Capture of the North Frisian Islands
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Capture of the North Frisian Islands and Rømø | |||||||
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Part of Second Schleswig War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Austria Prussia | Denmark | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Bernhard von Wüllerstorf-Urbair Ernst von Prittwitz und Gaffron | Otto Christian Hammer | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
One ironclad One ship of the line One steamer Four gunboats |
250 men One paddle steamer One screw steamer 8 gun dinghies each with 17 men and one cannon 12 inch cutters 10 other coasters | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
(indirect) two hunters due to a stabbing | Nine officers and 185 sailors taken prisoner |
The capture of the North Frisian Islands and Rømø in July 1864 was the last military operation of the
Background
After Prussia and Austria had already largely brought the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein under their control as a result of the Prussian Battle of Dybbøl, an armistice came into force on May 12, 1864. After the failure of peace negotiations at the London Conference of 1864, Prussia and Austria agreed in their June 1864 Carlsbad Agreement to resume the war. With the end of the truce, the conquest of the remaining parts of the duchies began, including the Wadden Sea Islands on the west coast of Schleswig. However, Amrum, southern Rømø, northern Sylt and western Föhr did not belong to the Duchy of Schleswig, but were part of Denmark. Rømø was overwhelmingly Danish while Sylt, Föhr and Amrum were overwhelmingly home to North Frisians, the latter islands having both pro-German and pro-Danish settlements.
On the Danish side, Lieutenant Captain
The west coast of Schleswig-Holstein fell into Austria's area of operations and
Occupation of the Islands
The forces of both sides
The Danish fleet consisted of:
- The paddle steamer Lymfjord
- The screw steamer Augusta
- 8 gun dinghies each with 17 men and one cannon
- 12 revenue cutters
- 10 other coasters
The Austro-Prussian fleet consisted of:
- The ironclad SMS Juan d'Austria (Austria)
- The Kaiser(Austria)
- The steamer SMS Kaiserin Elizabeth (1854)|Elisabeth (Austria)
- The gunboat SMS Basilisk (Prussia)
- The gunboat SMS Blitz (Prussia)
- The gunboat SMS Seehund|Seal (Austria)
- The gunboat SMS Wall|Wall (Austria)
Because in parts of the North Friesian and Danish Wadden Sea only ships with a shallow draft could be deployed, the Dickschiffe were mostly only indirectly involved in the operation. The four gunboats were under the command of the Austrian Fregattenkapitäns Karl Kronowetter. Added to this were the 5th and. 6th Company of the K.u.k. Field Police Battalion No. 9 from Styria under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Franz von Schidlach.
Oland and Sylt
On July 6,
Rømø, Föhr and Amrum and blockade of the Wadden Sea Islands
On July 14, the island
with two gunboats.On July 17, the Allies blocked the access routes from the North Frisian Wadden Sea to the North Sea by two Austrian units under
Foehr, Langeneß and Gröde
At 6 a.m. on July 18, the Danish flotilla began being shelled in the port of
Three hours earlier, however, the Prussian
Surrender of the Danish defenders
When the Allies learned that the armistice would not come into force until July 20, hostilities resumed on July 19. As a result, on July 19, seven officers, two civil servants and 185 men from the Danish flotilla surrendered to the Allied forces in view of the hopeless situation. Hammer had used the night to set off in the Wadden Sea with his gunboat Liimfoerd. He was only caught in the evening by the Prussian gunboat Blitz, then lowered the flag and handed over his sword with his first officer at 7:30 p.m., a few hours before the armistice came into force. This was forwarded to Prince Adalbert by the commander of the Blitz, lieutenant Archibald MacLean.
Consequences
The captured Danish ships were first brought to Cuxhaven and remained in Prussian possession. From July 20 to 22, Hammer was initially released to his family in Wyk. When he went out in the village, he was protected by Austrian hunters from attacks by the population. Then he was transported via Husum, Rendsburg to Altona to be imprisoned.
Due to the outcome of the war and the resulting
References
- ^ Authority of the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Army Friedrich Karl Prince of Prussia for Lieutenant Colonel von Stiehle on the conclusion of a ceasefire requested by Denmark in the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital Library), retrieved on 16 October 2015.
Further reading
- Frank Jung: Der Krieg um Schleswig-Holstein. Ellert & Richter Verlag for ISBN 9783831905669
- Oliver Bruhns: "Schleswiger Stadtgeschichten." In: Reimer Witt, Oliver Bruhns: "1200 Years Schleswig." Ed. Lions-Club Schleswig, 2006.
- Otto Christian Hammer: "Vesterhavsøernes Forsvar i Aaret 1864", Gyldendal, Copenhagen 1865