162 Wallenstein
most of his munitions and supplies, completely turning the tables and
forcing him to withdraw. However Wallenstein had anticipated the pos-
sibility of an attack from the rear, and he had left Aldringer with a com-
plement of guns and six regiments of infantry – probably of the order
of 6000 men – to defend the camp if necessary until reinforcements
could be sent.^13 Gustavus also underestimated the difficulty of the
uphill assault through the woods, and the strength of the Alte Veste
fortifications, while he was too confident of the ability of his veterans
to overcome such problems. It was a gamble which did not pay off.
The fighting on 3 September was bitter and prolonged. The Swedish
plan was to attack early and simultaneously at points across the
northern perimeter of the camp, but this quickly fell behind schedule.
Wallenstein had stripped the top of the ridge of trees, as well as clearing
part of the way down the slopes to provide lines of fire for his defenders,
but lower down they remained thickly wooded, while some of the
felled timber had been left to lie there to act as a further impediment.
The Swedish troops were hampered by long, heavy pikes and muskets,
difficult to carry at the best of times but particularly unsuitable for
traversing steeply sloping woods, and they found the going hard and
slow. Soon they came under fire and started to take heavy casualties, but
although they persevered bravely valuable time was lost and the attacks
were no longer coordinated. Wallenstein quickly learned of the assault,
but he was confident of Aldringer’s ability to hold the fortifications for
some time, so that he waited until he was sure that this was the main
attack rather than a diversion. Once convinced, he sent his army flood-
ing back into the camp to reinforce the northern defences.
The battle continued all day, and the Swedes managed to capture the
artillery emplacement on the ridge as well as various other defensive
outworks, but not the Alte Veste itself. Here Monro found the fighting
‘cruell hot ... the Hill was nothing els but fire and smoke, like to the
thundering Echo of a Thunderclap, with the noise of Cannon and
Musket’. Wallenstein had the advantage of being able to relieve his men
on the front line with fresh ones from the camp at regular intervals, and
there are reports of him in the thick of the fray throwing handfuls of
coins to encourage them.^14 Whether fact or fanciful rumour these con-
firm that he took personal command at the Alte Veste, as did Gustavus
only a few hundred yards away on the Weinberg. Here the Swedes more
than once pushed right up to the camp perimeter, but each time they
were driven back by sallies from the defences, while both on this wing
and on the river bank below there were sharp cavalry clashes during
the afternoon.