The Battle of Lund was fought on December 4 1676 to the north of the city of Lund in Sweden. It was a battle that constitutes a part of the Swedish-Brandenburgian war . The combatants were the invading Danish army, numbering c. 15,000, under the personal command of the 21 year old King Christian V of Denmark, aided by General Carl von Arensdorff and the Swedish army of Charles XI of Sweden of about 8,000 under the command of Field Marshal Simon Grundel-Helmfelt.

Events leading up to the battle

The Danes saw this as an opportunity to regain control over Scania, and invaded via Helsingborg. The local peasantry sided with the Danes.

The battle

The battle commenced early in the morning after a race to control the strategically important town. The Swedes controlled the high ground, and began the attack; the Danes, somewhat taken by surprise, retreated northwest across the frozen Kävlinge River , where they regrouped. During the crossing, the ice broke under the weight of the movement and a number of the Danish force were drowned. Despite being outnumbered, somehow the Swedes managed to encircle the Danish army, which they managed to crush in the late afternoon, culminating in a massacre.

Aftermath

The remnants of the Danish forces retreated to the fortress of Landskrona, effectively routed. This was not however to be the end of the campaign since they were reinforced by sea by their Austrian and German allies and were not driven from Sweden until the summer of the following year in the wake of their defeat at the Battle of Landskrona .

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