Shortly afterwards General Bauditzen arrived with 4000 men and 18
pieces of cannon to press the siege of Colberg, which was one of
the strongest fortresses in North Germany. On the 13th of November
the news arrived that Montecuculi was again advancing to raise the
siege; and Lord Reay with his half regiment, Hepburn with half his
regiment, and a regiment of Swedish infantry marched out to meet
him, Kniphausen being in command. They took up a position in a
little village a few miles from the town; and here, at four o'clock
in the morning, they were attacked by the Imperialists, 7000 strong.
The Swedish infantry fled almost without firing a shot, but the
Scottish musketeers of Hepburn and Reay stood their ground.
For a time a desperate conflict raged. In the darkness it was
utterly impossible to distinguish friend from foe, and numbers on
both sides were mown down by the volleys of their own party. In the
streets and gardens of the little village men fought desperately
with pikes and clubbed muskets. Unable to act in the darkness,
and losing many men from the storm of bullets which swept over the
village, the Swedish cavalry who had accompanied the column turned
and fled; and being unable to resist so vast a superiority of
force, Kniphausen gave the word, and the Scotch fell slowly back
under cover of the heavy mist which rose with the first breath of
day, leaving 500 men, nearly half their force, dead behind them.
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