Battle of Lund

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The Battle of Lund was fought on December 4 1676 to the north of the city of Lund in Sweden. It was a battle that constitutes a part of the Swedish-Brandenburgian war. The combatants were the invading Danish army, numbering c. 15,000, under the personal command of the 21 year old King Christian V of Denmark, aided by General Carl von Arensdorff and the Swedish army of Charles XI of Sweden of about 8,000 under the command of Field Marshal Simon Grundel-Helmfelt.

Events leading up to the battle

The Danes saw this as an opportunity to regain control over Scania, and invaded via Helsingborg in late June 1676 with an army of 14,000 men. The local peasantry sided with the Danes and this made it impossible for the outnumbered Swedish troops to effectively defend the recently gained province. After a month Sweden was in control only of the fortified town of Malmö. In the meanwhile a Norwegian army was ravaging the western provinces of Sweden.

King Charles XI was preparing a new army in the province of Småland. In August, Danish troops trying to advance North were defeated at the battle of Halmstad. In October the Swedes had gathered 14,000 men, of which three fourths were mounted, and felt confident enough to march South. They slowly fought their way to try to rescue Malmö.

In early November the Danish King and his army had taken post at Lund, South of the Kävlinge River. The Swedish army, unable to cross the river as the Danes controlled all crossings, camped on the North side. This went on for a month, but in late November the river started freezing up. On the morning of December 3 the Swedish general of fortifications Erik Dahlberg reported to to his King that the ice would carry.

The battle

The battle commenced early in the morning after a race to control the strategically important town. The Swedes controlled the high ground, and began the attack; the Danes, somewhat taken by surprise, retreated northwest across the frozen Kävlinge River, where they regrouped. During the crossing, the ice broke under the weight of the movement and a number of the Danish force were drowned. Despite being outnumbered, somehow the Swedes managed to encircle the Danish army, which they managed to crush in the late afternoon, culminating in a massacre.

Aftermath

The remnants of the Danish forces retreated to the fortress of Landskrona, effectively routed. This was not however to be the end of the campaign since they were reinforced by sea by their Austrian and German allies and were not driven from Sweden until the summer of the following year in the wake of their defeat at the Battle of Landskrona.