Battle at Södra Stäket

Battle at Södra Stäket

Part of: Great Northern War

Baltzar von Dahlheim's defense plan of July 19, 1719

date	August 13, 1719
place	Bay Södra Stäket, near Saltsjöbaden in Södermanland
output	Swedish victory

Parties to the conflict
Sweden	Russia
Commander
Baltazar von Dahlheim Rutger Fuchs	Fyodor Apraxin
Troop strength
1,200 men	3,000 men
losses
100 dead and wounded	500 dead and wounded

The battle at Södra Stäket in the Great Northern War on August 13, 1719 ended with a Swedish victory. After the death of Charles XII. The Russian Tsar Peter I sent a fleet under the command of Admiral Fyodor Matvejewitsch Apraxin towards Sweden to devastate the coastal areas. The Tsar wanted to put more pressure on Sweden through this action in order to force it to negotiate peace.

In advance

Defenses in Södra Stäket

After the death of Charles XII during the siege of Frederikshald , the Swedish army withdrew to Sweden. The Swedish Navy was also ordered back to the home ports and waited for orders. Both Sweden and Russia, Prussia , Denmark and things wanted to negotiate a peace treaty. The Swedish ambassadors tried in the first negotiations to keep the loss of territory as low as possible. Peter I in particular did not agree with this. Russia should have given back a lot of conquered land. To increase the pressure on Sweden, the Tsar sent fleets several times to the east coast of Sweden to plunder them.

On July 11, 1719, the Russian fleet was sighted off the Swedish coast. The Swedish Navy was almost completely destroyed after the long war, but the remaining ships tried to involve the Russians in a sea battle. The Russian fleet refused to accept this and began to set down their landing forces along the coast. Favored by the weak wind, it was possible for the Russians to drop their troops everywhere with small landing craft . If resistance was offered, the boats picked up the troops again and deposited them in a different location where less resistance was to be expected. In the course of this devastation, the cities of Norrköping , Nyköping , Södertälje , Trosa , Öregrund and many others were burned to the ground.

Admiral Fyodor Matveyevich Apraxin was familiar with the geography of the Stockholm area . In his opinion, Södra Stäket was the back door to Stockholm . This bay made it possible to get to Stockholm without having to pass the fortress of Vaxholm . Russian interest in the bay was recognized by the fortress in command, Baltazar von Dahlheim . Under the supervision of the colonel of the fortifications, boats were sunk at the flattest and narrowest point to make the place impassable. In addition, a small hill with three cannons and a 400-man crew was built to guard the canal. Furthermore, four galleys were anchored in a neighboring bay.

To put more pressure on Sweden in the peace negotiations, Apraxin decided to attack Stockholm. On August 10th, Russian units were spotted at Gålö , Muskö and Ornö , some 20 kilometers from Baggenstäket. If you passed Baggenstäket, you would have been able to reach the capital outside the reach of Vaxholm Fortress .

Course of the battle

The illustration shows the tactical order of battle at the beginning of the battle. In the left part of the picture you can see the redoubt at Stäkesund on the Boo side. In the middle is the redoubt at the Skogsö tunnel, where the main battle took place. The map was created by Baltazar von Dahlheim's son, Carl Fredrik von Dahlheim, based on his father's notes.

On the morning of August 13th, Adjutant General Filip von Ticino returned from a reconnaissance mission from Baggenstäket. He reported that the Russian galleys were standing at the entrance to the passage. The nearest Swedish regiment , the 800-strong Södermanland Regiment , was alerted. Under the orders of Rutger Fuchs , the regiment was sent to Baggenstäket, which was 19 km away. In addition, Lieutenant Colonel Johan von Essen and his two battalions were sent to protect the arrival of the rest of the regiment.

The landing of the Russian troops began at around one in the afternoon. The troops stationed by Dahlheim in the bay, two battalions of the Tremanningsregiment and the three 24-pounder cannons, were not up to the Russian troops and sent messengers to Dahlheim to inform him of the danger.

