Gustaf Reinhold Boije af Gennäs (1769-1836)

Gustaf Reinhold Boije af Gennäs (also rendered in some records as “Boije” and, more rarely, “Boize/Boize”) was a Swedish noble officer who served from the late Gustavian period through the wars against Russia and Napoleon, eventually reaching general rank and holding independent commands in 1813–1814.

He was born on 18 March 1769 at Vaasa (Vasa) in Österbotten, then part of the Swedish realm (today Finland). He was the son of Captain Erik Ernst Boije and Hedvig Ulrika von Köhler. He entered the Swedish Army as a young man and began active service during the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–1790. In that conflict he served in the Östgöta Infantry Regiment and was present in field operations in Finland. He fought at Kaipiais in 1789 and at Valkeala in 1790, where he was wounded. His conduct in the 1788–1790 war accelerated his advancement into the officer corps’ middle ranks.

By the early 1800s Boije had become a major, but in 1802 he sought dismissal from the army after a dispute connected to an agreement/arrangement (described in later biographical sketches as an “agreement dispute”), and he spent time abroad. He returned to military employment soon afterward and was attached to the royal military household. In 1803 he was appointed chief adjutant to the king with duty connected to the Pomeranian theater, the Swedish bridgehead on the southern Baltic coast that became the base for Swedish participation on the European continent.

During the Franco-Swedish War, when King Gustav IV Adolf was at Stralsund and Swedish forces in Swedish Pomerania were organized for operations, Boije held senior staff employment as an adjutant general within the operational headquarters. In this period he also held brigade-level responsibilities under the Swedish general Georg Carl von Döbeln, including command associated with the 6th Brigade in the Pomeranian force structure. He was present in the Stralsund theater during the 1807 operations, which included the siege of Stralsund (1807) during the wider Napoleonic struggle on the Baltic littoral.

Boije’s responsibilities were not limited to battlefield command. He was used for state and ministerial tasks in the course of the wars, including diplomatic or negotiation assignments with representatives of neighboring powers, reflecting the Swedish practice of employing senior, trusted officers for sensitive missions during rapidly shifting coalition politics.

In the Finnish War of 1808–1809, fought between Sweden and Russia, Boije held important command responsibilities. He took part in the attempted landing of Guards units in the Helsinge (Helsinki area) operation, a notable episode in Sweden’s failed efforts to regain the initiative on the Finnish coast. The Finnish War ended with Sweden’s loss of Finland, and the subsequent political changes in Sweden brought a reorientation of Swedish military policy and alliances.

Under the new strategic course associated with Crown Prince Charles John (Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte), Sweden joined the coalition against Napoleon in 1813. In the German campaign of 1813 Boije served in field operations that included the battles of Großbeeren (23 August 1813) and Dennewitz (6 September 1813), both fought south of Berlin as part of the coalition effort to defend the Prussian capital and pressure Napoleon’s marshals. He was also present in the Leipzig campaign and the Battle of Leipzig (16–19 October 1813), where the coalition victory decisively altered the balance of the war in Germany.

As coalition operations shifted toward Denmark and the settlement of the Scandinavian question, Boije was detached with a mixed force that included not only Swedish troops but also allied contingents (described in contemporary and later accounts as including Russian, Prussian, and Hanoverian elements) for operations against Danish positions. In this role he led a force in the siege of the fortress of Glückstadt, a strategically placed work on the lower Elbe. The fortress capitulated in January 1814, and Boije’s success in this operation was treated as a significant service in the coalition’s northern theater. In connection with this achievement he was promoted to Lieutenant general by the Swedish crown prince.

Following the Treaty of Kiel (14 January 1814), Sweden moved to secure the transfer of Norway and to reposition forces in the broader coalition context. Boije subsequently held divisional-level responsibilities connected with Swedish deployments on the continent, including command assignments that placed him at Brussels during the final stages of coalition occupation and reorganization in the Low Countries.

Boije remained in Swedish service after the Napoleonic period, but his later life was marked by financial difficulties. In 1825 he left Sweden under the pressure of large debts and ended his life in poverty in the Grand Duchy of Finland. He died on 16 February 1836.

Sources

• Gustaf Boije