Evacuation of Fredericia

Evacuation of Fredericia
	Part of the Second Schleswig War
	; Austrian soldiers inspecting the Fredericia fortress
Date	March 20, 1864 – April 28, 1864
Location	Fredericia, Fredericia Municipality, Denmark 55°34′N9°45′E / 55.567°N 9.750°E
Result	Austro-Prussian victory
Belligerents
Prussia ; Austria	Denmark
Commanders and leaders
Friedrich Graf von Wrangel ; Ludwig von Gablenz	Christian Lunding

Last updated January 23, 2025

The Evacuation of Fredericia was an event during the Second Schleswig War which began when Prussian and Austrian artillery shelled the fortress on March 20, 1864, with their artillery. When the Danish evacuated from the fortress which marked the end of Danish control of Jutland.

Background

After the Battle of Vejle on March 8, 1864, the Austrian corps, led by Ludwig von Gablenz, began on March 19 with the 1st Division with the Brigades of Johann Karl von Nostiz and Leopold Gondrecourt and the 2nd Division with the Brigades of Tomas and Dormus, under the leadership by Erwin von Neipperg in front of the fortress with the construction of the batteries.^[1] Although they did not have a siege park, the use of an 8-pound battery was considered quite effective. The Austrian 8-pounders were stationed at Erritsø and Jugelsang, the Prussian 6-pounders at Jgum and the 12-pounders at Christineborg within about half a mile. A unorganized Danish sortie was defeated with little to no problems. On March 20, the cannonade from 42 guns began to shell the fortress. The distance had been chosen so that the fort's old-fashioned guns, which could not carry that far, could hardly return fire. The barracks of the fortress soon fell victim to the flames and the buildings that were mostly made out of wood were not particularly valuable, but tons of material were lost in the process.^[2] In the following day, the bombardment was halted and Wrangel sent for inquiries as to whether Major-General Lunding was ready to surrender the fort.^[1] Hardly anyone was surprised when the answer came:

"...I find myself unable to respond to the Propositions of His Excellency the Field Marshal."

Wrangel had the army regrouped again however, there was no further shelling because they were convinced that siege equipment was needed for the siege, and therefore they wanted to wait for the end of the Siege of Düppler Schanzen in order to then use the leftover material here.^[3] The Danish armed forces did not remain idle during this period however and managed to ambush Austrian Guard Hussars in the village of Assendrup on March 29.^[1]

The Evacuation

On April 18 the Düppeler Schanzen fell and from there, Prussian regiments flooded back to Jutland in order to storm the last bastion at Fredericia. The entire siege artillery was slowly getting into position. But the attack never came. During the night of April 27–28, the fortress was abandoned by its defenders. The commander, Major General Christian Lunding, had managed to hide his withdrawal. So he continued to carry out visible entrenchment work.^[1] On the morning of April 28, only Lieutenant-Colonel Nielsen was still in the fortress with a hundred troops.^[1] The last crew did not leave for Funen until the night of April 28–29. But on April 28, the Austrians were notified by two deserters and they delivered the news of the withdrawal. At first it was believed to be a staged act, but when more and more citizens of the city confirmed the statement, the move into the deserted fortress began on April 29.^[4]

First the Lichtenstein hussars, then the Hessian infantry, then the King of the Belgians regiment and then Prussian engineers and Guard artillery. Only the poor lived in the houses in front of the fortress as the city lay in rubble and ruins. 206 nailed-up guns were found in the citadel with 84-pounders, 48-pounders, bomb and stone mortars, etc. The fortress facing the Little Belt was immediately rebuilt by the conquerors.^[1] However, it can also be assumed that the abandonment of the fortress has something to do with the hope of diplomatic efforts as on April 25, the London Conference of 1864 began. On May 3, the Fredericia fortress began to be razed and the magazines blown up. However contrary to popular belief, there was no iconoclasm as the statue Der tapfere Landsoldat by the sculptor Herman Wilhelm Bissen remained untouched to this today.^[1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Schleswig</span> Southern half of the former Duchy of Schleswig in Germany

