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War in the Rhine, Bohemian campaign
As the Imperial Army reorganized, Ferdinand has to reassess his troops. He knew his plan: Engage the Swedes on favorable terrain, destroy their artillery, push them out of Bohemia, the send reinforcements to Ottavio, who was currently trying to hold in Ghent and Liege to keep an Imperial presence in the Low Countries. The general worried that if he lost the next engagement with Gustav then the Swedes would match on Prague and take Bohemia. This could, under no circumstances, be allowed.
The Protestant army’s plan was much more simple. The goal was to decisively defeat Ferdinand and then take Bohemia. Fears of direct Polish intervention plagued the Protestant high command, but the Protestants got a lucky break.
After heavy Polish losses at Liberec, some of the Polish hussar commanders worried that Ferdinand was just bleeding them: After all, they were Slavs, and the Imperial curaissers were held back during the battle of Liberec, under the guise of reserves. The Polish hussars saw how Swedish cavalry wasn’t a pushover, and many recognized easily that the Polish shock of the Hussars wouldn’t work if they went up against a Swedish entrenched position. Ferdinand has promised that the cavalry in the next engagement would be used solely to overrun the cavalry, but said nothing of curaisser support. What was worse was that the open plain horses felt uncomfortable having to march through hilly and mountainous Bohemia, and Ferdinand made sure horse supplies and food were given to the Imperial curaissers first, the Poles second. The Polish infantry, fared much worse. Mauled after Liberec, their officers groaned at the idea of being placed in frontal formations yet again, as Ferdinand claimed they were faster than Imperial Tercios, stating that the Polish Light Infantry would be used solely for probing attacks and a follow up to the Hussar assault. But many still had fears after Liberec, and doubted the skillfullness of the Austrian.
Nevertheless, reports of a Swedish army of 50,000 entering Podebrady to camp, ready to invade Bohemia. Ferdinand feared the worst. The Protestants were reported only a couple dozen miles from the fort of Plzen, and Protestants in North Bohemia were in revolt. Some of these revolvers were assembled as irregulars within the Protestant army at Podebrady, bolstering Gustavus’s numbers. Ferdinand realized his precarious position, but bargained that Podebrady was flat terrain, and if the Imperialists could overrun the artillery, Ferdinand believed a decisive victory could still be seen. And so he marched off with 43,000 of his remaining forces, deciding against waiting for reinforcements, as he feared if he left Bohemia to dry the nobility might revolt against him.
The battle began in the Spring, where Ferdinand started off with a surprise attack on Gustav’s forces before they could entrench. Gustav assembles his cavalry to slam in the Polish hussars, eerily similar to the Battle of Liberec, Gustav managed to push the initial cavalry attack away from his line. Gustav then ordered his artillery to be moved back, realizing Ferdinand’s intentions, put both his protestant Curaissers and some of his sturdiest forces to make sure his artillery was secure. The Imperialists decided to launch a series of offensives against the Swedish center, employing their tercios to maul the Protestant forces. The Protestant irregulars managed to fight hard, more than making up for their lack of training when they managed to launch a counterattack, forcing the imperial standard infantry back, leaving only the Tercios to complete the offensive, upon which the Protestants reassembled, and Gustav ordered a curaisser attack to push the Heavy infantry back. Some of the Tercio formations fell back in retreat, only for the artillery and curaissers to turn their fallback into a rout, crippling Ferdinand’s chances of breaking the Swedish center. Gustav understood that the Imperials could keep probing, and without any hills the artillery couldn’t pound his forces like they did in Liberec. In order to utilize his numerical supremacy and force the battle into Ferdinand’s court.
