[4][5][6] After arriving in Livonia on 28 June, Gustavus immediately split the 15,350 strong Swedish field army into two main expeditionary forces.

Meanwhile, Jacob De la Gardie and Gustav Horn led an expedition of some 4,600 men against Dorpat (modern-day Tartu) which would capitulate on 26 August.

However, Horn, who had in the same month continued southwards with 10 companies of Finnish cavalry and 180 musketeers with the objective of capturing Dünaburg (modern-day Daugavpils), was forced to withdraw after the arrival of reinforcements from the Commonwealth.

[2][5] The winter was unusually hard, and Gustavus decided to risk a battle, probably since he feared that the two Commonwealth armies would unite their forces.

When the Commonwealth army left the camp, they quickly found themselves outnumbered as the remaining Swedish units under Colonel Maximilian Teuffel arrived as well.

[13] After some early skirmishes, the battle commenced, with a charge of the Swedish cavalry on the right wing led by Count Franz Bernhard von Thurn.

In addition to this, other infantry detachments had taken advantage of the nearby woods to construct improvised wooden field defences on certain parts of the battlefield in order to protect themselves against the Polish cavalry.

[14] Henceforth, all of Livonia came into Swedish hands, and Gustavus was able to move the war into Polish Prussia, resulting in the Prussian campaign (1626–1629).