Battle of Anholt

Anholt Island, Denmark

Date	27 March 1811
Location	Anholt
Result	British victory

Belligerents

United Kingdom

Denmark–Norway

Commanders and leaders

James Wilkes Maurice

Jørgen Conrad de Falsen

Strength

HMS Tartar,
HMS Sheldrake,
Anholt schooner
350 Royal Marine infantrymen
31 Royal Marine Artillerymen

18 gunboats,
1,000 infantry

Casualties and losses

2 killed
30 wounded

50 killed
638 captured

The Battle of Anholt (25–27 March 1811) occurred during the Gunboat War, a war between the United Kingdom and Denmark-Norway. It was an attempt by the Danes to recapture Anholt, a small Danish island off the coast of Jutland, which the British had captured in 1809. The Danish army had a larger fighting force than the British, but a lack of planning and supply failures led to a devastating defeat and many Danish casualties. After the battle, the British occupation of Anholt continued until the peace treaty in 1814. There is a monument commemorating the battle in Anholt village.

Early in the Gunboat War the Danes had closed their lighthouse at the easternmost point of Anholt. In January 1809, the bomb-vessel Proselyte, which the British had stationed off Anholt to act as a lighthouse, struck Anholt Reef and sank.

On 18 May 1809, the 74-gun Third Rate HMS Standard, under Captain Askew Hollis, led in a squadron that also included the frigate Owen Glendower, and the vessels Avenger, Ranger, Rose, and Snipe. Together they captured the island. A landing party of seamen and marines under the command of Captain William Selby of Owen Glendower, with the assistance of Captain Edward Nicolls of the Standard's marines, landed. The Danish garrison of 170 men put up a sharp but ineffectual resistance that killed one British marine and wounded two; the garrison then surrendered. The British took immediate possession of the island.

Hollis, in his report, stated that Anholt was important in that it could furnish supplies of water to His Majesty's fleet, and afford a good anchorage to merchant vessels sailing to and from the Baltic. However, the principal objective of the mission was to restore the lighthouse on the island to its pre-war state to facilitate the movement of British men of war and merchantmen navigating the dangerous seas there.

King Frederick VI of Denmark declared the recovery of Anholt to be the highest priority and gave orders in February 1810 for the collection of the necessary troops and gunboats, under the overall command of General Tellequist. Winter ice and late storms hampered the expedition which set sail three times from Gjerrild Bay, just north of Grenå, without reaching Anholt. Eventually, when British warships started to be seen, the window of opportunity had disappeared and General Tellequist gave the order to abandon the expedition for that year.

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