It all started out well for the Swedes but a few gunshots from a forward guard post called the Outer Citizens fortification (Ytre Borgerskanse) on the north side alerted a larger force inside the citizens fortification itself. This force barely managed to meet the Swedes at the northern gates. The battle that ensued was a fierce close quarter fight. After several failed attempts to break through and scale the walls the Swedes had lost nearly 300 men. To Charles XII the worst was the time he lost. At this point all the Norwegian soldiers in town moved into the fortress and took up their positions. A contingency of the Swedish forces had simultaneously manoeuvred towards the town with the attack on the citizen fortification. After fierce fighting this contingency broke through a weak defensive line at the church and the town was soon after occupied. The situation looked like the situation in Christiania some months earlier. But the end results was to be very different and conclude much sooner. The citizens were already prepared for this scenario and were ready to burn the town.
In the afternoon the plan was set into motion and bales of straw were set ablaze. In very short time the entire town became a sea of fire. We meet the fire starters and the Swedes that must flee over the partly destroyed city bridge while under fire from the fortress. Almost the entire town, approximately 330 residences were burnt to ashes, while the fortress remained unharmed. In this sequence we see the town as a smouldering ruin.
