Bohus Bang

Bohus Fortress was the principal stronghold, and indeed namesake of, the province of Bohuslän (Norwegian: Båhuslen), which prior to the 1658 Treaty of Roskilde was part of the Kingdom of Norway.

This estuary was especially important for the Swedes because Halland and Skåne were part of Denmark at the time, and so the mouth of the Göta Älv was Sweden's only point of access to the North Sea.

In 1563, the Northern Seven Years War broke out between Sweden and Denmark-Norway, and Danish-Norwegian forces managed to seize control of Älvsborg in a lightning attack.

The resulting loss of trade was crippling to the Swedish economy, and it thus became imperative for the Swedes to regain access to the North Sea by either retaking Älvsborg or capturing Bohus Fortress instead.

Two of the defenders, Hans Sund och Jørgen Mekelberg[2] volunteered to try to detonate the Red Tower's gunpowder magazine in a suicide attack, and the commander Jens Holgersen Ulfstand promised to provide for their families.

As for Nils Boije, the overall commander, he was dismissed from his post and replaced by Charles de Mornay, but avoided further punishment, likely because he had previously distinguished himself by the successful capture of Varberg Fortress in 1565.

Bohus Fortress as it appeared in 1658.
Bohus Fortress from the northwest. This is roughly the view the Swedish gunners would have had of the fortress when they bombarded it in 1566.
The Bohus Bang. Plaster copy of the marble relief from Fredrick II's sarcophagus in Roskilde Cathedral.