Since the 1631 Battle of Breitenfeld, several maps for that action have been produced. Some are more imaginative than others. But two published in Sverige Krig, 1611-1632 are likely the most accurate of them all, having been prepared by the Swedish General Staff in the 1630's and based on eyewitness accounts. Daniel Staberg generously provided photocopies of the maps for reference.
Thanks to today’s access to aerial views via Google and Yahoo, one can study in detail the present topography and human development of Germany’s Leipzig area, where Breitenfeld is a few kilometers to the north of that city. In addition, the unification of Germany in 1990 allowed maps of the Leipzig region (formerly part of the German Democratic Republic, a.k.a., East Germany) to be updated – and some details no longer are military secrets.
I compared those aerial views with the two maps from Sverige Krig. Whilst city growth, manufacturing facilities, multi-lane highways and railroads have considerably altered the countryside, locations of most small towns have not changed. Although details of stream courses may now be different, the drainage is not. Significant, too, most placements of what are now secondary and tertiary roads likely follow what was there in 1631. Why? Cost of road construction goes down when a road builder can make use of the ditching, grading and subsurface work done decades or centuries before. And property lines may not tolerate variances in placement of new surfaces. (Look at a map of today’s downtown San Francisco; streets are exactly where they were prior to 1906 and even the width for nearly all remains the same – although entire blocks of buildings were destroyed in the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, property lines remained intact on legal documents.) I was made acutely aware of this phenomenon of new roads atop old when my wife and I drove around western Ireland, and maps noted that many secondary, paved, two-lane roads were atop old carriage and wagon paths. We readily believed that because those roads were often narrow with little or no shoulder, and those thick bushes lining the sides grew over old rock walls.
I matched roads, towns and villages indicated on the Sverige Krig maps to the modern-day aerial photographs, plus a topographic map I obtained to reconstruct a map of the battlefield area as it may have been in 1631. What was not noted on the battle maps and, of course, cannot be extrapolated from modern aerial views is which parts of the farmland were pasture, which parts were plowed, which parts were fallow, and which parts may still have had crops on them – or at least stubble. These now unknown factors could have had an influence on the battle – and a field condition was present to allow the wind to pick up dust in the morning to blow upon the Swedes and Saxons.
The marsh along the Lober Bach mentioned in battle recollections appears to have been mostly on the north side of that stream, based on interpretations of present-day images, and the Sverige Krig maps show marshland hugging the Lober, with some trees to the west. Today, most marshes are gone.
Some interpretations of the area show more relief than what was there. The maps from Sverige Krig suggest some broad, gentle rises and dips in the terrain, which are now obscured by modern agriculture (and could well have been exaggerated in the mind's eye). Looking at a couple of old published photographs taken at ground level, the battlefield area in one view seems flat and in the other view is not quite flat but with very mild, broad undulations that one would not call "hills." Both views suggested that lines of sight were unhindered. According to the Web images and the topographic maps, the most prominent natural feature poking above the plain is Galgen Berg, in English: Gallows Hill, which I’ve indicated on the map. There is an additional knob to the west that was probably covered with trees at the time. The other notable natural feature is the slight, steady rise in the land going south from the Lober Bach to Galgen Berg and Linken Wald.. This rise was to the advantage of the Imperial-Leaguist army, and positions were set up on Galgen Berg. Looking down on Galgen Berg today, it appears to have a quarry on it.
The only significantly wooded area was the Linken Wald to the southwest of Galgen Berg, and to the east of the town of Breitenfeld. That had the potential of splitting the Imperial-Leaguist army but Count Tilly positioned his lines just to the north of it, and perhaps considered it a potential refuge should his army have to fall back. Today, the Linken Wald is gone.
Translated from German, “Breitenfeld” means “width field.” The community that bears that name was well outside the combat zone, behind the Imperial-Leaguist lines. Nearer to the action was Podelwitz, with the crucial maneuvers made to the east of it. But would the battle’s name have the same ring if it were “The Battle of Podelwitz?” Could “Breitenfeld” be reinterpreted as “wide field” and the battle's name refer to the plain on which the battle was fought?