After a eight hour seige, Denmark Surrenders the island of Bornholm to the Williamsbourg Imperal Navy. At 8:45pm October 30th, 35 battle ships and another 14 privateer ships opend fire on Rønne. The Danish navy found out at 9:00pm, due to the surprise attack it took them several hours to respond. Before the navy could respond, Tsar Vilhelm sent a telegram demanding the surrender of the island or they would launch an invasion and destroy the countryside of the island. The invasion would have killed most of the island.
After the surrender at 5:30am on October 31, naval ships enter the harbor in Rønne and troops on the ships occupied the city. It was estimated that over 1,000 people were killed in the seige, almost 8% of the population. The island is under martial law with a 5-7 curfew in order. The newly appointed military governor has also ordered all men age 13-35 are to be conscripted into the troops on the island.
A protest of the occupation also manifested on the island. 800 people gathered in Rønne. Dispite the protesters being peaceful the military opend fire on the crowd, killing 35 people and injuring over 100. Tsar Vilhelm said he is likely to send more troops as the army tries to keep order and rebuild the harbor and parts of the city destroyed in the seige, however he quoted
“My army will try to rebuild Rønne, but if the people there keep up the mayhem and harassing the troops. I will stop all reconstruction of the city and put all the our effort into our military plans.”
