Battle of Helsingborg (1710) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

A first Battle of Helsingborg
Battle of Helsingborg
The Battle of Helsingborg was fought in 1362 between Danish and Hanseatic fleets. The fleets met on Øresund near Helsingborg, where the sound is most narrow. The Danish were led by Valdemar Atterdag. The Danish were victorious...

was fought 1362

The Battle of Helsingborg (February 28, 1710) was Denmark's failed and final attempt to regain the Scanian lands, lost to Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

in 1658.

On the Ringstorp heights northwest of Helsingborg

Helsingborg

Helsingborg is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 97,122 inhabitants in 2010. Helsingborg is the centre of an area in the Øresund region of about 320,000 inhabitants in north-west Scania, and is Sweden's closest point to Denmark, with the Danish city...

, 14,000 Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

invaders under Jørgen Rantzau

Jørgen Rantzau

Jørgen Rantzau, was a Danish military officer, who fought several campaigns under John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough....

were decisively defeated by an equally large Swedish

Sweden

army under Magnus Stenbock

Magnus Stenbock

Count Magnus Gustafsson Stenbock was a Swedish military officer at the time of the Great Northern War.He was the son of Gustaf Otto Stenbock and Christina Catharine de la Gardie....

Prelude

Denmark had been forced out of the Great Northern War

Great Northern War

The Great Northern War was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in northern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter I the Great of Russia, Frederick IV of...

by the treaty of Traventhal in 1700, but had long planned on reopening hostilities with the goal of reconquering the lost provinces Scania

Scania

Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...

, Halland

Halland

' is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden , on the western coast of Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Scania and the sea of Kattegat.-Administration:...

and Blekinge

Blekinge

' is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden , situated in the south of the country. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea.The name "Blekinge" comes from the adjective bleke, which corresponds to the nautical term for "dead calm"....

. After the Swedish defeat at Poltava

Battle of Poltava

The Battle of Poltava on 27 June 1709 was the decisive victory of Peter I of Russia over the Swedish forces under Field Marshal Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld in one of the battles of the Great Northern War. It is widely believed to have been the beginning of Sweden's decline as a Great Power; the...

in 1709, the Danes saw an opportunity and declared war on Sweden the same year. The declaration of war

Declaration of war

A declaration of war is a formal act by which one nation goes to war against another. The declaration is a performative speech act by an authorized party of a national government in order to create a state of war between two or more states.The legality of who is competent to declare war varies...

arrived at the Swedish state council on October 18, 1709. The pretext

Pretext

A pretext is an excuse to do something or say something. Pretexts may be based on a half-truth or developed in the context of a misleading fabrication. Pretexts have been used to conceal the true purpose or rationale behind actions and words....

given were that Sweden had been cheating with the Sound Dues

Sound Dues

The Sound Dues were a toll on the use of the Sound which constituted up to two thirds of Denmark's state income in the 16th and 17th centuries...

, and that the population of Scania, Halland, Blekinge and Bohuslän had been mistreated.

In late fall 1709, an enormous Danish fleet gathered in Øresund, and on November 2 the a landing was made off Råå

RAA

-RAA:* Research on Armenian Architecture* Ralph Appelbaum Associates* Recreation and Amusement Association, a system of brothels set up by the Japanese government for US occupation forces* Recreational Aircraft Association* Recreational Aviation Australia...

. The Danish invasion army was led by general Christian Ditlev Reventlow and consisted of 15,000 men divided into six cavalry

Cavalry

Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

regiments, four dragoon

Dragoon

The word dragoon originally meant mounted infantry, who were trained in horse riding as well as infantry fighting skills. However, usage altered over time and during the 18th century, dragoons evolved into conventional light cavalry units and personnel...

regiments, eight infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

regiments and six artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

companies

Company

A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...

. It was met with virtually no resistance from the Swedes. The Swedish army was in terrible shape after Poltava

Battle of Poltava

, when several regiments had been completely annihilated. The work on reconstructing and recruiting the regiments had begun immediately after Poltava, but by late summer 1709, Magnus Stenbock

Magnus Stenbock

Count Magnus Gustafsson Stenbock was a Swedish military officer at the time of the Great Northern War.He was the son of Gustaf Otto Stenbock and Christina Catharine de la Gardie....

only had one Scanian regiment in battle-fit condition. The Swedish counterattack would have to wait and the army retreated into Småland

Småland

' is a historical province in southern Sweden.Småland borders Blekinge, Scania or Skåne, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means Small Lands. . The latinized form Smolandia has been used in other languages...

. In the beginning of December, the Danes controlled almost all of central Scania except for Landskrona

Landskrona

Landskrona is a locality and the seat of Landskrona Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 28,670 inhabitants in 2005.-History:The city of Landskrona was founded at the location of Scania's best natural harbour, as a means of King Eric of Pomerania's anti-Hanseatic policy, intended to compete...

and Malmö

Malmö

Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...

. Their objective was to take the naval base at Karlskrona

Karlskrona

Karlskrona is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with 35,212 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to Sweden's only remaining naval base and the headquarters of the...

in Blekinge

Blekinge

, and the Danish army worked its way quickly into Sweden. In January 1710, it defeated a smaller Swedish force outside Kristianstad

Kristianstad

Kristianstad is a city and the seat of Kristianstad Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 35,711 inhabitants in 2010.-History:The city was founded in 1614 by King Christian IV of Denmark, the city's name literally means 'Town of Christian', as a planned city after the burning of the town of Vä...

