Battle of Warksow The Battle of Warksow on Rügen was a battle in the Swedish - Brandenburg War that took place on . Swedish forces defeated an allied army composed mainly of Danes supported by a smaller contingent of Brandenburg troops . The Swedes had some 3 , 500 to 3 , 800 men available for the battle . The allied Danes and Brandenburg troops had about 5 , 000 to 5 , 400 men ( including a few hundred Brandenburg soldiers ) and 16 cannon . 170 Swedes fell in the battle . After the battle and in the days that followed , the entire allied force were captured or forced to follow the Swedish flag . Background . In 1675 , the Kingdom of Sweden , which , at that time , was recognized as a major military power , declared war against Brandenburg - Prussia , following pressure by the French king , Louis XIV , because Brandenburg - Prussia was at war with France ( in the Dutch War ) . After a Swedish army had been defeated in the Battle of Fehrbellin in 1675 in Brandenburg , Sweden went onto the defensive in the next phase of the war . Suddenly its possessions in northern Germany ( Swedish Pomerania ) were threatened by the alliance of Denmark and Brandenburg - Prussia . In 1677 the Swedish fleet was almost completely destroyed in the Battle of Køgebucht ( Køge bucht in Copenhagen ) by the Danish fleet under command of Admiral Niels Juel . For Swedish Rügen this defeat meant that the island possession was now cut off from all assistance from Sweden , as the Danes exercised naval supremacy of the Baltic Sea . After winning the battle the King of Denmark , Christian V , decided to capture the island of Rügen as a necessary prerequisite to the allies conquering the fort of Stralsund on the opposite mainland shore . According to internal agreements between Brandenburg - Prussia and Denmark , the island of Rügen would be given to Denmark after the peace treaty with Sweden . On 17 September 1677 Danish troops under the overall command of the Danish king landed on the eastern coast of the island near Prorer Wiek . The roughly 4 , 200 man strong Danish force met no resistance , however , because the Swedish general , Otto Wilhelm von Königsmarck , had not suspected a Danish invasion at that time and most of his troops had therefore moved into the besieged town of Stralsund . Thus , the Danes were able to entrench themselves , unchallenged , in the wooded hills in front of the village . After the Danes had provided further support to the Brandenburg cavalry regiment of Colonel Hülsen ( 2 , 110 troopers ) in October , they advanced on the Swedish troops that had meanwhile transferred to Rügen , and had taken up positions near Bergen . The Swedes were beaten in the ensuing Battle of Bergen and withdrew to Altefähr and into the Prosnitzer Schanze . Shortly thereafter the Swedes under Königsmarck also had to leave Altefähr and march all troops to Stralsund . Only the Prosnitzer Schanze ( Neue Fährschanze ) remained in Swedish hands . Due to ongoing looting and devastation by Swedish , Danish and Brandenburg troops , the island in the meantime been completely plundered , so that the deployed troops there could no longer be supplied . On 21 October the Danish king returned to Denmark . Part of the Brandenburg troops were withdrawn from the island , leaving only 970 men from Brandenburg - Prussia on the island . The Danish - Brandenburg troops were now under the command of Major General von Rumohr and Colonel Wilhelm Friedrich von Hülsen . These two had instructions not to engage with the Swedes until the arrival of further reinforcements . However , any reinforcement from the Danish army , weakened by disease , came to nothing . So the Swedish commander , Field Marshal Otto Wilhelm von Konigsmark , viewed that it was a good time to recapture the island and transferred his 3 , 500 strong force in January 1678 from Brandshagen to the island . The Swedish chose to land at Neufährschanze which was still in Swedish hands . Course of the battle . Against orders , the allied Danish and Brandenburg force under Major General von Rumohr gave battle . At 9 in the morning the battle began with an exchange of artillery on the road between Poseritz and Gustow at Warksow Manor . When Detlef von Rumohr was felled by an artillery shell , confusion arose in the ranks of the allies . In response , the Swedish general , Konigsmark , attacked with his troops . The attack was launched by the Swedish right wing against the Brandenburg cavalry . They managed to disperse the Swedish cavalry , but were in turn thrown back , once the Swedish cavalry had reorganised and been reinforced by reserves . The Brandenburg troops rallied again , but received no effective support from the Danes , with the result that they were thrown back by superior numbers again . Swedish forces then attacked the Danish flank and rear . Demoralized , they were routed and put to flight in all directions . The Swedes succeeded in capturing almost the entire Danish infantry . After four hours of battle , the Swedish victory was assured . Result of the battle . The next day , the Swedes occupied Bergen , pursued their fleeing enemy towards Jasmund and Wittow and captured there the last remnants of the allies . The captured soldiers were integrated into the Swedish army and used on Rügen . So Rügen became Swedish again for a short while . However , the Danish and Brandenburg allies quickly recovered from this setback . In the course of the summer 1678 the Danes raided Rügen several times . In addition , the Danes and Brandenburgians were planning a new expedition to recapture Rügen . The invasion of Rügen began on 23 September 1678 , when Brandenburg troops again landed on the island of Rügen ; within two days they had recaptured it . The prisoners pressed into Swedish service from the Battle of Warksow handed over the fort of Neuefähr without a fight to Brandenburg ' s invasion forces .