On 9 May 1864, off the then British island of Heligoland, Edouard Suenson's Danish squadron fought Wilhelm von Tegetthoff's Austrian frigates and three Prussian vessels. A shell set the Austrian flagship on fire and Tegetthoff ran for neutral waters, yet the Danish blockade ended. Also on 9 May: Sedgwick killed at Spotsylvania, 1864, and Aubers Ridge, 1915.
Battle of Heligoland
9 May 1864 · 162 years ago
A blockade in the North Sea
In the war of 1864 between Denmark and the German powers, Captain Wilhelm von Tegetthoff was sent with the Austrian frigates Schwarzenberg and Radetzky to break the Danish blockade of the German North Sea ports. At Texel he took three Prussian vessels under his command, the paddle steamer Adler and the gunboats Basilisk and Blitz; the Austrian gunboat Seehund was not with him. The squadron reached the Elbe on 4 May.1 › Battle of Jasmund, 1864
Edouard Suenson's Danish North Sea squadron was made up of the frigates Niels Juel and Jylland and the corvette Heimdal. Danish sources give his rank as Orlogskaptajn; the Austrian navy's history and the British naval historian J. K. Laughton call him commodore. The Danish General Staff, Ole Ventegodt and C. With judge the two forces roughly equal, while Laughton thought the Austrians outmatched.2
The fight off Heligoland
On the morning of 9 May Tegetthoff was going back into the Elbe when news came that Danish warships were off Heligoland, and he put to sea again. The island was then British. As the squadrons closed, Suenson spoke to his crews. The General Staff gives his words as: "Dér har I Østerrigerne, Folk! Nu møde vi dem, jeg stoler paa, vi ville kjæmpe som vore tappre Kamerater ved Dybbøl!" ("There you have the Austrians, men! Now we meet them; I trust we shall fight like our brave comrades at Dybbøl!", our translation); two men of Jylland, the gun captain Anders Jensen Lønborg and the mate Hans Christian Holm Bjørnsen, recalled the speech in other words. Tegetthoff signaled to his ships that their armies had won victories and they should do the same.3
The Austrian flagship opened fire shortly before two o'clock. The two lines passed on opposite courses, then turned and ran southwest side by side at close range. The Prussian ships stayed out of the main fight.4
Later in the afternoon a Danish shell set fire to the sails of Schwarzenberg's foremast, and the flames spread through the rigging. Tegetthoff broke off the action and steered for the neutral waters of Heligoland. Suenson signaled a pursuit, but a shot damaged Jylland's steering gear and the Austrians gained a lead. When they reached British waters, watched by the British frigate Aurora, the Danes stopped firing.5
Two verdicts
Tegetthoff's report lists 37 dead on the two frigates, and With also counts 37 dead, all Austrian; Laughton gives 36 killed. For the Danes, Laughton and the Illustrated London News give 14 killed and 54 wounded, With 14 dead and 51 wounded. The Austrians anchored at Cuxhaven early the next morning.6
The Danish squadron went to Christianssand in Norway, where its dead were buried. When it reached Copenhagen it was "greatly cheered by the assembled spectators", the Illustrated London News reported, and Ventegodt writes that Suenson was received as a hero. The King gave him the Grand Cross of the Dannebrog. The Emperor made Tegetthoff a rear admiral.7
The Illustrated London News called the battle "a victory for the former", the Danes. Austrian and British writers stressed the strategic result: the Austrian navy's history says the Danish ships left the North Sea and the blockade of the Elbe ended, and Laughton that Tegetthoff, "though beaten, was still so far successful that the Danish navy had no further influence on the war". The blockade was also settled in London, where on 9 May the conference agreed an armistice from 12 May under which Denmark was to raise it. Ventegodt notes later criticism, not wholly unjust in his view, that Suenson had failed to wait for the Austrians to come out again and force a real decision.8
Two years later Tegetthoff won the Battle of Lissa, told on our page for 20 July.9
Sedgwick at Spotsylvania
On the morning of 9 May 1864, at Spotsylvania in Virginia, Major General John Sedgwick, commanding the Union Sixth Corps, was killed by a Confederate sharpshooter while out on his line. Horatio G. Wright took command of the corps. The battle is told on our page for 8 May and in our article on Spotsylvania.10
Second Battle of Artois, 1915: France's first assault on Vimy Ridge
9 May 1915 · 111 years ago
On the Western Front, Polish volunteers of the French Foreign Legion, the Bayonne Legion, attacked German positions on the Vimy heights north of Arras. They broke into the German trenches, but the company was nearly wiped out and lost all its officers.
Read the full story of Second Battle of Artois, 1915: France's first assault on Vimy Ridge ›
