To oppose the Imperial
army, which numbered 35,000 men, Duke Bernhard, after having drawn
together all the troops scattered in the neighbourhood, could only
put 15,000 in the field. With so great a disparity of force he
could not offer battle, but in every way he harassed and interrupted
the advance of the Imperialists, while he sent pressing messages
to Oxenstiern for men and money, and to Marshal Horn, who commanded
in Alsace, to beg him march with all haste to his assistance.
Unfortunately Horn and Duke Bernhard were men of extremely different
temperaments. The latter was vivacious, enterprising, and daring
even to rashness, ready to undertake any enterprise which offered
the smallest hope of success. Marshal Horn, on the other hand,
although a good general, was slow, over cautious and hesitating,
and would never move until his plans appeared to promise almost
a certainty of success. Besides this, Horn, a Swede, was a little
jealous that Duke Bernhard, a German, should be placed in the
position of general-in-chief, and this feeling no doubt tended to
increase his caution and to delay his action.
Consequently he was so long a time before be obeyed the pressing
messages sent by the duke, that Ratisbon, after a valiant defence,
surrendered on the 29th of July, before he had effected a junction
with the duke's army. The Imperialists then marched upon Donauworth,
and this place, after a feeble defence, also capitulated.
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