The Great Deluge, or a Summary of Swedish Involvement in the Second Northern War

Czarniecki had begun to hold nightly meetings in front of the voivode's palace hearth. His war council was unanimous in their advice to stall, but the king had lost his temper. One night, in front of the dying heart, Stefan Czarniecki exploded. “We must attack,” he spoke through barred teeth. Each word was stressed equally and the statement sounded almost like a command. And as the general spoke, the cinders of the dying hearth flared, and the re-lit fire in his eyes betrayed that of the king's heart. Czarniecki continued. “We cannot allow the enemy to encircle us, like a wolf chases a buck into the prey's own den. What will the Swedes do with us? Inconceivable. How many Swedes are there? Inconceivable. How well supplied are they? Inconceivable. Where in the name of the devil himself do they hide? Inconceivable!”

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
 
More stalling...

Snow stained with blood washed over the bare cheeks of the men as they dug through the corpses. Wittenberg's whereabouts had been not-so-politely demanded at least once by every soldier digging, and after an hour or so, there remained only more snow and more corpses. The general could not have vanished, and by the body count of his one-man endeavor it seemed unlikely that they had taken him alive. The digging was slow, as each enemy's body had to be hauled away and buried and on top of that the snowfall blanketed the mound in a new meter of snow each time a single body was removed. But even against this losing battle of frozen carnage, the men dug, however laboriously, in hope of finding the general. If they did not, all knew, the chain of command would be ruptured and Lwow would not fall.

Hours of shoveling and pawing passed. By noon it was assumed that Wittenberg's corpse had been mistake for another's and dragged off to the burial. The diggers did not cease at this notion, insisting that the general had to be found and confirmed dead or else the battle would be a mess, given the harm to morale the uncertainty of the commander's whereabouts would have. Hands numbed, fingers bled, mixing Swedish blood into the already-pink powder of the snow. Unable to convince the soldiers to stop digging, the officers retreated to Wittenberg's tent to discuss the future of the siege.

They filed into the general's tent, taking seats at his planning table. Each one of them seemed to understand the urgency of the situation: without Sweden's greatest general of the last three decades, there could be no victory at Lwow. There would remain a Polish crown, a cause behind which for the Poles to rally. There would have to be a new plan devised, one which would encompass all possibilities for fault on both sides, effectively maintain the brilliant psychological advantage Wittenberg had established with the snow fortifications, and account for every way in which the battle could go awry. The officer ranking the highest, a gray-haired colonel looking nearly as old as Wittenberg, took his turn to speak first.

“I call this meeting to -” no sooner than when he opened his mouth came a cry from outside the tent. One of the junior officers rushed out, cried as well, and bolted back into the tent to announce that Wittenberg had been found. The Officers got up in a hurry and walked briskly out to the mound of corpses where the general's body had been brought out into the snow. His clothes were soaked in blood, and his arms lay stiff, evidently attempting to stop up a wound to his lower torso. At this sight, the men began to remove their hats.

Two of the soldiers previously digging through the mound of corpses began to search the field-marshal for the cause of death. They prodded him in several ares along the torso, practically punching him in the stomach before eliciting a moan from the man. A gasp of surprise echoed through the crowd, and one of the two examiners listened at the general's mouth. He beckoned to the colonel, who soon complied and approached the body with almost familial respect before kneeling beside Wittenberg.

The field-marshal groaned, eyes finally able to open, and his mouth clean of injuries, “Send the artillerists back to work and tell everyone not to worry about me. Also, this snow is the devil's vice.”

The colonel relayed the orders. “The general claims that he will recover! Back to work!” He then pointed at the men who had prodded Wittenberg to check for his cause of death. “I suggest you take him to his tent before the general finds out what you've done.”

They nodded, and dragged Arvid Wittenberg, still alive, back to his tent. The colonel said a silent prayer.
 
The post regarding the Swedish navy is wrong in some regards - Visby cannot host the Swedish navy, and it has never been a major base. The ships were laid up during winter at Skeppsholmen in Stockholm, and fitted during spring, usually the fleet was ready to sail in early May. This WAS a problem though, since the Danish navy, which usually had some ice-free waters in the north sea to maintain readiness and professionalism, and benefited from earlier ice breakup. When the Swedish navy was sailing from Stockholm, the Danish navy had usually dominated the southern Baltic Sea for a month.

