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Some translation may be missed due to space limitations of the Google translator.
Hakkapeliitat - Sweden's secret weapon
In the Thirty Years' War, the Finnish cavalry division of the Swedish army was a modest, if not downright miserable sight. However, the disciplined fighting style and good team spirit made the hacking alliances a frightening weapon.
By Reino Rasilainen
Gustav II of Adolf in the Battle of Breitenfeld. Johan Walter's painting dates from 1632.
On the morning of September 7, 1631, near the village of Breitenfeld, two armies faced each other on a front nearly four kilometers wide. The terrain was a gently sloping plateau and favored the use of cavalry. The Protestant army was led by King Gustav II Adolf and included, in addition to the Swedish army, troops from the Principality of Saxony. The Catholic army consisted of Emperor Ferdinand II as well as the so-called Count Johan Tilly, a skilled warlord, was a member of the Catholic League.
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Gustav Adolf had an army of 23,000 men at his disposal, of which about 8,000 were cavalry. There were 32,000 soldiers on the Catholic side. However, the Protestant front had been stretched longer, allowing for more effective use of troops. Gustav Adolf's right from the side was stronger than the left, and for the first time in this battle in the place of honor, the far right had 700 hackers, or Finnish cavalry. This place was later established as the regiment's position in the army's battle order.
In the battle, Tilly fiercely attacked the Saxon infantry, knowing that the men were forced and poorly trained. The Saxons fled, but under the leadership of Finnish General Gustav Horn, the left wing of the Swedish army stabilized. On the right wing, the Hackers attacked the Imperial Cavalry, and now for the first time a strange sight was seen: poorly equipped, almost unarmoured troops chased after their best horses the best-equipped, heavily armored cavalry in Europe. The battle was finally settled when the Hackers took over the artillery of the Imperial Army on Galgenberg, or Log Hill, and the cannons were directed against the infantry of the Imperial Army. The Finnish cavalry had made their debut on the big stage.
Fire and movement
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In the Thirty Years' War, Sweden's initial success was dazzling. The army fought with new tactics, flexibly and movingly. The novelty of the artillery were small bronze cast cannons that were easy to move on the battlefield. Often the battle began with these regiment cannons fired from in front of the troops. They ranged from 300 to 400 meters and could fire both iron bullets and cartes. Inside the Cartesian munition, there were small iron balls inside the sheet metal shell that spread like a fan to a group of enemies.
The Swedish cavalry also had a new kind of combat tactic. As early as the early 17th century, karakolli tactics, or karakolation, prevailed on European battlefields. In it, cavalry ranks took turns riding in front of the enemy front, firing their pistols, and retreating behind to load their weapons and wait for their new turn. In this tactic, the cavalry made little use of the horse’s mass and movement, but the horse only proceeded to the appropriate shooting distance. Caracalization required careful training and seamless cooperation.
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As early as the Polish Wars of the 1610s and 1620s, Gustav II Adolf had noticed that this tactic was not suitable for Swedish troops, which consisted largely of peasant cavalry with their country horses. Instead, the Swedes embraced a violent assault from the Poles, where the horse also served as a fighting tool and the enemy was handcuffed with blade weapons. The Poles, in turn, had learned this tactic from the Mongols.
The Swedes further developed this assault tactic: they combined fire and movement. The cavalry rushed in a dense wedge formation, the adjacent man's knee pressed to the neighbor's knee bend. It is almost impossible to stop such a large and compact mass at full gallop speed. A close-range shot from a pistol at close range, less than ten meters, caused bad losses to the enemy, even with the inaccurate weapons of its time. The assault continued and now the swords were pulled out. The impact on the opponent was overwhelming overall: just a moment after the shock caused by the joint shot, the troops were allowed to experience the crumbling mass of horses as well as the sharp swords of the cavalry. With such an onslaught, the hackers solved many battles.