The Swedes were able to resist the first attack on the crew of the bay until four o'clock. Around five o'clock the Swedish defense lines broke before the onslaught of the Russian infantry. In the meantime, more and more Russian ships were unloading their soldiers. The overwhelming power of the Russians was overwhelming. Nevertheless, Dahlheim, who had rushed to the rescue from the fortress Vaxholm, succeeded again and again in minimizing the Russian space gains by counter-attacks. Dahlheim was wounded in the head in one of these attacks.

After a quick march through rocky and densely forested terrain under a hot summer sun, von Essen reached Baggenstäket before 7 p.m. without encountering enemy fire. In the further course of the rapid march of the Essen unit, it suddenly came under fire from the area around Skogsö gård. Their position was very open and visible to the enemy. The battalions suffered heavy losses, and Lieutenant Colonel von Essen was wounded. The way into the bay was blocked for the Swedish soldiers by the shelling.

Only the arrival of the Södermanland Regiment relieved the battalions of Essen and the breakthrough into the bay was successful. The country, which had been lost to the Russians, was quickly recaptured by the joint advance of the dispatched troops. Despite his head injury, Lieutenant Colonel von Dahlheim led the decisive attack on the Russian invading forces. These had to withdraw with heavy losses. In the late evening hours the Russian fleet left the bay after picking up the infantry units and cannons.

Losses and consequences

August 14th was a day of prayer for the dead. The Swedes had suffered 30 dead and 71 injured. The Södermanland Regiment alone had fired over 17,000 shots and used up almost all of the ammunition. The Swedish soldiers who were killed were probably buried in the old Boo cemetery. The Russian losses are difficult to gauge. They amounted to about 400 to 500 men.

Due to the lost battle in the bay of Södra Stäket, the immediate danger for Stockholm was averted for the time being. Despite unfavorable winds, the Russian fleet managed to escape the approaching Anglo-Swedish fleet, under the command of Admiral John Norris . Rutger Fuchs was hailed as a hero and savior of Stockholm by the Swedes . He was promoted to major general and raised to the rank of baron .

From today's perspective

The exact course of the battle can no longer be precisely traced. The three Swedish regiments involved in the battle describe the course of the battle differently in their regimental chronicles. The regiments have come to the fore and on closer inspection, at least one chronicle cannot correspond to the facts. The archaeologist Tomas Englund began in 2004 with archaeological research in the bay. With the help of a metal detector, he looked for clues on the familiar battlefields. In 2006 he also examined the channel of the fjord for clues about the course of the battle. He also examined the Skogsöi tunnels for signs of battle or storage from this time.

monument

Unveiling of the Skogsömonument in 1905

In 1905 the Föreningen för Stockholms fasta försvar donated a memorial known as the Skogsömonument , with two cannons at the height of the Baggensstäket on its south side. The monument is intended to commemorate the battle and how important this victory was for the Swedish people. The stone was unveiled on July 8, 1905, in the presence of the Swedish King Oskar II .

literature

• Urban Sobéus: 300 år av försvarsansträngningar. Baggensstäket / Fällström, Hörningsholm / Södertäljeinloppet. Vaxholms Fästnings Musei Vänner et al., Vaxholm et al. 1997, ISBN 91-85266-62-0 . (Swedish)
• Gerhard A. von Halem : Life of Peter the Great. Volume 2, Peter Waldeck, Münster et al. 1804.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Lars Ericson, Martin Hårdstedt, Per Iko, Ingvar Sjöblom, Gunnar Åselius: Svenska slagfalt. Wahlström & Widstrand, Stockholm 2003, ISBN 91-46-20225-0 , p. 352 ff. (Swedish)
2. ↑ Halem: Life of Peter the Great. Volume 2, 1804, p. 290.
3. ↑ Sobéus: 300 år av försvarsansträngningar. 1997, p. 24.
4. ↑ Arkeologisk undersökning vid Knapens hål 2006: "Södra Stäket 1719 - Knapens hål" ( Memento of the original from May 25, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.