Battle of Anholt

Battle of Anholt
	Part of the Napoleonic Wars
	; An aerial view of the island of Anholt
Date	27 March 1811
Location	Anholt, Denmark–Norway
Result	British victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom	Denmark–Norway
Commanders and leaders
James Maurice	Jørgen de Falsen
Strength
381 ; 1 frigate ; 1 schooner ; 1 brig-sloop	1,000 ; 18 gunboats ; 2 transports
Casualties and losses
32 killed and wounded	50 killed and wounded ; 638 captured ; 2 gunboats captured ; 2 transports captured

The Battle of Anholt (25–27 March 1811) was a successful British military operation under the command of James Wilkes Maurice against the Danish-held island of Anholt under the command of Jørgen Conrad de Falsen, taking place during the Gunboat War, a conflict between the United Kingdom and Denmark-Norway that was part of the wider Napoleonic Wars. It was an attempt by the Dano-Norwegians to recapture Anholt, a small Danish island off the coast of Jutland which the British had captured in 1809. Early in the Gunboat War, the Dano-Norwegians 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.^[3]

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.^[3] 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. As a result of the battle, the Royal Marines won many supporters among senior naval officers, which helped to further their cause for fairness in terms of service and officers' promotion.^[4] After the battle, the British occupation of Anholt continued until peace was signed at the Treaty of Kiel in 1814. There is a monument commemorating the battle in the village on the island.

^ James (1827), Vol. 5, p.344. Armed vessel crewed by volunteers commanded by Henry Baker, Lieutenant R.N.
^ James (1827), Vol. 5, p.341.
^ ^a ^b "No. 16260". The London Gazette. 23 May 1809. p. 736.
^ The underlying message from the Anholt lecture, given in 1999 at the Royal Marines Museum, Eastney, was the importance of this victory as a watershed in garnering support for the officer corps of the Royal Marines, which had been a "poor relation" up to that point. Promotion was more forthcoming in the Navy than in the Marines. This sentiment is communicated in the March 2011 press release from the museum, which refers to the outcome of Anholt as having 'won many supporters among senior naval officers'.

[1] James (1827), Vol. 5, p.344. Armed vessel crewed by volunteers commanded by Henry Baker, Lieutenant R.N.

[2] James (1827), Vol. 5, p.341.

[LG16260-3] "No. 16260". The London Gazette. 23 May 1809. p. 736.

[4] The underlying message from the Anholt lecture, given in 1999 at the Royal Marines Museum, Eastney, was the importance of this victory as a watershed in garnering support for the officer corps of the Royal Marines, which had been a "poor relation" up to that point. Promotion was more forthcoming in the Navy than in the Marines. This sentiment is communicated in the March 2011 press release from the museum, which refers to the outcome of Anholt as having 'won many supporters among senior naval officers'.

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