Battle of Høland

The Battle of Høland were two minor skirmishes fought on Mars 9, 1716 in Høland, Norway during the Norwegian campaign of the Great Northern War. Charles XII of Sweden rode with a force of 650 men in order to capture a Norwegian party stationed at Høland. The Norwegian troop was completely surprised and 75 men were forced to yield, while only a few managed to escape. After having received news of the accruing, Norwegian general Ulrik Christian Kruse decided to send a force of his own consisting of 216 troops in order to aid the ones captured at Høland. He managed to surprise the troops under Charles XII but was, however, repulsed after a while of fighting as the Swedish troops realized what was happening and started to actively outnumber the Norwegians. The Swedes had suffered at least 28 killed and wounded. In the Norwegian lines Kruse got captured along with 10 of his men, another 31 Norwegians were killed and 47 wounded. After the victory a good opportunity presented itself for Charles XII to quickly march further into Norway in order to end the campaign in a victory for Sweden. However, a snow blizzard would end this opportunity and he would instead be stuck in Høland for some days.[1]

Battle of Høland
Part of the Great Northern War
Date Mars 9, 1716 Location Høland, Norway Result Swedish victory
Belligerents
Swedish Empire	Denmark-Norway
Commanders and leaders
Charles XII	Ulrik Christian Kruse (POW)
Strength
650 men	300 men
Casualties and losses
28 killed and wounded	164 killed, wounded and captured

References

1. Otto Vaupell, Den danske haers historie til nutiden og den norske haers historie indtil 1814. pp. 545-549