.

Stenbock had frantically tried to gather a new Swedish army and several new regiments had begun to assemble in Växjö

Växjö

Växjö is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden with 64 200 inhabitants in 2010. It is the administrative, cultural and industrial centre of Kronoberg County. Furthermore it is the episcopal see of the Diocese of Växjö. It has a population of about 64 200, out of a...

, from where Stenbock had planned to march. The raw recruits were exercised daily on the ice of a frozen lake close to the city. By February 5 Stenbock had moved to Osby

Osby

Osby is a locality and the seat of Osby Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 6,947 inhabitants in 2005.Well known people born in Osby include Swedish ice hockey goalkeeper Magnus Åkerlund and their famous goalkeeper, the tremendous Awet Fesshaie....

where additional units joined in. By now, about 16,000 men were part of his host. Helsingborg

Helsingborg

was the key to Scania and Stenbock intended on marching over Rönneå to Kävlingeån, in doing so cutting off the Danish supply lines.

The Danish commander Reventlow saw the threat and turned immediately to meet the Swedes, but when they reached Ringsjön

Ringsjön

Ringsjön is a lake situated in the middle of Skåne County, Sweden. At , it is the second largest lake in the county. The western and eastern parts of the lake, called Västra Ringsjön and Östra Ringsjön respectively, are separated by a headland...

in central Skåne, Reventlow was suddenly taken ill and had to yield command to lieutenant-general Jørgen Rantzau

Jørgen Rantzau

Jørgen Rantzau, was a Danish military officer, who fought several campaigns under John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough....

. Rantzau feared being wedged between the Swedish army and the Swedish garrison in Malmö and therefore moved towards Helsingborg. Once in the city, Rantzau could be reinforced and when he camped his force amounted to 10,000 foot soldiers and 4,000 horsemen. Stenbock received the news of the Danish march too late and had to race to Helsingborg. The night of February 28, he camped northeast of the city. The Swedish army was at the time as large as the Danish army, with more cavalry and fewer infantry.

The battle

On the morning of February 28 Stenbock marched south towards Helsingborg. When he approached the Danish positions he ordered his army to take battle positions. A thick morning fog lay over the area and hid the two parties from each other. When the fog lifted the two commanders could review over their respective armies. Rantzau saw that the Swedish army outflanked his own left flank in the west and was forced to reinforce it quickly. Rantzau had deployed his artillery

Artillery

on the heights of Ringstorp, from where he started firing at the Swedish troops at noon.

Instead of profiting from the weak Danish west flank Stenbock instead turned his army eastward to the Danish right flank. This was perceived by the Danes as an attempt to encircle the Danish eastern flank, and to prevent this it marched further east which opened up gaps in the Danish line that couldn't be filled. In the east, by Brohuset, the first skirmishes took place. The Swedes were repelled and Swedish commander Burenskiöld was captured. However, the rest of the Swedish east flank was able to improve the situation and soon the Danes were at a disadvantage. Rantzau participated in the fighting personally, not thinking of the direction of the battle, and was eventually wounded by a bullet through the lung. At the same time a rumor developed in the Danish east flank that the Swedes had encircled them and were attacking from behind, which caused the entire formation to collapse with the troops fleeing towards Helsingborg.

Rantzau's disappearance from the field became noticeable in the middle of the Danish line where the Swedish forces had begun to attack. The Danes had great difficulties withstanding the assault, and when the troops saw how the eastern flank was faring, the middle started to collapse. The Danish elite forces Gardet and the corps of grenadiers which were deployed on the edges could prevent the Swedish advance long enough to allow the other forces to pull back, but many of the fleeing troops were cut down by the Swedish cavalry.

Now the Swedes attacked the gap that had formed between the Danish center and its western flank. Here too the Danes had no leadership, since the commander von Dewitz had been ordered to the eastern side of battle. The Swedish cavalry chased off the Danes and thus surrounding the grenadiers. The other elite force, Gardet, had already been forced to retire and the situation became untenable for the Danes. Major general Valentin von Eickstedt ordered the Danish retreat.

Aftermath

The remainder of the Danish army had sought refuge within the walls of Helsingborg, and Stenbock avoided attacking them as they had too advantageous a position. Instead he besieged the city and invited the Danes to capitulate

Capitulation (surrender)

Capitulation , an agreement in time of war for the surrender to a hostile armed force of a particular body of troops, a town or a territory....

, but the offer was dismissed by von Dewitz. A Swedish council of war determined that Swedish forces were too weak to storm the city, and instead started a bombardment of the city. By March 5 the last remains of the Danish army left Scania after slaughtering all their horses and sabotaging their cannons.

The Danes lost over 7,500 men, who had been either killed, wounded, or captured. The Swedish losses amounted to 2,800 dead or wounded. The Danish army left Scania, never to return again.

The city of Helsingborg was hit hard by the battle, due both to the Swedish bombardment which destroyed its buildings, and all the remaining human and horse cadavers which poisoned the wells. A plague epidemic

Plague of Sweden (1710-1713)

The Plague of Sweden between 1710-1713 was the most recent plague epidemic to ravage Sweden. The contagion was spread from Livonia and Finland by ship.-History:...

then harrowed the town and further reduced its population. Helsingborg did not recover until the middle of the 19th century.

Other sources

Berömda svenska slag, 1700-tal (1c) - Slaget vid Helsingborg, Hans Högman, 2004-05-09, http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/slb_slag_1700d.htm.

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