Battle of Lier

Battle of Lier 1814
Part of the Swedish-Norwegian War of 1814
Date 2 August 1814 Location Line between Eidskog and Kongsvinger, Norway Result Norwegian victory
Belligerents
Norway	Sweden
Commanders and leaders
Lt. Colonel Andreas Samuel Krebs	Major General Carl Pontus Gahn
Strength
3 battalions of infantry, 70 mounted Jägers, and four 3 pounder guns	5 battalions of infantry, and 8 three pounder guns.
Casualties and losses
3 dead, 30 wounded	31 dead, 70 wounded

The Battle of Lier (Slaget ved Lier) was fought on 2 August 1814 between Sweden and the newly independent Norway as part of the Swedish-Norwegian War of 1814. The battle was the first major action of the war, and the Norwegian victory served as an important part to boost morale among the Norwegian troops. This was the second time during the Napoleonic Wars that a battle had taken place at Lier, the first was in 1808.

Major General Carl Pontus Gahn had been given the order to advance on the Norwegian fortress-city of Kongsvinger, without exposing his flanks, in order to draw Norwegian troops stationed other places in the country to Kongsvinger to defend the strategically placed town. This would leave other places in Norway temporarily weakened and give the Swedish troops an opportunity to initiate offensives elsewhere.

The plan had been worked out by Crown Prince Jean Baptiste Bernadotte.

On July 31, the Swedish troops under the command of Major General Carl Pontus Gahn crossed the Norwegian border near Eidskog. This forced Christian Frederik to order troops from Høland to head to Eidskog in order to defend against the Swedish advance.

Major General Gahn's troops followed the main road towards Kongsvinger and faced early resistance from the Norwegian outposts at Matrand. But since the Norwegian vanguard was far weaker than the Swedish, they were quickly driven back and the Swedish forces camped by Brenna, Malmer and the road to Pramhus. The Norwegian vanguard retreated back to Kongetorp where they met with , who took the initiative that they would pull back to which was a much better defensive position.

The Swedish forces continued their advance towards Kongsvinger the 2nd of August. The main column followed Kongeveien from Skotterud, while 800-900 men took the road over Pramhus. The two forces met again at Åbogen where they took a break. At 15 p.m. the Swedish troops continued their advance and split up again when they reached Flygind. Two of the companies would go from there to Tarven, a company would follow the main road, and a fourth company would go to the left of the main road towards the Lier entrenchment's right flank.

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Wikipedia