However, at this time the Swedish navy is at one of its peaks, with Fermen 1644 and Öresund 1658 (going equal against the Dutch in this time is an amazing feat).
 
Oh, and I think the army should be able to march to Jutland, like it did in 1644 and 1658, there's no real need to maintain naval superiority if the army is already on the continent. It helps for supplies and reinforcements, but is not absolutely necessary - Sweden can raise capital in the form of loans and the tolls and tariffs of its German possessions and raise mercenaries from the continent with that.

As for Älvsborg/Göteborg, that it would come under siege and be blockaded by the Danish navy was expected - it has some impressive fortifications, including Älvsborgs Fästning (both the old and the new) and many other fortifications. Göteborg would hold any siege for a long time before it could be reinforced overland.

The duty of the Swedish navy in this time was;
1. Maintain the supply and shipping routes between Sweden and its Finnish and Baltic possessions (rarely challenged).
2. Maintain the supply and shipping routes between Sweden and its German possessions (often challenged by the Danes).
3. Gain naval supremacy in the southern Baltic.
4. Gain naval supremacy in the western Baltic, directly challenging the Danish navy in its home waters. This would be a mortal threat to Denmark, as then all communications between the Danish islands, Jutland and Scania would be broken and the Swedes would be able to land a navy.

Relieving Göteborg or operating in the North Sea would be very far down the priority list, if present at all. If the Swedish navy tried to cross the Sound, the Danish navy would assume it was trying to do 4. and directly challenge it.

However, all these points are pretty moot, as the Swedish navy did not operate during winter at all. The ships were laid up in mid-November and fitted during April. Depending on the ice situation in the Stockholm archipelago, the navy would be battle ready mid-April to late May.
 
Oh, and I think the army should be able to march to Jutland, like it did in 1644 and 1658, there's no real need to maintain naval superiority if the army is already on the continent. It helps for supplies and reinforcements, but is not absolutely necessary - Sweden can raise capital in the form of loans and the tolls and tariffs of its German possessions and raise mercenaries from the continent with that.

As for Älvsborg/Göteborg, that it would come under siege and be blockaded by the Danish navy was expected - it has some impressive fortifications, including Älvsborgs Fästning (both the old and the new) and many other fortifications. Göteborg would hold any siege for a long time before it could be reinforced overland.

The duty of the Swedish navy in this time was;
1. Maintain the supply and shipping routes between Sweden and its Finnish and Baltic possessions (rarely challenged).
2. Maintain the supply and shipping routes between Sweden and its German possessions (often challenged by the Danes).
3. Gain naval supremacy in the southern Baltic.
4. Gain naval supremacy in the western Baltic, directly challenging the Danish navy in its home waters. This would be a mortal threat to Denmark, as then all communications between the Danish islands, Jutland and Scania would be broken and the Swedes would be able to land a navy.

Relieving Göteborg or operating in the North Sea would be very far down the priority list, if present at all. If the Swedish navy tried to cross the Sound, the Danish navy would assume it was trying to do 4. and directly challenge it.

However, all these points are pretty moot, as the Swedish navy did not operate during winter at all. The ships were laid up in mid-November and fitted during April. Depending on the ice situation in the Stockholm archipelago, the navy would be battle ready mid-April to late May.

Interesting. It's unfortunate I couldn't find information like this: for now we can assume extreme stupidity on the part of Swedish admirals.
 
But Wrangel actually proved a competent Admiral - he led the Swedish navy at Femern 1644 and Öresund 1658, both which are peaks in the Swedish navy's history (surpassed only by Svensksund 1790). The Swedish navy, if being defeated, should be defeated around Öland like it was 1676, not in Kattegatt.

You can just ask me if you need information.
 
But Wrangel actually proved a competent Admiral - he led the Swedish navy at Femern 1644 and Öresund 1658, both which are peaks in the Swedish navy's history (surpassed only by Svensksund 1790). The Swedish navy, if being defeated, should be defeated around Öland like it was 1676, not in Kattegatt.

You can just ask me if you need information.

All right, sounds good. I'll PM you and leave a lame excuse here until I have the time to make changes.
 
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