Battle of Lund 1676.
Sweden came out as a winner in the 30-years war. Adding pieces of Germany under its rule. More important though is that the peace settlements in Roskilde 1658 and Copenhagen 1660 entitled us the countys of Skåne, Blekinge, Halland and Bohuslän. This on Denmarks expense. This parts being rich for growing and forms the southern parts of Sweden today.
King Karl(Charles) X dies suddenly in 1660 and his five year old son becomes King Karl(Charles) XI under supervison. 1672 at the age of 17 his is declared King only responsible to god.(Av guds nåde, by the grace of god).
In 1676 the danish King Christian V saw the opportunity to take back the provinces lost 16-18 year ago and attacked Sweden in june the very same year. The element on surpise was in favour for the danes and the campaing was succesfull taking several cities while sieging others.
The swedish king put up his army and marched south to meet his foe with the intent to drive them out of Skåne. At the 4th of December the main bodys of the armies met just outside the city of Lund.
Danish forces:
Infantery 6300 men
Cavalry 6000 men
Artillery 56 heavy cannons
Swedish forces:
Infantry 2000 men
Cavalry 6000 men
Artillery 8 heavy guns
At 0400 on the morning of the 4th the swedish army began silently crossing the river Kävlinge and thus attacking the danish flank. This is a surprise attack and it is a sucess. A race also started for the highest hill in the area which resulted in bitter fighting. At 0900 the hill was in swedish hands but the danes remained counterattacking. King Karl XI was in the midst of the battle, leading the cavalry wing, showing great courage. In the first hours he had his horse(Thotten) shot dead under him. His other horse Brilliant or nicknamed Brandklipparen(fire-buck?) was later passed on to his son who later became Karl(Charles) XII who rode him on most of his campainges. The horse dies in 1716 at the age of 43 having probably seen more historical battles than any other creature, be it man or beast.
At 1100 the danish flank couldnt hold any more and started to retreat over Kävling river. The retreating soldiers panic as the ice broke under them. The swedish cavalry starts pursuing the fleeing danish cavalry cutting down their supporting infantry and raiding the danish bagage in the process. At this moment the cavalry leaves the battlefield with the king in front ignoring the desperate fight of the swedish infantry in the middle that is heavily outnumbered.
At 1400 the swedish king decided to stop the pursuit and return to the battlefield, this is in the nick of time . When the swedish cavalry returns to the battlefield at 1500 the battle is desperate but the danes that at first thinks its their cavalry that returns soon find themself encircled and then almost massacred.
The swedes took almost 2000 prisoners while the danes only captured 50. When the night falls at 1700 hours almost 9000(6000 danes and 3000 swedes) men is left on the battlefield, dead or dying over the night. On the morning of the 5th December all the battlefield is covered with frost as are the dead. Many witness uses gostly to describe the scene. This makes Lund the bloodiest battle ever in Europe. In additon more than 1200 dutch sailors forced into the danish army are captured and executed.
Danish army was badly broken though the swedes could not exploit their victory due to lack of reserves. Much land was retaken by swedish forces but Denmark still held the two cites of Helsingborg and Landskrona. An important matter is that the danish fleet was superior during this era. The war kept on going for two more years. The war spread to other provinces, mainly in Germany and the peace in Lund 1679 was forced upon Denmark and Sweden by France. Except for loosing some German provinces the peace for Sweden was more or less status quo.
In 1882 a memorial was raised at the scene of the battle gathered from privat donations that started to be collected in 1876.
The inscription says:
1676
On December the 4th
Struggled and Bled
Here
Peoples of the Same Origin
Reconciled Descendants
Erected this Memorial
1876
Some more contemporary pictures.
The figure chosen for the subject is a Durendal stock sculpted be Mike Blank. For some reason it is really hard to find. Ive heard rumours about company problems.
The base is from Romeo models. It was cut to size with a saw to fit the chosen plinth. New details such a tricorn, brokens sword, canon ball and a Danish flag were added made by Magic Sculpt.
The plinth.
The base with the additions and primer,
Heres pictures of the figure with primer.
The spurs were made with the help of Nimix photoetched spurs. I used the star and the arm. The arm is a little flat so I built of a little thickness with diluted filler in three layers.
Close up of the face. All painting on the figure is done with Humbrol with the only exception for some of the metallic effects where Gold Printer Ink were added.
The base before grass and snow were added. For grass unraveled hemp was used and for snow baking soda.
The finnished piece. The title "When darkness falls" comes from that the battle calmed down when darkness fell and many of the wounded were left on the field to freeze to death. Which also adds to the high causalty numbers of the battle.
Well, Ill guess thats all folks.