A Protestant Central offensive was following a central artillery barrage in order to kick up smoke and dust to protect the Protestants. Despite it, the Imperial forces could hear the ghostly stomping of galloping curaissers, as the screams and yells of the Protestant infantry filled the town of Podebrady with the sound of a dragon. Ferdinand ordered anti-cavalry formations, and commanded his forces cavalry to launch an attack on the sides, deploying his curaissers, he would personally lead an offensive to drive back the attack. Gustav saw this, and lead a personal light cavalry charge of his own. The cavalry clashed first, with Sabre’s rattling against the curaissers, who played defensive, taking shots at the Swedish cavalry. But Gustav managed to beat the Curaissers to them, and his cavalry was engaged in furious combat in the flanks
The battle in the Center was a brutal fight. The Imperials lost their Tercios, but managed to beat off initial shock cavalry charges. The cavalry attack in the center, however, were really an attack to wane the center, as the Protestant infantry managed to catch the exhausted Imperialists and clashed, in a close fight. The Imperials cracked under the depth of Protestant forces, and Pomeranians were reported to have broken the center. Ferdinand wheeled back to save his center, but in doing so it shattered his attempts at beating Gustavus’s cavalry charge, and his curaissers took heavy casualties, until the Polish hussars drove back Gustav. Ferdinand saved his center, but Gustav had managed to force the Hussars off the battlefield, using a well timed feign retreat followed by Pomeranian pikemen moving in to support the exhausted Swedes. The Hussars were forced to move south, under pressure of infantry and Gustav’s reassembled light cavalry to push the Hussars into the Bohemin forests. Ferdinand knew he was losing, but used his artillery to keep the Swedish cavalry at bay, ordering a detachment to reel in the routing Poles. Eventually Ferdinand realized he had lost the day, and moved to reorganize a defense around Prague.
As the battle of Podebrady was ending, the French assembled another army of 70,000 to descend upon Lorraine, destroying any resemblance of Imperial forces in the region. The Rhenish army of 25,000, originally assigned to support Ottavia in the Benelux, had to be rerouted down to give the French some form of resistance. The Spanish attempted to launch an attack across the Pyrenees, but failed, and their retreating forces left Catalonia open.
The Rhenish armies assembled their stand near the fort of Strasbourg, in order to maximize every advantage they could get. The French army approached Strasbourg, and the sheer size of the army was enough for some duchies to switch sides, fearing Louis XIII to descend upon them with a fury. The Rhenish army dropped to only 22,000, digging in, the French would move to siege three, but the Rhenish forces, backed up by Imperialists and Bavarians, blew bridges across the Rhine, meaning the only way Strasbourg would fall would be through assault. Louis bombarded the defensive, easily sweeping away the Rhenish artillery, pleas were sent to Vienna to send more reinforcements to save the situation in Western Germany.
Meanwhile, advances were conducted in the Benelux. The Dutch fought their way to Brussels, and the French and Dutch sieged Liege, forcing the already strained Rhenish to send 5,000 in the hopes of relieving the city. Ottavia conducted an offensive from Ghent to Zeeland, hoping to pull the Dutch back to their territory. However this came at the cost of leaving only a small army to defend Ghent, overwhelmed by French forces, Ottavia realized his mistake.
Meanwhile, the English political situation was degrading, but that didn’t stop England to move in to strangle Ottavia’s supply in Zeeland, with the Dutch fleet in Biscay, warring the Spanish Armada. Ottavia was being sorrounded by a raised army of 12,000 troops from Holland and 20,000 from France, and the English strangling his only escape rout, he waited in the hopes that Liege could be saved.
Surprisingly, the French pulled off liege, forcing the Dutch to hold the area alone. France decided to use it’s freed up forces to penetrate into the Palatinate, convincing the state to once again switch sides to the Protestants in order to avoid the French from taking over. The Rhenish were quickly losing their position, but still held out, as Strasbourg was being pounded.
Back in Bohemia, Ferdinand suffered massive outcry. The Poles has abandoned him, deciding to return back to Poland after the loss at Podebrady. Ferdinand knew he needed the Poles, and sent his curaissers to reel them back in. This had turned into a skirmish, resulting in a Polish defeat, but most Poles were by then dead. Some Polish infantry were killed for being assumed to be traitors, and were attacked and harassed. Poland was furious, and demanded full compensation, while threatening to cut ties with the Habsburg. The Habsburgs were already in debt, and couldn’t afford the demands set by the Poles, and so refused. Poland, in response, assembled an army to invade Silesia, claiming to occupy Silesia until they were paid their fair dues.
This was a catastrophe for the Habsburgs, who’s position in Bohemia had all but collapsed. The nobility were furious after Ferdinand refused to respond to the Polish invasion, with Plzen surrendering and pledging it’s garrison to the Protestant army, and many other duchies defecting. Nearly ten thousand retinues under Ferdiand’s army were recalled, while the bohemian nobles raised another 5,000 for Gustav to take Prague with. Feeling his position in Bohemia to be lost, he fell back to Moravia, as Austria raised 30,000 new soldiers out of Habsburg direct pocket to regain the position in Bohemia.