-1661; married September 16, 1640).
No comments:
Post a Comment