Southern Schleswig is the southern half of the former Duchy of Schleswig in Germany on the Jutland Peninsula. The geographical area today covers the large area between the Eider river in the south and the Flensburg Fjord in the north, where it borders Denmark. Northern Schleswig, congruent with the former South Jutland County, forms the southernmost part of Denmark. The area belonged to the Crown of Denmark until Prussia and Austria declared war on Denmark in 1864. Denmark wanted to give away the German-speaking Holsten and set the new border at the small river Ejderen. Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck concluded that this justified a war, and even proclaimed it a "holy war". He also turned to the Emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph I of Austria for help. A similar war in 1848 had gone poorly for the Prussians. With Prussia's modern weapons and the help from both the Austrians and General Moltke, the Danish army was destroyed and forced to make a disorderly retreat. The Prussian-Danish border was then moved from the Elbe up in Jutland to the Kongeåen creek.

Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke was a Prussian field marshal. The chief of staff of the Prussian Army for thirty years, he is regarded as the creator of a new, more modern method of directing armies in the field and one of the finest military minds of his generation. He commanded troops in Europe and the Middle East, in the Second Schleswig War, Austro-Prussian War, and Franco-Prussian War. He is described as embodying "Prussian military organization and tactical genius". He was fascinated with railways and pioneered their military use. He is often referred to as Moltke the Elder to distinguish him from his nephew Helmuth von Moltke the Younger, who commanded the German army at the outbreak of the First World War. He is notably the earliest-born human whose recorded voice is preserved, being born in the last year of the 18th century (1800). He made four recordings; two that were recorded in October 1889 are preserved to this day.

Prince Friedrich Karl Nikolaus of Prussia was the son of Prince Charles of Prussia (1801–1883) and his wife, Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1808–1877). Prince Friedrich Karl was a grandson of King Frederick William III of Prussia and a nephew of Frederick William IV and William I.

The First Schleswig War, also known as the Schleswig-Holstein Uprising and the Three Years' War, was a military conflict in southern Denmark and northern Germany rooted in the Schleswig-Holstein Question: who should control the Duchies of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg, which at the time were ruled by the king of Denmark in a personal union. Ultimately, the Danish side proved victorious with the diplomatic support of the great powers, especially Britain and Russia, since the duchies were close to an important Baltic seaway connecting both powers.

The Second Schleswig War, also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War, was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. The war began on 1 February 1864, when Prussian and Austrian forces crossed the border into the Danish fief Schleswig. Denmark fought troops of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austrian Empire representing the German Confederation.

Friedrich Heinrich Ernst Graf von Wrangel was a Generalfeldmarschall of the Prussian Army.

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.

The Battle of Als was fought on 29 June 1864 during the Second Schleswig War between Denmark and Prussia. It was the last major engagement of the war, as the Prussians under General Herwarth von Bittenfeld secured the island of Als – occupied by 9,000 Danish troops, including the garrison of Dybbøl which had retreated there – in a night attack masterminded by the Chief of Staff Leonhard Graf von Blumenthal.

Eduard Ernst Friedrich Hannibal Vogel von Fal(c)kenstein was a Prussian General der Infanterie.

The Battle of Fredericia was fought between soldiers of Schleswig-Holstein and Denmark on 6 July 1849 at Fredericia in Denmark. The battle was a part of the First Schleswig War, which was a conflict between Schleswig-Holstein, supported by several German states, and Denmark. The Danes won the battle.

The siege of Kolberg took place from March to 2 July 1807 during the War of the Fourth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. An army of the First French Empire and several foreign auxiliaries of France besieged the fortified town of Kolberg, the only remaining Prussian-held fortress in the Province of Pomerania. The siege was not successful and was lifted upon the announcement of the Peace of Tilsit.

The Battle of Mysunde on 2 February 1864 was the first battle between the Prusso-Austrian allied army and the Danish army in the Second Schleswig War. The Prussian vanguard force of 10,000 men attempted to break through and outflank the Danish defenses at Danevirke, but were repulsed by the fortification garrison and two battalions of the Danish army.

