Chapter V - War on the water

Summary

The Count Palatine Sulzbach tried to win the island of Mon, which was defended by hundred Danish cavalrymen and five hundred armed peasants. At the very beginning he was repelled. Because of the shallow sea he could not get close to the shore and had to temporarily abandon his plan. […] Then, in the town of Nykobing, on the Falster island, the Swedes prepared fl at-bottomed ferries. Each one of them could take fifty horses on the lower deck; the upper part, in turn, was made of thick planks in the shape of a shaft, which was to serve the infantry. The cavalry could easily go ashore. The fire of the infantry muskets from the upper deck prevented the access of the enemies to the coast. Initially, the ferries were directed towards the place where they usually moored, therefore, everyone who was on the island could reach the place to ward off the landing of the Swedes. But then the Swedes rowed to another place. The soldiers landed ashore so quickly that those few Danes who defended the coast could not repulse the attack. The Swedes lined up in ranks, and after a fierce battle forced the attacking Danes to flee, of whom seventy were killed. In this way the Swedes invaded the island of Mon.

The military efforts of the Second Northern War were conducted on land and at sea with equal fervour. The two largest maritime power at that time: the English State's Navy (since the execution of Charles I, not Royal any more) and the Dutch Navy, took part in the blockades and encounters. The great naval battle fought in Öresund on 29^th October 1658, between the Dutch and the Swedish fleet, passed into a legend since the “Dutch themselves admitted that they had never been in such a fierce fight.” However, apart from great naval engagements, which are already thoroughly examined, many other issues, related to the water hazards and obstacles, oft en constitute decisive elements of the campaigns of the Second Northern War. The most famous event in the category of “Other Actions” was the crossing of the entire Swedish army over the ice of the Little and Great Belt Straits. The Swedes headed successfully for Danish islands in winter 1658.