Battle of Vlotho The Battle of Vlotho was fought on 17 October 1638 , it was a victory for the Imperial Army under the command of Field Marshal Melchior von Hatzfeldt , and ended the attempt by Charles I Louis , Elector Palatine , to recapture the Palatinate . Charles Louis ' defeat marked the last time either Palatine or English forces played a significant role in the Thirty Years ' War . Background . Frederick V , the Winter King , had died in 1632 . The desire to recover the Palatinate , which had sparked English intervention in the Thirty Years ' War in the previous years was at this point disregarded by most . In 1638 Charles Louis , 2nd son and heir of Frederick made one last attempt to recover his territories . Choosing as his base of operations the town of Meppen , on the Münster - East Frisian frontier , he raised a force of 4 , 000 men using English gold . Alongside Charles Louis were his brother Prince Rupert and a company of English gallants dedicated to the Winter Queen , including Lord Craven , and the Earl of Northampton . To assist Charles Louis , the commander of the Swedish army Johan Banér sent Charles Louis a 1 , 000 strong detachment , under the command Lieutenant - General James King ( a Scot who had commanded the Swedish left wing at the Battle of Wittstock in 1636 ) . Many of these were British , such as Colonel William Vavasour . The original plan was to form the army in Westphalia and then to advance through Hesse and to retake the Palatine . However Banér considered this to be unrealistic and persuaded the participants that they should start by besieging and capturing Lemgo , ostensibly to secure their lines of communication , but it also suited the wider war aims of the Swedes because whatever else happened during the campaign it would be a concrete loss for Banér ' s enemies and a gain for him . On 15 October 1638 the Palatine - Swedish army started to besiege Lemgo , and the Imperial Field Marshal Melchior von Hatzfeldt — who had been assigned to command Imperial forces in Westphalia after his defeat at Wittstock , immediately started to assemble a relief force . The next day this approaching force was detected by Palatine - Swedish vedette s who estimated it to be 8 , 000 strong , so their commanders decided to raise the siege and retreat to the Swedish fortress at Minden . The Palatines had two possible routes to Minden , they chose to take the road to Vlotho , which was shorter , but also meant that they remained on the same side of the river Weser as the Hatzfeldt . Their major problem was that unless they abandoned their artillery and baggage train whatever route they took Hatzfeldt unencumbered force was going to catch up with them . The Battle . The faster Imperial force managed to outpace the Palatines and cut off their path at Vlotho bridge . The Palatines had ordered their marching column with the baggage at the front , followed by their cavalry with the infantry and artillery at the rear . King formed the Palatines cavalry up in a defensive line on the Eiberg hillock and set off to bring up the infantry . After King had left , his subordinate Hans von Königsmarck suggested that rather than wait for their infantry they could send their cavalry forward up a narrow valley which would act as a defile and prevent Hatzfeldt from concentrating his forces against them . Charles Louis and Craven agreed to the plan , so three cavalry regiments under the command of Königsmarck were sent forward up the defile one behind the other , while the dragoons and the two commanders remained on the hillock abating the arrival of their infantry . As soon as he saw what the Palatines cavalry was doing , Hatzfeldt ordered two of his own cavalry regiments to advance down the valley to meet the enemy and sent a further 800 on a flanking attack which was concealed by the low hills that surrounded the valley . In the clash that followed the two leading Palatine regiments broke . The third regiment was commanded by Prince Rupert who , in an early example of a manoeuvre he would become famous for in the English Civil War , ordered a flat out charge . Hatzfeldt ' s cavalry were driven out of the valley . As Rupert ' s cavalry debouch ed from the defile they were hemmed in by Hatzfeldt superior forces . Craven led the Palatine reserves — two regiments of dragoons — up the defile to support Rupert attack , but the Imperial cavalry sent to flank the attackers closed in from behind enveloping Rupert ' s cavalry and Craven ' s reinforcements . The position was now hopeless , and rather than reinforce failure Königsmarck withdrew with his Swedish cavalry . Before surrendering Rupert ' s and Craven ' s soldiers held on long enough to allow King to withdraw all the Swedish contingent in good order , but the battle was lost . Charles Louis tried to escape in his coach but it sank in the Weser . He survived by clutching a branch and managed to return to his Dutch exile . Aftermath . In the opinion of William Guthrie : The defeat was the last gasp of the Palatine cause and English intervention in the war . Soon the start of the English Civil War prompted the return of most British soldiers and officers .