Pistol, sword and knife
Hakkapiitit, like the rest of the Swedish cavalry, were lightly armored forces, most of the time the soldiers only had a helmet and chest armor. Heavier equipment could not be afforded, and the small horses would not have been able to bear the full armored men. Instead of a helmet, a wood chipper could have a mere iron frame placed on the outside or inside of a wide-brimmed hat. The frame protected mainly from the top tu
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from future attacks. Due to the light equipment, the Finnish cavalry was often thought of as tarrews, which were infantry moving on horseback.
The cavalry's firearms were usually a concealed pistol, sometimes even two. The pistols were carried in holster-mounted cases ready for firing. In the cases, the guns were positioned so that their handles parted forward. The weapon was thus “crossed” in the real situation, i.e. the weapon in the left case was taken into the right hand. That way, it was faster and safer to grab at full speed. The pistols were large in size, with a total length of 35 to 40 centimeters.
The Hakkapeliitto naturally also had a sword at their disposal, which was longer than that used by the infantry. It was with these weapons that they were “beaten up”. The swords of the Finns were often a domestic act, forged by local village blacksmiths. A local act was also a stabbing weapon held in the left hand for close combat. Other nationalities used a dagger, but the Finns wore a homemade knife.
Small and hardy horses
However, the most important “weapon” of the Hakkapeliitto was the horse. The typical war horse used in the hack game was a Finnish horse, which was considerably smaller than its current breed partner. The height of the civilian horses was about 104 to 129 centimeters and that of the officers' horses 129 to 140 centimeters. The horses of the European cavalry were, on average, 20 to 30 centimeters higher than those of the hackers. Hakkapeliittas thus rode pony-sized horses according to the current standard - if soon the men were smaller at the time.
The Finnish horses did not look very representative anyway. Their hair was long and tangled, and the ridges or tails of the horses were not combed or braided as in the Imperial Army. Horses were often burdened with heavy work, before being recruited for military service they had done a long period of work in front of the plow and in other earthworks. Of course, the house that equipped the knight was not given the road to the best horse in the house.
But Finnish horses had characteristics that compensated for the shortcomings in size and appearance. They were calm, tenacious and durable. They were also much easier to feed in demanding war conditions, with fodder often having to be piled up tens of miles away. The Finnish horses were well suited to the runway, and they were not frightened in combat situations. The surprising escapes of the cavalry were often due to the foaming of the horses, and in this respect the horses of the hacking alliances were reliable comrades-in-arms.
Strange group
The name of the Hakkapitto alliances derives from the war cry “Beat on”. With this command, the Finnish cavalry was ordered to attack the enemy. In that form, the name of the cavalry has probably been distorted when the Swedish-speaking or Scottish mercenaries of the Swedish army have tried to say it: “Hakka Peele”. In addition to Finnish and Swedish, Torsten Stålhandske, the head of the Hakkapeliitto, also spoke English well, as he had traveled extensively in Scotland in his youth. So he has also been able to explain the meaning of the cry.
It may be that that “Beat On” cry is echoed in the air only when you go on the attack. According to some sources, the hacking alliances had an exceptional way of fighting almost quietly, without constant shouting. This was scary for the soldiers of the time. Shouting on the battlefield most often expresses more fear than rage, so the quietly fighting troops felt really weird: they weren’t even scared. The Finns perhaps took the killing as a job that was contracted gesturelessly and efficiently.
The Finns were annexed to the Lapps, and it was assumed that they had some kind of witchcraft at their disposal. They were alienated. This was partly due to the language barrier, the Finns were not even understood by their own Swedish-speaking officers. Lack of language skills made Finns a more cohesive and fixed group than usual. In a foreign country and culture, he did best when he resorted to a familiar gang and fought with it.
Cruel or disciplined?
Because the hackers did not understand Swedish, they did not pay much attention to Swedish-language worship. It is said that they spent their time in church grinding swords. When King Gustav II Adolf was complained about, he said that the Finns were serving God in their own way. In any case, the king was very favorable to Finnish peasant soldiers. Perhaps it was because Finnish peasants had supported his father, Charles IX, in the Swedish Civil War in the 1590s.
