[POTN] 3.13 - War in Brandenburg

The southern border of Pomerania was relatively calm compared to the Scanian front, even after the declaration of war by Friedrich Wilhelm. After all, Brandenburg-Prussia was hesitant to go all-out against Sweden, unsure about Denmark's capability to truly contain the elite Swedish forces.

Swedish border-crossings in April were expelled by Brandenburger forces, but Berlin seldom ordered the army to pursue the Swedes deep into Pomerania proper. Brandenburger forces merely occupied several border fortresses by the end of the month.

Swedish forces, under a relatively messy command, did not wage an invasion either. Some generals, noticing the Swedish advantage in preparedness and technology, sent letters to Stockholm asking for permission to invade Brandenburg in April. Yet, many of these letters were blocked by the Danes, the remaining only reaching Stockholm very late, taking a longer route by the east of the Baltic, and thus the Swedish-Pomeranian command could not decide whether to attack or fortify their borders.

The southern border of Pomerania was relatively calm compared to the Scanian front, even after the declaration of war by Friedrich Wilhelm. After all, Brandenburg-Prussia was hesitant to go all-out against Sweden, unsure about Denmark's capability to truly contain the elite Swedish forces. Swedish border-crossings in April were expelled by Brandenburger forces, but Berlin seldom ordered the army to pursue the Swedes deep into Pomerania proper.

Brandenburger forces merely occupied several border fortresses by the end of the month. Swedish forces, under a relatively messy command, did not wage an invasion either. Some generals, noticing the Swedish advantage in preparedness and technology, sent letters to Stockholm asking for permission to invade Brandenburg in April. Yet, many of these letters were blocked by the Danes, the remaining only reaching Stockholm very late, taking a longer route by the east of the Baltic, and thus the Swedish-Pomeranian command could not decide whether to attack or fortify their borders.

It only changed when Prince Karl arrived at Stettin on 8th May, 1668. He, with Gustav's decree, immediately took control of all Swedish forces in Pomerania, and began utilising the local treasury to expand the military by recruiting mercenaries from Saxony, Mecklenburg, and other German states. While Karl did not wage an offensive immediately, it was apparent to Berlin that the Swedes had taken a far more aggressive stance in Pomerania, and the Elector began fortifying the borders against Karl's army.

In the North, the Danes and the Swedes entered a tough stalemate in Scania. Approximately a third of the province was restored to Danish control, the Swedes there largely expelled. In the remaining Scanian lands under Swedish control, King Gustav declared military rule, and began a harsh operation to crush the local Danes effectively to prevent a pro-Copenhagen uprising.

The Swedish Navy, nonetheless, was not having any advantages against the more well-led and well-supplied Danish Navy, under the command of Admiral Niels Juel. The Swedes were beaten in a naval skirmish east of Öland on 1st June, 1668.

The Danish victory meant that the Swedish Navy was no longer able to supply the Swedish forces fighting in Scania by sea, and Stockholm had to rely on supply routes by land from then on.

The Riksdag was extremely shocked by the defeat. After all, since 1658, almost every single Swedish noble had seen the Danes as a second-rated power that would not ever match the Swedish might anymore following the humiliating defeat by Prince Karl a decade ago.

Indeed, even with advances in Scania, the Danes had never inflicted a major defeat upon the Swedes before the naval triumph. The land gains in Scania were mostly caused by the local Danes rebelling forcing the Swedes to retreat, rather than a major military victory.

Stockholm mobilised some more manpower from the periphery regions of the realms in June, eager to push the Danes back into the Sea. Nonetheless, the Swedish Navy would continue suffering in the Baltic, overpowered by the Danes.

On 5th July, 13th anniversary of the beginning of the Swedish invasion of Poland, Prince Karl ordered for his army, now numbering over fifteen thousand, to invade Brandenburg at midnight.

Karl, while seeing Denmark as the chief enemy, believed that it was necessary to pacify Brandenburg-Prussia before marching west to Jutland. After all, Pomerania was seen as a crucial territory, and the loss of the province would lead to the end of Swedish dominance of the Baltic.

The Brandenburger fortifications were proved largely ineffective against Karl's charges. Many of Karl's core Swedish troops fought in the wars against Poland and Denmark a decade ago, and were much more well-trained than Brandenburger troops that saw relatively less combat even during the war with Poland in the 1650s. Karl had the mercenaries charge against the strongest Brandenburger fortifications, distracting the most resilient Brandenburger forces. Then, with his elite units, he unexpectedly moved his elite units to the west, close to the Pomeranian border with Mecklenburg.

On 9th July, Karl's elite units, numbering over seven thousand, entered Mecklenburg after he secretly forced the Duke to grant passage to the Swedish forces in late June. The Swedes then camped outside Strelitz, waiting for am opportunity to wage an all-out offensive.

In the following week, both Brandenburger troops and mercenaries employed by the Swedes suffered from massive losses in the border warfare. Neither side was able to overpower each other, and the fighting largely remained around the border.

