Battle of Hjerpe Skans

The Battle of Hjerpe Skans took place during the Dano-Swedish War, from 1808 to 1809, consisting of two different assaults. The battle resulted in a final victory for Denmark–Norway.

Battle of Hjerpe Skans
Part of the Dano-Swedish War (1808-1809)
Date 16 August 1808 - 16 July 1809 Location Presumably Jämtland, Sweden Result 1st Assault: Swedish victory 2nd Assault: Dano-Norwegian victory
Belligerents
Denmark–Norway	Sweden
Commanders and leaders
Captain von Krogh	Colonel Nordenadler
Strength
First assault: 644 Second assault: 1,824	First assault: Unknown strength Second assault: 200
Casualties and losses
First assault: 1 killed 5 wounded	First assault: 1 killed 5 wounded

First assault

On August 16th, 1808, an army of 644 Norwegian troops attacked a Hjerpe redoubt. The first assault began at 16:00 CET (UTC+1). The assault lasted for about six hours, until 21:00 CET the same day. One Swedish soldier was killed, while five Swedish soldiers were injured. One Norwegian soldier was killed, while five Norwegian soldiers were injured (2 critically). After the fighting, the Norwegian troops withdrew from the position of the fort.

Second assault

Nearing one year after the first assault, the Norwegian forces returned to the redoubt. This time, they arrived with a much larger force, with almost 1,200 more men, totally to 1,824 men. The army was led by Captain Døbeln og von Krogh. When the Norwegian forces approached the Hjerpe redoubt, on 16 July 1809, Colonel Nordenadler retreated from the redoubt to the east with his army of 200 Swedish troops. Norwegian forces occupied the now-abandoned fort and promptly demolished it one week later on 23 July 1809. The war between Sweden and Denmark-Norway ended on 25 July 1809, and the Norwegian forces left the area four days later.

Aftermath

This battle was a factor that led to the end of the Dano-Swedish War of 1808–1809, where the peace treaty, the Treaty of Jönköping was signed only months later. Today, only the damaged remains of the ground floor of the redoubt tower remain, as well as the gunpowder cellar constructed in 1713.