Stenbock could hardly attack this force with a frontal assault, but hoped that by moving west towards Mecklenburg it could be encircled or scattered.

That night the Danish forces broke camp and moved to a better position around the village of Wakenstädt, three kilometers south of and today incorporated by Gadebusch.

Stenbock judged that although the passable terrain was narrow and his men somewhat outnumbered, the thirty Swedish field guns would provide an advantage over the Danish thirteen.

Stenbock held a short speech to his battleready army: "Nu sen I för Eden våra fiender, ha´n I lust att gå på dem och visa Eder kärlek för Eder Konung och Fädernesland?” (Now you see your enemies before you, do you wish to get at them and show your love for your king and Fatherland?)

The battle wound down by dusk: Danish and Saxon forces withdrew more or less orderly to a position several kilometers west of Gadebusch to regroup.

The battle was won by efficient use of artillery combined with determined flanking attacks by infantry and cavalry, and it gave the hard-pressed Swedish forces some well needed breathing room.

Stenbock who had earlier fought in the Nine Years' War, later pronounced:"Never have I seen such a combination of uncontrollable dash and perfectly controlled discipline; such soldiers and such subjects are not to be found the wide world over except in Sweden."

[6] Strategically, however, there was little impact, and the allies with their overwhelming numerical superiority would surround and defeat Stenbock's forces after a siege in the fortress of Tönningen the next year.