Storming the Peenemünder Schanze
| date | 21-22 August 1715 |
|---|---|
| place | Peenemünde on the island of Usedom , today's Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania |
| output | Victory of the Prussian and Saxon troops |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
|
|
| Troop strength | |
| 450 men and 13 guns |
1000 men |
| losses | |
|
58 dead and 68 wounded |
33 officers and 575 men dead and seriously wounded |
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1st phase: Swedish dominance (1700–1709)
Riga I • Jungfernhof • Varja • Pühhajoggi • Narva • Pechora • Düna • Rauge • Erastfer • Hummelshof • Embach • Tartu • Narva II • Wesenberg I • Wesenberg II
Arkhangelsk • Lake Ladoga • Nöteborg • Nyenschanz • Neva • Systerbäck • Petersburg • Vyborg I • Porvoo • Neva II • Koporje II • Kolkanpää
Vilnius • Salads • Jacobstadt • Walled Courtyard • Mitau • Grodno I • Olkieniki • Nyaswisch • Klezk • Ljachavichy
Klissow • Pułtusk • Thorn • Lemberg • Warsaw • Posen • Punitz • Tillendorf • Rakowitz • Praga • Fraustadt • Kalisch
Grodno II • Golovchin • Moljatitschi • Rajowka • Lesnaja • Desna • Baturyn • Koniecpol • Weprik • Opischnja • Krasnokutsk • Sokolki • Poltava I • Poltava II
2nd phase: Sweden on the defensive (1710–1721)
Riga II • Vyborg II • Pernau • Kexholm • Reval • Hogland • Pälkäne • Storkyro • Nyslott • Hanko
Helsingborg • Køge Bay • Gulf of Bothnia • Frederikshald I • Dynekilen Fjord • Gothenburg I • Strömstad • Trondheim • Frederikshald II • Marstrand • Ösel • Gothenburg II • Södra Stäket • Grönham • Sundsvall
Elbing • Wismar I • Lübow • Stralsund I • Greifswalder Bodden I • Stade • Rügen • Gadebusch • Altona • Tönning II • Stettin • Fehmarn • Wismar II • Stralsund II • Jasmund • Peenemünde • Greifswalder Bodden II • Stresow
The storming of the Peenemünder Schanze was a battle of the Pomeranian campaign of 1715/1716 in the Great Northern War . The storming began on August 21, 1715 and ended the following day with the capture of the hill by Prussian and Saxon troops.
The parties
The Swedish King Charles XII. left the island of Usedom at the beginning of August after the fall of the ski jump at the mouth of the Swine and left Lieutenant Colonel Kuse with almost 200 men to defend the Peenemünder Schanze . Under the command of General von Arnim, 1000 Prussian, Saxon and Danish infantrymen stormed the hill on the evening of August 21, 1715. The Saxon regiments were led by Major General Friedrich Ludwig Prince of Württemberg. He was a son of Duke Eberhard Karl Friedrich von Württemberg.
In the run-up to the storm
The King of Prussia ordered General von Arnim from Wollin to conquer the island of Usedom. The city and Wolgast Castle were occupied at the end of July. The Swedish troops fought a tough defensive battle with the allied troops along the Peene River . Place by place had to be conquered by the Prussians.
When the island was lost, the Swedish King Charles XII. with the bulk of his army to Rügen and left only a small contingent, 450 men under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Kuse, to defend the Peenemünder Schanze. When the lieutenant colonel asked whether he could hand over the entrenchments in the event of a defeat, the king wrote back that the entrenchments had to be defended until death.
At the beginning of August the allies reached the Peenemünder Schanzen. The Prussian artillery fired at the entrenchments for 17 days. On August 18th, the infantry conquered the trenches of the Peenemünder Schanze and thus approached the hill within 400 paces.
The storming
On the evening of August 21, 1715, General von Arnim ordered the fortifications to be taken. 1000 Prussian, Saxon and Danish infantrymen stormed the entrenchments. The two Saxon regiments Seckendorff and Friesen took over the command of the assault.
Overcoming the 400 paces from the trench to the hill claimed most of the dead among the attackers. The Swedish crew withstood the assault for three hours.
The Prussian cannons and mortars had destroyed the wall of the hill in two places. The Saxons stormed into the fortress at these points. After an hour-long hand-to-hand combat between the commander and his remaining soldiers and the Saxon infantrymen, the Swedish soldiers asked the commanders to hand over the fortress. In view of the losses and the hopelessness of the situation, the lieutenant colonel surrendered the entrenchment, contrary to the king's orders.
When the captain was captured, the king's order was found in his pocket. This was immediately brought to the King of Prussia.
Do not give fire until the enemy is hard at the ditch; fight back down to the last drop of blood; I wish you a good job, Karl
Military units
Demonstrably involved units
Kingdom of Prussia:
- Infantry Regiment No. 2
- Infantry Regiment No. 4
- Infantry Regiment No. 14
- Infantry Regiment No. 19
- Infantry Regiment No. 23
- Cuirassier Regiment No. 5
- Cuirassier Regiment No. 11
- Cuirassier Regiment No. 12
Saxony-Poland:
- Seckendorff regiment
- Regiment of Frisians
The consequences
The victorious allied troops moved to Stralsund and joined the rest of the siege army. With the loss of the island of Usedom, only the two fortresses Stralsund and Wismar on the mainland were in Swedish hands.
After being captured by the allies, the island of Usedom went under Danish administration.
literature
- Sigmund Schott : Max Emanuel, Prince of Wurttemberg and his friend Karl XII, King of Sweden . Adolph Krabbe, Stuttgart 1839, digital-sammlungen.de
- Gustav Adolf Harald Stenzel: History of the Prussian State , Part 3 from 1688 to 1739. Hamburg 1841
- Translated from Voltaire by Ernst Ludwig Pösselt: History of Charles 12th, King of Sweden. Karlsruhe 1791
- Knut Lundblad: History of Charles the Twelfth, King of Sweden Volume 2. Hamburg 1840
- Johannes Anton Larraß : History of the Royal Saxon 6th Infantry Regiment No. 105 and its prehistory 1701 to 1887. Print: HL Kayser, Strasbourg i. E. 1887.
- Martin Meier: Western Pomerania north of the Peene under Danish administration from 1715 to 1721 . Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-486-58285-7