Augustin Ehrensvärd

The Prussian blockade of Swedish Pomerania had been lifted by an invading Russian army on June 18, 1758, but von Rosen had grown tired of his thankless task and handed command over to Gustav David Hamilton.

Augustin Ehrensvard had captured Peenemünde hill on July 27, and Hamilton had sent sixteen thousand men to support the Russians, who were besieging Küstrin.

However, after their defeat at Zorndorf he decided instead to march to Saxony to join up with the Austrians, but got no further than Neuruppin in Brandenburg.

A detachment he sent from there had suffered a heavy defeat on September 26 at the Battle of Tornow, but Major Carl Constantin De Carnall is able to reach Fehrbellin with eight hundred men to defend it from about five thousand Prussians at a battle fought here on September 28.

The Prussian forces under General Carl Heinrich von Wedel are attempting to stop the Swedish offensive into Brandenburg.

The Swedish forces hold the town, with one gun at each of the three gates.

The Prussians arrive first and manage to break through at the western (Mühlenthor) gate, driving the outnumbered Swedes in disarray through the streets.

However, reinforcements arrive, and the Prussians, who have failed to burn the bridge, are forced to retreat.

The Swedes lose twenty-three officers and three hundred and twenty-two privates in the battle.

Prussian casualties are significant; the Prussians reportedly take with them fifteen wagons loaded with dead and wounded soldiers when they retreat.

Hamilton, after the failure of the Austrian invasion of Saxony, had left Neuruppin on October 10 and headed for the River Oder, in the hopes of joining up with the Russians.

He had failed in this and the Swedish force has had to go into winter quarters, with Hamilton returning to Swedish Pomerania.

The government blames him for the force's failure and has pressured him into resigning his command, which Hamilton had done on November 23, 1758.

Hamilton is replaced as commander on December 19 of the same year with Jacob Albrecht von Lantingshausen.

A superior Prussian force compels Lantingshausen to retreat to Stralsund early in 1759, losing the garrisons at Demmin, Anklam and Peenemünde after hard fighting.

The Russian advance in May liberates Swedish Pomerania, but lack of money and supplies means the Swedish commander can only start campaigning that August.

His goal is to besiege Stettin and in preparation for this Lantingshausen allows Axel von Fersen to take four thousand men to capture Usedom and Wollin—this objective is met after the Battle of Frisches Haff ensures Swedish naval supremacy in September—while Lantingshausen takes the main body of the army to advance deep into Prussian Pomerania, where he then remains still for a long while.

However, due to a lack of cooperation from his allies, he is unable to besiege Stettin and in late autumn withdraws into Swedish Pomerania.

At the outbreak of the conflict, Sweden had been led by a government dominated by the pro-French Caps party, which felt that this war (mainly aimed against Prussia) was the chance for Sweden to recapture territories lost to Prussia in the past in Pomerania and restore the mouth of the Oder to Swedish control.

The chancellor and head of the Caps party, baron Anders Johan von Höpken, had sent an army of fourteen thousand five hundred men to Stralsund, capital of Swedish Pomerania, under field-marshal Ungern-Sternberg, with his main mission being the capture of Stettin (today in Poland), which controls the mouths of the Oder.

The Swedes had launched a first offensive but were beaten back in Stralsund by the Prussian army under marshal Lehwaldt.

Ungern-Sternberg has been replaced by count von Rosen, who had taken no risks and left himself blockaded in Stralsund.

However, a Russian offensive in west Prussia had forced Lehwaldt to leave Swedish Pomerania on June 27, 1758.

Sweden had sent reinforcements and a new commander-in-chief, count Hamilton, who profited from Prussian difficulties by going back on the offensive.

Although Prussian troops in the area have been heavily denuded to face the Russian threat, they put up a tenacious resistance to the Swedes and battles and skirmishes have come one after the other without either of the belligerents able to gain a decisive advantage over the other.

The conflict takes a naval turn when the Prussians build a fleet at Stettin, by the more or less fortunate transformation of fishing or transport boats into warships, to defy a Swedish squadron supporting their land offensive. Informed of these preparations, the Swedes decide to destroy this fleet.

The Swedish squadron under Ruthensparre moves into the Oder at the start of August 1759, moving towards the Stettin lagoon.

On August 8 it forces the defenses of Peenemünde and penetrates the western half of the lagoon (called Kleines Haff, or Little Lagoon, by the Germans).