According to some stories, the Finnish and Swedish forces were more brutal than usual in the 30-year war, while other sources said that the forces were more disciplined than usual and more friendly to civilians. Each trait has its own explanation.
Swedish troops were accustomed to warfare against the Russian and Polish armies.
These wars had been very brutal in nature, often not taking prisoners, but seeking to kill enemies. The Swedish army was not accustomed to the European “gentleman’s war,” in which senior officers in particular wanted to be taken prisoner because they were later given big ransoms.
Especially in the early years of the war, the Swedish army was clearly more disciplined than, for example, Wallenstein's troops. The national army based on the lifting force did not commit the same looting as the mercenary forces that survived the war and for whom the motive for the war was precisely to get rich. The Finns were a disciplined group, and they treated the civilian population with respect. The country boys brought from the far north hardly succumbed to the arrogance of the occupier.
The Nuremberg Chronicles described the use of the Swedish army as follows: “Although they were drunk with grape juice to which they were unfamiliar, they were not heard cursing, nor were they found immoral or other evils, but they maintained good discipline. This looks amazing for someone who hasn’t seen them with their own eyes. ”
The atrocities of the Swedish army were often the work of a multinational mercenary - which, of course, belonged to Swedish forces. Since then, the war has ravaged Swedish troops as well, and in the late 1630s, the Stålhandske-led hackers also had a bad reputation in badly destroyed Silesia. In war-impoverished areas, military maintenance was virtually looting. The war was cruel and the cavalry brutal, so were the hackers.
Head of Hakkapeliitto
Torsten Stålhandske or “iron glove” was also quite an iron grapple. JW A copy of a portrait of an unknown artist by Wångberg.
Torsten Stålhandske, born in Porvoo until his death, was the head of the Hakkapeliitto. In 1632, at the age of 38, he was appointed colonel and commander of his regiment. His cavalry accompanied Gustav II Adolf in all his battles in Germany. Along with Breitenfeld, they excelled in both the Lech stream and Lützen.
In the Thirty Years' War, the commanders, right down to the highest officers, were at the forefront of the battle. Consequently, high warlords were also killed, such as Gustav II Adolf, Tilly and Pappenheim. Stålhandske survived his numerous battles with very few injuries. Stålhandske was claimed to have been bulletproof. He favored an aggressive, ruthless assault.
In April 1634, Stålhandske was promoted to Major General. At the Battle of Wittstock in September 1636, Stålhandske and the Hackers saved the Swedish main army led by Johan Banér. Banér's retreating, starving army to the north had to fight a superior enemy at the time. Banér sent his entire left wing to circle far behind the enemy's back. The gamble was successful, and at the last minute, Stålhandsken's cavalry made an attack on the enemy's side and captured its artillery.
In 1639, Stålhandske received his first independent leadership position, the command of a 5,000-strong force in Silesia. For three years, he had to fight against overwhelming forces. In the second battle of Leipzig, or Breitenfeld, in October 1642, Stålhandske again vigorously led his hacking alliances. The battle ended in a great victory for the Swedes, but Stålhandske himself was severely wounded. After recovering, he was promoted to cavalry general.
In September 1643, the Hackers attacked Denmark, and in January 1644, Stålhandske practically settled the battle of Kolding with an attack by the Danish cavalry. On this expedition, however, he became seriously ill and, after six weeks in bed, died in April 1644. Stålhandske is buried in Turku Cathedral.
Stålhandske's name refers to an iron glove, and it describes this hacking game general well. Although Stålhandske was small in size, he had amazing bodily strength. Among other things, he used to shake the hands of imprisoned officers with a handshake that “caused blood to squeak under his nails”.
The original article appeared in the book “Secrets of the Past” (Selected Pieces 2013).
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