Battle of Copenhagen (1807)

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Battle of Copenhagen 1807

Copenhagen on fire, painted by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg

Date	16 July–September 5, 1807
Location	Copenhagen
Result	Decisive British victory

Combatants

United Kingdom

Denmark

Commanders

James Gambier

Ernst Peymann

Casualties

42 killed,
145 wounded,
24 missing^[1]

5,000 soldiers and militia^[1]

Gunboat War
Copenhagen (1801) – Copenhagen (1807) – Zealand Point – Christiansø – Anholt – Lyngør

The Second Battle of Copenhagen, (16 August - 5 September 1807) was a British attack on the civilian population of Copenhagen in order to seize the Danish fleet.

Denmark was a greater European power than today, possessing the province of Holstein (currently part of Germany) and all of Norway. At this time most of the Danish army under the Crown Prince was defending the southern border against possible attack from the French; thus the defence of Copenhagen was extremely limited.

The British government decided to seize the Danish fleet to avoid its ending up in the hands of Napoleon and attacked Copenhagen without any declaration of war. British troops commanded by General Wellesley defeated weak Danish forces near the town of Køge, south of Copenhagen. Within a few days, Copenhagen was completely encircled. The British offered to accept a surrender. Following the denial, a British fleet under Admiral James Gambier bombarded the city from 2 September to 5 September 1807. On 7 September 1807, Danish General Peymann surrendered both the city and the fleet (18 battleships, one frigate, one pram, two ships, two ship-sloops, seven brig-sloops, two brigs, one schooner and 25 gunboats) to the overwhelming British and Hanoverian force under General Lord Cathcart. In addition, three 74-gun battleships on the stocks were broken up or destroyed, along with two of the aforementioned battleships, the frigate and the pram.

The British fired 5,000 rounds into Copenhagen on the first night of bombardment, only 2,000 rounds into the city on the second night, and 7,000 rounds on the third night. More than 2,000 civilians were killed and 30% of the buildings were destroyed during the battle. The bombardment had included Congreve Rockets, which caused fires. On 21 October 1807, the British fleet left Copenhagen for England. The war continued up to 1814, when the Treaty of Kiel was signed.

Peymann was under orders to burn the Danish fleet from the Crown Prince as the Danish King at this time was not mentally stable. No one really knows why the fleet was not burned. After capture, one ex-Danish battleship, Neptuno, ran aground and was burnt on or near the island of Hven, and a storm sank 22 of the gunboats in the Kattegat. Of the battleships which reached England, only four — Christian VII 80, Dannemark 74, Norge 74 and Princess Carolina 74 — were taken into British service.

[edit] Footnotes

^ ^a ^b Smith, D. p.254

[edit] References

Smith, D. The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book. Greenhill Books, 1998.

See also a new account of the British assault on Denmark in 1807 - 'Defying Napoleon. How Britain bombarded Copenhagen and seized the Danish Fleet in 1807' by Thomas Munch-Petersen (Sutton Publishing, 2007) Details available on http://www.copenhagen1807.info.