Battle Of Dybbøl

The Battle of Dybbøl (; ) was the key battle of the Second Schleswig War, fought between Denmark and Prussia. The battle was fought on the morning of 18 April 1864, following a siege that began on 2 April. Denmark suffered a severe defeat which – with the Prussian capture of the island of Als – ultimately decided the outcome of the war, forcing Danish cession of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.

Background

Following the annexation of the Duchy of Schleswig in November 1863 by Danish king Christian IX (who was also the Duke of Schleswig), Prussia and Austria invaded Jutland in January 1864. The defending Danish infantry was equipped with French M1822 percussion muskets converted to Minié rifling and with Tapriffel M1864s. The Prussian army used the Dreyse needle-gun, a breech-loading rifle.

Dybbøl. Dybbøl fort, also called 'Dybbøl Skanser', lies on a short blunt peninsula that defends against access to the fort by land and featured an enclosed pier for the ferry across the Alssund to Sønderborg. In particular, it lacked safe shelters in the forward line. Technological developments in artillery (particularly long-range rifled guns) had made the geography of the position unsuited for a lengthy defense. The line had too little depth, and across the waters of the southern inlet (forming the southern part of the peninsula) modern guns could subject the main defensive line to raking fire along its length. This meant that not only was the position effectively saturated during the approximately two months of bombardment, but also most of the defending crew had to be withdrawn far behind the line because of attrition by the bombardment and lack of effective shelters, and when the assault finally came, the line was consequently undermanned by tired troops.

However, the Danes did have one major advantage in that they had more or less unchallenged command of the sea and were able to deploy the modern ironclad '' Rolf Krake'' to the scene to support ground forces at Dybbøl with shore bombardments from its turret-mounted eight-inch guns. For much of the siege, Rolf Krake was used as a mobile heavy seaborne artillery platform and the Prussians were almost helpless to counter it, since they had no naval forces of their own capable of matching the Danish navy, a fact that sapped Prussian morale. For this reason, some Danish generals thought that the Prussians would not dare to mount a frontal attack.

Battle

On the morning of 18 April 1864 at Dybbøl, the Prussians moved into their positions at 02:00. At 10:00 Prussian artillery bombardment stopped and the Prussians charged; shelling from the ''Rolf Krake'' did not prove enough to halt them. Thirteen minutes after the charge, the infantry had already seized control of the first line of defense of the redoubts.

Destruction of the retreating Danish forces was avoided when the Prussian advance was halted by a counterattack by the 8th Brigade, until another Prussian attack threw them back; that attack advanced about 1 km and reached Dybbøl Mill, and therefore contributed to the soldiers on the northern flank (the crew at redoubts 7–10), avoiding large losses or capture. It has subsequently been debated why the counterattack only came after half an hour of fighting. Some sources assume that due to the loud sounds that came from the battle, it was impossible to hear the signal, while others suggest that the brigade's commander Glode du Plat hesitated to give orders for the counterattack.

The 8th Brigade fought hard, but when Friedrich Karl deployed additional reserves, it retreated with heavy losses. In that counterattack the 8th Brigade had lost 1,399 of its 3,000 men, but it had allowed the remnants of the 1st and 3rd Brigades to escape to the pier opposite Sønderborg. At 13:30 the last resistance collapsed at the bridgehead in front of Sønderborg

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