Battle of Rain or Battle of Lech or Battle of the River Lech
Part of the Thirty Years' War
Date April 15, 1632 Location At the River Lech near Rain, Bavaria, present-day Germany Result Decisive Swedish victory
Belligerents
Sweden	Holy Roman Empire Catholic League
Commanders
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden	Count Johan Tzerclaes of Tilly
Strength
40,000	25,000
Casualties and losses
2,000 dead	3,000 dead

The Battle of Rain (also called the Battle of the River Lech or Battle of Lech) was fought on April 15, 1632 as part of the Thirty Years' War. For the Mauritanian Thirty Years' War see Char Bouba war. For the band see The 30 Years War. Events 1450 - Battle of Formigny: Toward the end of the Hundred Years' War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English Bavaria ( German:, with an area of 70553 Km² (27241 square miles and almost 12 Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. The Holy Roman Empire ( HRE; German Heiliges Römisches Reich (HRR, Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium (SRI was a union of territories in Background In 1555 the Peace of Augsburg was signed which confirmed the result of the First Diet of Speyer (1526 and ended the violence between the Lutherans For the other Swedish kings known as Gustavus Adolphus see Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden or Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden Johann Tserclaes Count of Tilly ( Dutch: Johan 't Serclaes) (February 1559 - April 30[[ 632]] known as the Monk in Armor, was a General Events 1450 - Battle of Formigny: Toward the end of the Hundred Years' War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English For the Mauritanian Thirty Years' War see Char Bouba war. For the band see The 30 Years War. The forces involved in this conflict were 40,000 Swedish troops under Gustavus Adolphus and 25,000 Catholic League troops under Count Johan Tzerclaes of Tilly. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. For the other Swedish kings known as Gustavus Adolphus see Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden or Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden Background In 1555 the Peace of Augsburg was signed which confirmed the result of the First Diet of Speyer (1526 and ended the violence between the Lutherans Johann Tserclaes Count of Tilly ( Dutch: Johan 't Serclaes) (February 1559 - April 30[[ 632]] known as the Monk in Armor, was a General It was the second meeting between the two legendary generals (see First Breitenfeld when Tilly received the first set back of his long and storied career) and like at Breitenfeld, Tilly lost when Gustavus forced the River Lech under the cover of his superb artillery, and as there, Tilly was wounded several times and fell during the battle and was carried from the field by his men who called him Father Tilly — only this time, he would not recover from his wounds. The Battle of Breitenfeld (Schlacht bei Breitenfeld Slaget vid Breitenfeld or First Battle of Breitenfeld (sometimes First Breitenfeld) was a "World Changing

Gustavus had a bridge of boats constructed across the Lech river near the city of Rain through the night prior to the battle, and in the morning sent three hundred Finnish Hackapelite troops across the river under fire. The Lech (Licus Licca) is a River in Austria and Germany. It is a right tributary of the Danube and 264 km in length with a Sweden–Finland is a historiographical term used especially in Finland, to refer to the Swedish Kingdom from the Kalmar Union to the Hakkapeliitta ( Finnish pl hakkapeliitat) was the term used in the Holy Roman Empire for a Finnish light Cavalryman in the service The Hackapelites dug earthworks for batteries which then protected the rest of Gustavas' army as they crossed the river. As soon as his army had crossed the river, Gustavus immediately and successfully stormed the hill. Tilly was shot in the leg early in the battle and was removed to the rear; his second in command, Aldringen, was knocked unconscious with a skull fracture minutes later. Johann Reichsgraf von Aldringen (sometimes spelled von Altringer) ( December 10 1588 &ndash June 22, 1634) Austrian soldier was Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria ordered an immediate retreat to save the now leaderless army, leaving most of the Catholic League's baggage and artillery on the field. Not to be confused with King Maximilian I of Bavaria (1756-1825 prince-elector of Bavaria (as Maximilian IV Joseph. The army itself may only have escaped destruction due to storm and high winds blocking roads in the night that followed^[1]

The immediate result of the battle was that the grand duchy of Bavaria lay open for occupation by the Swedish army, enabling Gustavus Adolphus to temporarily threaten the Austrian heartland.

The battle is however more interesting from a tactical point of view rather than from its outcome, as the elaborate plan of Gustavus Adolphus to catch the entire imperial army by complex maneuvering was prevented when Tilly was mortally wounded in the battle, resulting in the early retreat of the imperial army. The Swedish battle plan consisted of two major elements:

1. A strong feint attack by a portion of the Swedish infantry with heavy artillery support against Tilly's strongly fortified center behind the river Lech. The intended effect was to attract the full attention of the imperial army and its reserve. The Swedish force succeeded in establishing and fortifying its position on a small island or peninsula close to the imperial side of the river. From this position it was able to repel a series of fierce imperial counterattacks despite being outnumbered.

2. As the imperial army got tied up in desperate attempts to eliminate the Swedish bridgehead, the Swedish cavalry with no opposition or attention from the enemy was able to cross the river 10 km south of the imperial left wing. From this position they intended to outflank the entire imperial army and thus catch it in a position with the river and the Swedish infantry at its front and the Swedish cavalry in its rear and on its flanks.

When Tilly was mortally wounded, the discipline of the imperial army quickly dissolved and the army withdrew before the arrival of the Swedish cavalry. Thus, Tilly's death possibly saved his army from a complete defeat. Nonetheless, both armies suffered considerable losses (3,000 on the imperial side, 2,000 on the Swedish), mostly due to frontal attacks and counterattacks against fortified positions with strong natural defenses.

The battle of Lech proves more than the Battle of Breitenfeld the innovation of Gustavus Adolphus' tactical imagination. His daring frontal attack in combination with the deployment of a large part of his army for the flanking movement has similarities with the tactics of the Duke of Marlborough at the battlefield of Blenheim (situated in the very neighborhood of Rain) or of Frederick the Great at Leuthen. The Dukedom of Marlborough (named after Marlborough, ˈmɔrlbrə " Maul bruh" is a hereditary title of British nobility in the Peerage of The Battle of Blenheim (referred to in some countries as the Second Battle of Höchstädt) fought on 13 August 1704 was a major battle of the War of the Spanish Succession Frederick II (Friedrich II January 24 1712 August 17 1786) was a King of Prussia (1740&ndash1786 from the The disciple of Gustavus Adolphus, Johan Banér, also employed a similar battle plan four years later in the battle of Wittstock. For the other Swedish kings known as Gustavus Adolphus see Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden or Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden Johan Banér ( 23 June 1596 – 10 May 1641) was a Swedish Field Marshal in the Thirty Years' War. The Battle of Wittstock was fought on September 24 ( Julian calendar) or October 4 ( Gregorian calendar) 1636, between a Protestant

See also

• Rain order of battle

References

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