On August 22 the Swedes win an initial engagement against a fleet under captain von Köller off Anclam.

The two fleets again face each other, near Neuwarp, on September 10.

The Swedish ships commanded by Wilhelm von Carpellan are ranged in four lines—in the first are the most powerful ships (four thirteen-gun galleys armed), then four five-gun demi-galleys (with mixed sail and oar propulsion), then three sloops and one ship with howitzers, and finally a line of thirteen gunboats.

For their part, the Prussians have four galiots and four galleys with twelve cannon each as well as five canonnières.

Once within range, the Swedes place themselves in a single line.

However, the three Swedish demi-galleys and nine gunboats sail towards the south where unidentified sailing vessels have appeared—these turn out to be neutral ships, but this means these Swedish ships do not take part in the start of the four-hour battle.

The battle ends in a heavy Prussian defeat, with their main ships sunk or captured and more than six hundred of their sailors captured, for smaller losses (thirteen killed and fourteen wounded) on the Swedish side.

The victory guarantees Swedish control of the lagoon, which they exploit by capturing the island of Wollin.

However, their ultimate goal of Stettin remains in Prussian hands.

Undaunted, the Prussians begin to build a new fleet.

The Battle of Frisches Haff is thus a short-lived victory for the Swedes and the Russian retreat from the war of 1762 will place them in a very difficult situation.

Realizing they do not have a large enough force to hold off the redoubtable troops under king Frederick II of Prussia on their own, the Swedes will propose a peace settlement to him based on a return to the pre-war status quo.

Frederick will accept the proposal and formalize it by signing the treaty of Hamburg on May 22, 1762.

The Prussians invade Swedish Pomerania on January 20, 1760, but this time they are repulsed and on January 28, Swedish troops penetrate as far as Anklam and capture the Prussian general Heinrich von Manteuffel.

However, despite these successes and despite the Prussian army's attention mainly being elsewhere, Lantingshausen and his fifteen thousand troops are under-supplied and only able to invade Prussia in August, mainly in order to find supplies.

He pushes forward to Prenzlow (now Prenzlau) in Brandenburg with his main force of six thousand troops, leaving Augustin Ehrensvard with a detachment in Pasewalk.

Here he is attacked by the enemy and fights back bravely, but Ehrensvard is wounded and has to resign his command.

Many officers now depart to participate in parliament and the resulting shortage of officers forces Lantingshausen to return to Swedish Pomerania, where he will remain for the whole winter without being attacked by the Prussians.

Lantingshausen's commands have exceeded any expectations, but he has tired of the immense difficulties and resigns in June 1761.

Only in July is his successor Augustin Ehrensvard able to raise seven thousand men to invade the enemy's country.

Although superior to the Prussian army that tries to prevent his advance, they are so poorly equipped that the advance does not get far and the campaign sees only minor engagements.

In September he sends two regiments under count Frederick William von Hessenstein to support the Russians, who have been besieging Kolberg since 1759.

However, Hessenstein soon has to withdraw and in October the whole Swedish force returns to Swedish Pomerania.

When the Prussians begin to worry about their borders, he sends Jacob Magnus Sprengtporten with light troops (the so-called Sprengtportenska) to Mecklenburg and on December 23 defeats a Prussian force at Malchin.

Here, however, he is surrounded by a superior Prussian force, though Ehrensvard is able to break through and rescue him.

The unpopularity in Sweden of the costly and futile Pomeranian War means that the Hats' control of government begins to falter and the confusion the war causes leads to a deficit that will resultsi n their fall in 1765.

The death of Elizabeth of Russia in January 1762 changes the whole political situation in Europe.

A Russo-Prussian alliance, formalized on May 5, threatens to make Russia an enemy not an ally of Sweden.

The secret committee had thus decided on March 13 of this year that Sweden will seek a separate peace.

Via the queen's mediation, the Swedes sign  the peace of Hamburg with Prussia and Mecklenburg on May 22, accepting their defeat—Prussia and Sweden are restored to the status quo ante bellum.

An advance guard under De Carnall at Neukalen defeats the Prussians, who are trying to block the road, on January 2, 1762, and Ehrensvard marches into Malchin.

However, he then immediately returns to Swedish Pomerania and on April 7 comes to a truce on his own initiative—this truce of Ribnitz will last until the peace.