Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IX. Reign of Gustavus Adolphus, 1611–1632 - B. The Early Wars
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150 A History of Sweden
began to tumble. The Swedes pressed forward under
cover of sheds and trenches. The king himself with
spade in hand worked in the trenches amidst the leaden
showers.
Finally after a month’s, siege everything was ready
for the storming of the city. The king had ordered
that at a given signal the whole army was to rush for-
ward, some with scaling-ladders, others with bundles
of twigs, the latter the soldiers were to hold in front
of them as shields and then throw them by the city
wall to form a way over the wall. The city capitulated
to avoid the horrors of a capture. By further achieve-
ments Gustavus Adolphus made himself master of all
Livonia.
Later, 1626, Gustavus moved the scenes of war to
West Prussia, which at that time belonged to Poland.
Prussia was a prosperous country. Its rivers, Vistula,
Pregel, and Niemen, were the great thoroughfares for
the inland commerce of Poland. Could the Swedes
secure control of their port cities, "the Polish nation
would be seized by the throat," as Axel Oxenstiern ex-
pressed it, and there would be nothing for her to do
but submit to a peace. Gustavus soon made himself
master of the country. The Polish forces coming to
aid in the defense were easily defeated, even when
reinforced by Austrian troops.
Gustavus was often exposed to perilous adventures.
Once when engaged in the thickest of the fight, he was
surrounded by a number of the enemy, who already
regarded him as their prisoner. A Swedish horseman
seeing the situation rushed up to him and handed him
a loaded pistol, saying, "Here, Comrade." The king
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