Åland Offensive

Åland Offensive
Part of the Finnish War
The Swedish retreat from Åland, by August Malmström
Date 10–21 March 1809 Location Åland Islands, Finland Result Convention of Åland (See Aftermath)
Belligerents
Sweden	Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Georg Carl von Döbeln	Gotthard Johann von Knorring
Strength
6,000 (including many sick soldiers)[1]	17,000[1]
Casualties and losses
1,750 captured (including around 1,150 sick and frostbitten, who were left behind in the retreat)[2]	20–30 killed or wounded[2]

The Åland Offensive, during the Finnish War, was part of a threefold attack on Sweden, by the Russian Empire, to enforce peace; with Sweden entering the Continental System while also surrendering Finland. The Åland Islands were to be used for an immediate attack on Stockholm. As the offensive commenced, on 10 March 1809, only minor skirmishes occurred as the Swedish forces, under Georg Carl von Döbeln, quickly withdrew over the ice, towards Stockholm; this left Gotthard Johann von Knorring and his Russian army in full control over the islands. Although suffering heavy casualties, the Swedish army escaped destruction, which resulted in the  [sv]; which saw the end to the Russian offensive, and their subsequent withdrawal from the islands.

Background[]

After the Russian conquest of Finland, during the Swedish 'Coup of 1809', in which the Swedish king, Gustav IV Adolf, was deposed, the Russians planned a large scale offensive against Sweden proper; to force the Swedes into a peace treaty, in which they would enter the Continental System and accept the Russian annexation of Finland. Russian emperor, Alexander I of Russia, ordered a threefold attack that would go over the Åland Islands, on the ice, to Stockholm, over the ice of Kvarken, and over the Torne.^[3] Defending the pathway over the Åland Islands, to Stockholm, stood the Swedish general Georg Carl von Döbeln and just over 6,000 men (including sick), while the Russians, under supreme commander Gotthard Johann von Knorring, mustered about 17,000 men in their offensive of the islands.^[1]

Offensive and retreat[]

It began on 10 March, as the first Russian columns started moving, reaching Kumlinge three days later. The first encounter occurred the next day as the Swedish outpost, on Vårdö, was attacked by Russian Cossacks; von Döbeln was initially determined to face the attack on the islands, but later changed his mind after receiving words of the Coup of 1809, the same day, while discovering the great disparity in numbers between the two forces. On 16 March, after a few minor skirmishes and fruitless negotiations, and with a continued Russian advance over Vårdö and the Föglö archipelago—to have their enemy encircled—von Döbeln decided to retreat. The Swedish vanguard set out from Eckerö, towards Stockholm, already the same day, bringing with them a transport of sick soldiers.^[1]

The bulk of the army marched out the next day, during a blizzard, with the battalions formed into squares—in which baggage and sick soldiers were escorted; due to an insufficient amount of horses, a lot of supplies, provisions and sick soldiers, were left behind. The enemy advanced rapidly during this time; a Russian cavalry attack, by Yakov Kulnev, was repulsed by the Swedish rearguard-division.^[4] The Swedish rearguard consisting of the Södermanland battalion of 475 men (at Signilskär) and the Fleetwood jägers of 87 men (ordered to fight a delaying action), were cut-off and forced to surrender.^[5] On 18 March, the bulk of the Swedish forces reached Grisslehamn, on the Swedish mainland, after marching 45–50 km (28–31 mi).^[4]

Aftermath[]

The Swedish army had managed to escape near annihilation, but at a very high cost: About 1,750 men were lost, almost all captured; more than 1,100 sick and frostbitten had been left behind on the islands and on the march towards Grisslehamn. The Russians had suffered no more than 20–30 killed and wounded.^[2] As a result of the failure to completely crush the Swedish forces, the Russian army disregarded an immediate continued offensive towards Stockholm—to quickly enforce the peace as planned—instead, they stayed on the Åland Islands; only a small cavalry-division, under Kulnev, went after the Swedes, as demonstration. The two sides soon opened up for negotiations, in which von Döbeln expressed the Swedish strive for peace, while asking von Knorring not to disrupt the ongoing discussions with renewed attacks. On 21 March, the  [sv] was signed, which, under the circumstances, was in favor of Sweden; it resulted not only in the abrupt end to the Russian offensive—against the wishes of Alexander I—but also in a general Russian withdrawal from the Åland Islands, back to Finland, on 25 March, while von Döbeln promised not to re-occupy the islands.^[4] The war would continue until September 1809, however, and would end only after the campaign in Västerbotten, with the Åland Islands along with the rest of Finland being ceded to the Russian Empire.^[6]

Citations[]

Sources[]

• Generalstaben, Krigshistoriska avdelningen (1921). Sveriges krig åren 1808 och 1809, Volume 8 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Kongl. boktryckeriet P. A. Norstedt & söner.
• Hornborg, Eirik (1955). När riket sprängdes: fälttågen i Finland och Västerbotten, 1808-1809 (in Swedish). Stockholm: P. A. Norstedts och Söners Förlag.