Battle of Halmstad

Battle of Halmstad
Part of the Scanian War
Date August 17 1676 Location Halmstad Result Decisive Swedish victory
Belligerents
Sweden	Denmark
Commanders and leaders
Charles XI Field Marshal Simon Grundel-Helmfelt	Major General Jakob Duncan
Strength
5,300	4,000
Casualties and losses
49 KIA 130 wounded	1,000 KIA 1,500 POW

The Battle of Halmstad (also known as the Battle at Fyllebro) was fought at Fyllebro, approximately five km south of the town Halmstad in southwest Sweden on August 17 1676.

Prelude

The Danish army that landed at Helsingborg in Skåne in late June 1676 managed to conquer almost the whole province in less than a month. The Swedish army had to retreat north to Växjö.

In early August, General Jakob Duncan with about 4,000 Danish troops was sent north, to the province of Halland, to take Halmstad and if possible advance further north to join General Ulrik Frederick Gyldenløve, who had reached Gothenburg with a Norwegian army and was threatening to besiege the city.

On August 11, King Charles XI and his small army headed west to intercept Duncan. At noon August 17 the Swedish army had reached the only road from Skåne to Halmstad and Duncan was trapped. They torched the bridge leading south and headed north.

The day before, Duncan had been informed about Swedish troops heading in his direction but as he assumed that it was just a smaller unit under General Ascheberg he made no haste when he decided to leave Halmstad and return south to Skåne.

The battle

After just a few kilometres the Swedish vanguard under command of Ascheberg encountered a small Danish unit that was beaten and effectively routed back north. After a short chase Ascheberg suddenly found himself face to face with Duncan and his forces.

The Danish army was just about to cross the bridge over the creek Fylleån. Duncan, who thought that the enemy troops he could see was the entire Swedish force, continued to let his men cross the bridge in a slow phase. Unaware of the danger he let his troops assume battle formations on the south bank with their back against the creek.

In the mean while the Swedes had plenty of time to bring forward both the rest of the cavalry and the infantry, that had been lagging behind. The battle started with a salvo from the few Swedish guns, and then Charles XI and his Household cavalry charged down the hills to attack the Danish left wing. Soon the Swedes also charged on the left wing and in the center. After only 15 minutes the Danish left wing was scattered. In the center the Danish infantry put up a fearsome fight, with a powerful counter attack from a cavalry unit that tried to break through the Swedish lines, but only one squadron made it through.

At this point Duncan had realized his mistake and tried to repair it by making a new one when he ordered the remaining troops to retreat back across the bridge. But when the Swedish cavalry on the right wing found a ford and started moving fresh cavalry squadrons across the creek Duncan understood that the battle was lost and surrendered. The action had lasted for little more than an hour.

Aftermath

The defeat at Halmstad was a hard blow to the Danish plans to advance north and to make contact with the Norwegian army.

The battle at Fyllebro was also the first larger victory for the 20 years old King Charles XI and an important boost of moral for him, his generals and the whole army. The army was still much too weak to confront the Danes in Skåne and marched north to Varberg to await more troops.

The day after the battle the Danish King Christian V broke his camp at Kristianstad and started marching towards Halmstad. On September 5 he reached Halmstad and begun besieging the town with no result. Three weeks later he returned to Skåne to find quarters for the winter.