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The Battle of Anholt (25–27 March 1811) occurred during the Gunboat War, a war between the United Kingdom and Denmark-Norway. It was an attempt by the Danes to recapture Anholt, a small Danish island off the coast of Jutland, which the British had captured in 1809. The Danish army had a larger fighting force than the British, but a lack of planning and supply failures led to a devastating defeat and many Danish casualties. The battle proved a decisive British victory with the result that the British occupation of Anholt continued until the peace treaty in 1814. There is a monument commemorating the battle in Anholt village. ==Strategic background to the battle== Early in the Gunboat War the Danes had closed their lighthouse at the easternmost point of Anholt. In January 1809, the bomb-vessel ''Proselyte'', which the British had stationed off Anholt to act as a lighthouse, struck Anholt Reef and sank. On 18 May 1809, the 74-gun Third Rate HMS ''Standard'', under Captain Askew Hollis, led in a squadron that also included the frigate ''Owen Glendower'', , , and . Together they captured the island. A landing party of seamen and marines under the command of Captain William Selby of ''Owen Glendower'', with the assistance of Captain Edward Nicolls of the ''Standard''s marines, landed. The Danish garrison of 170 men put up a sharp but ineffectual resistance that killed one British marine and wounded two; the garrison then surrendered. The British took immediate possession of the island.〔 Hollis, in his report, stated that Anholt was important in that it could furnish supplies of water to His Majesty's fleet, and afford a good anchorage to merchant vessels sailing to and from the Baltic.〔 However, the principal objective of the mission was to restore the lighthouse on the island to its pre-war state to facilitate the movement of British men of war and merchantmen navigating the dangerous seas there.〔James (1827), Vol. 5, p.130.〕 King Frederick VI of Denmark declared the recovery of Anholt to be the highest priority and gave orders in February 1810 for the collection of the necessary troops and gunboats, under the overall command of General Tellequist. Winter ice and late storms hampered the expedition which set sail three times from Gjerrild Bay, just north of Grenå, without reaching Anholt. Eventually, when British warships started to be seen, the window of opportunity had disappeared and General Tellequist gave the order to abandon the expedition for that year.〔Wandel, C.F. From the Danish: ''Søkrigen i de dansk-norske farvande 1807-14 : fra tabet af flaaden til freden i Kiel''. pp, 261-2.〕 Captain Nicolls, of the Royal Marines, the British governor on the island, had heard of the plans to recapture Anholt and deployed a gunboat, the , to scout the coast of Jutland whenever the weather was fair. ''Grinder'' also captured some small merchant vessels, but on 13 April 1810 four Danish gunboats captured her. In August 1810 Anholt became a stone frigate, and was notionally classified as a 50-gun ship. Although the island garrison consisted of Royal Marines, it was a ship in the eyes of the Admiralty, and the officer commanding the Marines, Captain Torrens〔To avoid confusion, if there was a Royal Marine captain on a ship (usual for a ship of the line classed as Third-rate or higher), this senior officer was referred to as a Major, to avoid any confusion with the Captain of the ship. Maurice's correspondence refers to Torrens as the 'Major-Commandant', which is in keeping with this custom.〕 of the Royal Marines, was ultimately accountable to Captain Maurice of the Royal Navy, the British governor on the island.〔Tracy. Who's who in Nelson's Navy. p. 246.〕〔Maurice, James Wilkes (1775-1857)". Dictionary of National Biography. 37. 1894. p. 107.〕 This arrangement reflected the inequality of status between Royal Navy officers, and Royal Marine counterparts. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Anholt」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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