The day was breaking now, and the roar of battle in the city mingled with that at the gates, where the Swedes were in vain striving to effect an entrance.  Gradually the Scotch won their way forward; 500 of the Bavarians were killed, in addition to 400 who had fallen on the bridge.  The rest now attempted to fly.  Great numbers were drowned in the Danube, and the remainder were taken prisoners.  The streets were encumbered by the heavily laden baggage wagons, and a vast amount of booty fell into the hands of the Scotch, who thus became masters of the town before Gustavus and his Swedes had succeeded in carrying the gate.

The king now entered the town, and as soon as order was restored Hepburn’s brigade recrossed the Danube and threw up a strong work on the other side of the bridge; for Tilly was on the Lech, but seven miles distant, and might at any moment return.  He had just struck a severe blow at Marshal Horn, who had recently taken Bamberg.  His force, 9000 strong, had been scattered to put down a rising of the country people, when Tilly with 16,000 fell upon them.

A column under Bauditzen was attacked and defeated, and Tilly’s horsemen pursued them hotly to the bridge leading to the town.  Marshal Horn threw a barricade across this and defended it until nightfall.  Tilly had then fallen back before the advance of Gustavus to a very strong position on the Lech.  This was an extremely rapid river, difficult to cross and easily defensible.  Tilly had broken down the bridges, and was prepared to dispute till the last the further advance of the Swedes.  He placed his army between Rain, where the Lech falls into the Danube, and Augsburg, a distance of sixteen miles —­ all the assailable points being strongly occupied, with small bodies of cavalry in the intervals to give warning of the approach of the enemy.  He had been joined by Maximilian of Bavaria, and his force amounted to 40,000 men.

Gustavus gave his army four days’ rest at Donauworth, and then advanced with 32,000 men against the Lech.  His dragoons, who had been pushed forward, had found the bridges destroyed.  He first attempted to repair that at Rain, but the fire of the artillery and musketry was so heavy that he was forced to abandon the idea.  He then made a careful reconnaissance of the river, whose course was winding and erratic.

Finding that at every point at which a crossing could be easily effected Tilly’s batteries and troops commanded the position, he determined to make his attack at a point where the river made a sharp bend in the form of a semicircle, of which he occupied the outer edge.  He encamped the bulk of his army at the village of Nordheim, a short distance in the rear, and erected three powerful batteries mounting seventy-two guns.  One of these faced the centre of the loop, the others were placed opposite the sides.

The ground on the Swedish bank of the river was higher than that facing it; and when the Swedish batteries opened they so completely swept the ground inclosed by the curve of the river that the Imperialists could not advance across it, and were compelled to remain behind a rivulet called the Ach, a short distance in the rear of the Lech.  They brought up their artillery, however, and replied to the cannonade of the Swedes.