Battle of Nördlingen ( 1645 ) The second Battle of Nördlingen ( or Battle of Allerheim ) was fought on August 3 , 1645 southeast of Nördlingen near the village of Alerheim . France and its Protestant German allies defeated the forces of the Holy Roman Empire and its Bavarian Catholic league allies . Prelude . The Imperials and the Catholic League were facing increasingly severe pressure in the war from the French , Swedes and their Protestant allies and were struggling to prevent a French attempt to advance into Bavaria . Geography . The 12 , 000 - man Imperial - Bavarian army , led by Field Marshal Franz Baron von Mercy and Johann von Werth entrenched on rising ground near the village of Alerheim , 10 km southeast of Nordlingen . One km to the northeast of the village , the ridge rises to a height called the Wennenberg . Exactly 1 km to the southwest of the village is the Schloss Alerheim , which crowns a hill . Mercy and Werth deployed their right wing on the Wennenberg , anchored their left wing on the " schloss " ( castle ) hill , and posted their center on the low ridge between the wings . In the 17th century , Alerheim was smaller and entirely to the northwest of the Imperial battleline between the Wennenberg and the " schloss " . To protect their weak center , the Bavarian and Imperial officers had some dismounted dragoons and foot soldiers barricade themselves in the village . They hoped to defeat the French by forcing them into a disadvantageous attack uphill into the fire of the Imperial cannon . Battle . Before the battle , Marshal Henri , Vicomte de Turenne united his Franco - German army with an all - French army led by Louis II de Bourbon , Prince de Condé ( then known as the Duc d ' Enghien , courtesy title of the heir to the Condé honours , to which he would not succeed until the following year ) . The combined army of 12 , 000 men was placed under Condé ' s overall leadership . Condé ' s tactics were brutally simple . He intended to launch the French troops in a frontal charge on the Imperial positions . Meanwhile , it took the French army from noon until 4 : 00 pm to arrange its lines for battle . In the event , the Imperial army counterattacked almost at once . Charging downhill from Schloss Alerheim , they broke Condé ' s hesitant right wing , forcing the Frenchman to call off his attack on the Imperial center . On the other end of the field , Turenne hammered at the Wennenberg . When the Wennenberg fell , the defeated Imperial right swung back and the victorious left wheeled forward , so that the Imperials faced north instead of northwest . Mercy was killed during the savage fighting . By evening , both armies were still on the field of battle . However , in the darkness and confusion , the Imperials in the village , believing themselves to be surrounded , capitulated . Later that night , the Imperial army conceded defeat and withdrew . Result . The Franco - German losses were 5 , 000 killed , wounded , and captured , including a large number of officers . The Bavarian - Imperial army suffered similar losses . When Condé fell sick , he withdrew his army to French territory , leaving Turenne unsupported . Turenne eventually fell back to Philippsburg . Therefore , the only French gain from the bloody victory was their capture of Nördlingen and Dinkelsbuhl . The Imperials were able to fall back to Donauwörth in reasonably good order to make good their losses . Bavaria was at least temporarily safe . Eventually the battle provided no more than a breathing space and did not prevent the invasion of Bavaria the following year .