Evacuation of Fredericia Fortress
Austrians inspect Fredericia fortress, a Danish soldier at the gun
| date | March 20, 1864 to April 28, 1864 |
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| place | Fredericia |
| output | Allied victory, conquest of the city and fortress of Fredericia |
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Missunde - Königshügel - Danewerk - Schlei - Oeversee - Jutland - Vejle - Jasmund - Düppeler Schanzen - Fredericia - Helgoland - Alsen - Lundby - North Frisian Islands
The attack on Fredericia was part of the German-Danish War and began on March 20, 1864 with a bombardment by Austrian and Prussian troops . The evacuation of Fredericia Fortress on March 28th practically marked the end of the Danish resistance in Jutland .
course
After the battle at Vejle (March 8, 1864), the Austrian corps under the leadership of Ludwig von Gablenz began on March 19 with the 1st Division (Brigade Nostiz and Gondrecourt ) and the 2nd Division (Brigade Tomas and Dormus) under the leadership by Erwin von Neipperg in front of the fortress with the construction of the batteries. They did not have a siege park, but found the use of an 8-pound battery to be quite effective. The Austrian 8 pounders were set up at Erritsø and Jugelsang, the Prussian 6 pounders at Jgum and the 12 pounders at Christineborg within a radius of about half a mile. A Danish failure was rejected without any problems. On March 20, the cannonade of 42 guns began to bombard the fortress. The distance had been chosen so that the old-fashioned artillery of the fortress, which did not carry that far, could barely return fire. The barracks of the fortress soon fell victim to the flames, the buildings (mostly wood) were not particularly valuable, but a lot of material was lost in the process. The following day the fire was stopped and Wrangel asked if Major-General Lunding was ready to surrender the fortress. Hardly anyone was surprised when the answer came:
"... I see myself unable to go into the propositions of Sr. Excellence of the Field Marshal"
Wrangel had them regrouped again. There was no further bombardment, however, because they had convinced themselves that a siege park was required for this, and therefore they wanted to wait for the storm on the Düppler Schanzen to end in order to then use the free material here. The Danish armed forces did not remain idle during this period. So they managed to attack Austrian guard hussars in the village of Assendrup on Easter Monday, March 29th.
On April 18th the Düppeler Schanzen fell. From there, Prussian regiments flooded back to Jutland to storm the last bulwark, Fredericia. The entire siege artillery was now slowly getting into position. But there was no more attack. On the night of April 27-28, the fortress was abandoned by its defenders. The commandant Major-General Lunding had known how to hide his trigger. So he continued to carry out visible digging work. On the morning of April 28, there was only one Lieutenant Colonel Nielsen with a hundred in the fortress. The last crew left for Funen on the night of April 28-29 . On April 28, the Austrians were informed of the withdrawal by two deserters . At first one believed in a ruse, but when more and more citizens of the city confirmed the statement, on April 29th they moved into the abandoned fortress. First the Lichtensteiner Hussars, then the Hesse infantry, then the King of the Belgians regiment and then Prussian pioneers and artillery guards. Only poor people lived in the houses in front of the fortress. The city was in ruins. In the citadel there were still 206 nailed guns: 84-pounders, 48-pounders, bomb and stone mortars, etc. The fortress, which was facing the Little Belt, was immediately restored by the conquerors. But it can also be assumed that the abandonment of the fortress had something to do with the hope of diplomatic efforts: on April 25th the London Conference began . On May 3rd, the Fredericia fortress began to be razed and the magazines were blown up. Contrary to all fears of the Danes, there was no iconoclasm . So the statue “The brave soldier” by the sculptor Herman Wilhelm Bissen remained untouched and can still be viewed today.
literature
- Frank Jung: 1864. The war for Schleswig-Holstein. Ellert & Richter Verlag for Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag , Hamburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-8319-0566-9 .
- Oliver Bruhns: Schleswig city stories. In: Reimer Witt, Oliver Bruhns: 1200 years of Schleswig. ed. from the Lions Club Schleswig, 2006.
- Theodor Fontane: The Schleswig-Holstein War in 1864 , Berlin 1866
Coordinates: 55 ° 33 '52.4 " N , 9 ° 45' 35.7" E