It was on 17th July that Karl finally decided to attack. Before dawn, Karl led his army to quietly cross the Brandenburg-Mecklenburg border, in a direction never expected by Friedrich Wilhelm in Berlin. Brandenburger border towns were captured by the end of the day, and Karl ordered his army to continue marching south. Friedrich Wilhelm, receiving the reports on 18th July, immediately assembled an army in a few days to march westward, led by himself.

Nonetheless, the army, so hastily assembled, was rather ill-prepared, especially compared to Karl's elite forces. Friedrich Wilhelm mistakenly believed that Karl was only leading a small force of less than three thousand people, and aimed to overwhelm these Swedes by sheer numbers alone.

The Brandenburger army arrived at and entered the city of Neuruppin on 22th July, led by the Elector. By that point, he had received reports about the true size of the Swedish army, and considered retreating. However, surrendering a major and historic city like Neuruppin would severely damage the morale of the Brandenburger troops. Thus, Friedrich Wilhelm pledged to the city residents that his army would stay, and he would not surrender without a fight.

The next day, Karl's army arrived at Neuruppin. Instead of attacking the city, Karl's army merely besieged it, and raided Brandenburger farmlands around to supply the army with adequate food.

Friedrich Wilhelm, with his large army inside a relatively small city, immediately knew that Karl aimed to starve everyone inside Neuruppin to death. The city, located in the northwest of Brandenburg, was not truly prepared for a siege, and the food inside could not even sustain such a large population for a fortnight.

After a mere few days, Friedrich Wilhelm decided it was totally unsustainable to continue waiting in the besieged city. With the shortage of food, the already low morale of his army dropped further, and some even dared suggest surrendering to the Swedes.

On 28th July, in the morning, Friedrich Wilhelm decided that attacking was the only possible way to survive, or else his army would just starve to death sooner or later. He opened the city gates, launching a surprised attack on the Swedes.

Karl had long anticipated the Brandenburgers to attack. He already had detailed instructions for his army to slightly retreat when the Brandenburgers attack, and to encircle them with a tactical trap.

Friedrich Wilhelm's army, inexperienced, fell into the trap straight away. After the encircling was completed, Karl ordered for all Swedes to charge in the "Carolean way" - charging to ten steps from the enemies, shoot together, and fight with their swords to kill the enemies. A decade ago, such charging terrorised the Poles and the Danes. While the Brandenburger elites might have learnt about it, Friedrich Wilhelm's inexperienced army most certainly did not.

The Brandenburgers, numbering 12,000, was totally outclassed by the Swedes in the subsequent Battle of Neuruppin. The Swedes, literate and experienced, read Karl's orders in detail before the battle, and fought with order and composure in the battle.

In contrast, the Brandenburgers were largely illiterate, uneducated, and hastily conscripted three mere weeks ago, relying on the command of a few generals. Most of the men there ended up either captured or killed by the Swedes by the end of the day. Friedrich Wilhelm managed to flee with less than 1000 men intact back to Berlin, and Karl chose not to chase him for the sake of it, unwilling to overstretch the supply lines. The Swedes then plundered more Brandenburger farms to ensure the army was well-fed.

As the Brandenburgers were Lutheran, not Catholic like the Poles, Karl's army was not as cruel to civilians as they were a decade ago. Nonetheless, many Brandenburger homes were still looted, in order to keep the Swedes well-supplied and well-fed for future fighting. The captured Brandenburgers, numbering over 7000, would soon be sent to Pomerania to fight against the fellow countrymen. As these prisoners were mostly formed by uneducated farmers, they rarely held deep loyalty towards Berlin, and most were willing to fight for Sweden after having been promised safety and silver.

These Brandenburgers, along with many captured Brandenburger women, were sent by Karl to Pomerania to join and support the Swedish troops there in early August, tilting the balance of the stalemate around the border.

On 12th August, Karl finally marched on, with his now well-supplied army, numbering over 8000. The city of Oranienburg was taken on 15th August with minimal resistance, the wealth of the city, which was named dedicated to the Electress of Brandenburg.

By that point, Friedrich Wilhelm had returned to Berlin with his broken army. He declared Berlin a fortress, and conscripted every last man in Berlin to fortify the city against a possible Swedish attack. Friedrich Wilhelm also ordered for his army up north, fighting the Swedes, to return to the capital as soon as possible to defend Berlin. More than half of the Brandenburger troops in the north returned to Berlin by 22th August.

That, coupled with the reinforcements by the Brandenburger captives, allowed the Swedes to finally break the stalemate up north and enter Brandenburger territories by early September. Meanwhile, Karl's army encircles the city of Berlin by 24th August. Friedrich Wilhelm implemented strict rationing in the city, trying to allow his capital city to withstand the Swedish siege for as long as possible.

The crumbling northern front meant Berlin remained largely without reinforcements after the Siege started, and the French subsidies were also no longer able to reach Berlin, some even robbed by the Swedes. Karl began forcibly conscripting more and more Brandenburgers from the countryside to put greater pressure on Friedrich Wilhelm.