158 Wallenstein
direction involved a long march around the Imperialist encampment,
particularly difficult for the artillery over poor roads, and with his
columns at constant risk from sallies out of the defences. The alterna-
tives were little better, as the other three sides of the camp had stronger
natural defences, and thus Gustavus found himself in the same position
as Wallenstein almost two months before, facing a well-prepared fortifi-
cation occupied by a large army and with no obvious way of attacking
it successfully.
Hence Gustavus’s first move can be seen more as a probe for weak-
nesses than as an all-out attack. Early on 31 August 1632 the Swedish
forces moved out of their encampments and took up position some dis-
tance back from the east bank of the River Rednitz, opposite the eastern
defences of the Imperialist camp. The whole army was then drawn up
in battle array in what amounted to a challenge to Wallenstein to come
out and fight. It was a challenge which no competent general would
have accepted, as it would have meant leaving a superior defensive
position, crossing the river under Swedish gunfire, and then fighting
with the river behind cutting off the line of retreat. Later in the day
Gustavus moved his troops up closer and began to build emplacements
for his guns in positions where they could fire right into the Imperialist
camp. Wallenstein sought to hinder this both with his own artillery and
with sallies from his defences, so that some skirmishing took place, in
course of which one of the Swedish generals, Johan Banér, was severely
wounded by a musket ball. Dusk brought this action to an end, but
during the night the Swedes installed their heavy guns in the prepared
batteries ready for the morning.
The following day, 1 September, opened with an artillery battle, and
it was soon clear that the better-equipped Swedes had the advantage.
Wallenstein countered this by moving his own guns back from the
perimeter to new positions in which they were out of effective range of
the Swedish batteries but still able to strike at troops attempting to cross
the river. The Swedes then bombarded the camp for much of the day
in an attempt to drive the Imperialists out, but Wallenstein’s men and
guns were well dug in and survived with little serious loss. More prob-
ing and skirmishing followed, but by evening it was clear to Gustavus
that the fortifications were too strong and well defended to be taken by
storm across the river, so he broke off the action.
At dawn on 2 September Wallenstein was probably not surprised to
find that the Swedish army had moved during the night. Gustavus had
marched four miles north to Fürth, where he had been able to cross
the Rednitz and draw up his forces in defensive array in case of any