~Battle of Lützen 1632~
On a field outside the small German town of Lützen, a King became lost in a mixture of fog and black gunpowder smoke. He was a product of his time, he was a warrior and he held a significant amount of personal courage. It was not the first time he had charged the enemy with weapons in his hands, it was the early 1600's and his name was Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden.
He got lost in the deafening mess that was created when the Swedish and Imperial armies crashed together like rhinos. He was not completely alone though. With him rode the chamberlain Creilsheim, the servants Truchsess and von Schulenberg, the 18-year-old boy named Leubelfing and the Kings lifeguards Anders Jönsson and Erland Lindelöf.
Suddenly, they get surrounded by heavily armoured German cuirassiers with pistols. A bullet hits the King above the left elbow and crushes the bone. Streiff, his horse, gets scared and difficult to control. Gustavus grasps the reins with his right hand and tries to get control over Streiff but then loses his sword. A shot goes off and hits the King in the back under the right scapula. After a previous gunshot wound at the Battle of Dirschau the King can no longer wear armor. He therefore wear a sort of leather jacket made of elk skin instead, but it cannot stop the bullet. It punctures his right lung. The King is now badly wounded and collapses in his saddle.
Many of the King's entourage have either fled or been killed. The lifeguard Anders Jönsson tries to support the wounded King and protect him from the stabbing cuirassiers. He fights desperately and valiantly against greater odds, but is ultimately cut down. Erland Lindelöf takes a shot in the neck and falls off his horse, and with this, the King immediately falls to the ground and remains lying. Streiff finds his way back to the army with empty and bloody saddle. The young servant Leubelfing is now the only one left, and he is trying to help Gustavus up on his own horse to save him, but it is difficult and he is heavy. The King has probably lost consciousness by now.
Leubelfing is cut down, seriously wounded, but he survives to later be able to tell what happened. Imperial riders, who certainly do not understand who it is they have found, shoot the King through the head at close range. Gustavus had been worth more alive than dead to them. But this is how King Gustavus Adolphus face his death on the battlefield, and the time is shortly before 13:00 on the day. It is a merciless and brutal affair.
When the King's body later was taken care of, wearing only a bloody white shirt, the pharmacist who embalmed Gustavus could count to five gunshot wounds, three stab wounds and a crushed bone in the left upper arm.
His leather jacket with the bullet hole can today be seen, along with his horse Streiff, in a museum at the Royal Armoury in Stockholm, Sweden. It is the best preserved and oldest stuffed horse in the world.
26 авг 2024