The Battle of Kolding was fought between a Prussian army under Eduard von Bonin and the Danish army under Frederik Rubeck Bülow in Eastern Jutland. The Prussians were victorious and the Danish army were forced to retreat towards Vejle and Fredericia.

The Battle of Königshügel, also known as the Battle of Ober-Selk was a battle in the Second Schleswig War where Austrian Major General Gondrecourt and his infantry brigade succeeded in occupying the area in front of the Danevirke near Ober-Selk and taking the strategically important village of Königshügel.

Count Leopold Gondrecourt (1816-1888) was a Austro-Hungarian general of French origin most notable for his service in the Battle for Königshügel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Lunding</span> Danish military officer (1795–1871)

Niels Christian Lunding was a Danish officer who was known for ordering the Evacuation of Fredericia of the Second Schleswig War as well as being the brother of Conrad Mathias Lunding and Vilhelm Lunding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Vejle</span>

The Battle of Vejle was a battle of the Second Schleswig War that occurred on March 8, 1864, between the Austrian Empire and Denmark on the town of Vejle. The Austrian victory at the battle opened the way for the Evacuation of Fredericia and the Battle of Jasmund as well as solidifying Ludwig von Gablenz's military career.

Cai Ditlev Hegermann-Lindencrone (1807-1893) was a Danish general and politician who was the main Danish commander at the Battle of Vejle during the Second Schleswig War as well as the personal adjutant general of Frederik VII. He was also the father of Johan Hegermann-Lindencrone and Fritz Hegermann-Lindencrone.

The capture of the North Frisian Islands and Rømø in July 1864 was the last military operation of the Second Schleswig War between Denmark on the one hand and Prussia and the Austrian Empire on the other hand around the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which belonged to Denmark. It ended with the occupation of the North Frisian Islands and Rømø by Austrian troops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Charles Johannes Beck</span> Danish colonel (1817–1890)

Hans Charles Johannes Beck was a Danish Colonel of the First Schleswig War and the Second Schleswig War. He was the main commander of the Battle of Lundby as well as a recipient of the Commander's Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog.

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Evacuação da Fortaleza de Fredericia". Artigos (in Portuguese). Retrieved March 7, 2022.
↑ Justus Scheibert, Moritz von Reymond (1891). Die Mitteleuropäischen Kriege in den Jahren 1864, 1866 und 1870/71 Nach den Werken des Oesterreichischen und Preussischen Generalstabes (in German). Vol. 1. Carl Konegen. pp. 64–65.
↑ Helmuth von Moltke the Elder (1892). Moltkes militärische Werke ... (in German). E.S. Mittler und sohn. p. 92.
↑ "Krieg 1864". vimu.info (in German). Retrieved March 7, 2022.

Bibliography

Frank Jung: 1864. Der Krieg um Schleswig-Holstein. Ellert & Richter Verlag für Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag, Hamburg 2014 ISBN 978-3-8319-0566-9.
Oliver Bruhns: Schleswiger Stadtgeschichten. In: Reimer Witt, Oliver Bruhns: 1200 Jahre Schleswig. hrsg. vom Lions-Club Schleswig, 2006.
Theodor Fontane: Der Schleswig-Holsteinsche Krieg im Jahre 1864, Berlin 1866

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Artigos-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Evacuação da Fortaleza de Fredericia". Artigos (in Portuguese). Retrieved March 7, 2022.

[2] Justus Scheibert, Moritz von Reymond (1891). Die Mitteleuropäischen Kriege in den Jahren 1864, 1866 und 1870/71 Nach den Werken des Oesterreichischen und Preussischen Generalstabes (in German). Vol. 1. Carl Konegen. pp. 64–65.

[3] Helmuth von Moltke the Elder (1892). Moltkes militärische Werke ... (in German). E.S. Mittler und sohn. p. 92.

[4] "Krieg 1864". vimu.info (in German). Retrieved March 7, 2022.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]