Gustavus
despatched Marshal Horn to follow the retreating enemy to Ingolstadt,
and he himself with the rest of his army marched up the Lech to
Augsburg, which was held by Colonel Breda with four thousand five
hundred men.
The Imperialists had broken down the bridge, but Gustavus immediately
built two others, one above and the other below the city, and
summoned it to surrender. Breda, hearing that Tilly was dying,
Altringer severely wounded, and that no help was to be expected
from Maximilian, considered it hopeless to resist, and surrendered
the town, which Gustavus, attended by the titular King of Bohemia and
many other princes, entered in triumph on the following day, April
14th. The capture of Augsburg was hailed with peculiar satisfaction,
as the city was regarded as the birthplace of the Reformation in
Germany. Leaving a garrison there the king retraced his steps along
the Lech to Neuberg, and marched thence to join Marshal Horn in
front of Ingolstadt.
This town was one of the strongest places in Germany and had
never been captured. It was now held by a formidable garrison, and
the Imperialist army covered it on the north. Tilly had implored
Maximilian to defend it and Ratisbon at all hazards, as their
possession was a bar to the further advance of Gustavus.
The king arrived before it on the 19th, and on the following day
advanced to reconnoitre it closely.
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