The Battle of Wittstock 1636: Conflicting Reports on a Swedish Victory in Germany
The Battle of Wittstock 1636: Conflicting Reports on a Swedish Victory in Germany Steve Murdoch, Kathrin Zickermann & Adam Marks* “The earth, whose custom it is to cover the dead, was there itself covered with them, and those variously distinguished: for here lay heads that had lost their natural owners, and there bodies that lacked their heads: some had their bowels hanging out in most ghastly and pitiful fashion, and others had their heads cleft and their brains scattered: there one could see how lifeless bodies were deprived of their blood while the living were covered with the blood of others; here lay arms shot off, on which the fingers still moved, as if they would yet be fighting; and elsewhere rascals were in full flight that had shed no drop of blood: there could one see crippled soldiers begging for death, and on the contrary others beseeching quarter and the sparing of their lives.” On the Battle of Wittstock, 1636 H.J.C von Grimmelshausen, Simplicissimus (1669). WITTSTOCK, in the north-east of the German state of Brandenburg, was the scene of a battle which took place on 4 October 1636. The outcome of the fight was a stunning victory by a Swedish army against a coalition consisting of the forces of John George of Saxony and the Imperial army of Count Melchior von Hatzfeld. Opinions on the clash itself are somewhat divided; several scholars over the years have compared it to Hannibal’s victory over the Romans at * We would like to thank the reviewers of this article, Colonel John Crafoord, formerly of the Swedish Defence College, and Professor Robert Frost, University of Aberdeen, for their positive feedback on this article.
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