Battle of Dybbøl

Battle of Dybbøl
Part of the Second Schleswig War
The Battle of Dybbøl by Jørgen Sonne, 1871
Date 7 April – 18 April 1864 Location Dybbøl, Denmark Result Decisive Prussian victory
Belligerents
Prussia	Denmark
Commanders and leaders
Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia	General
Strength
11,000 in the first wave + 26,000 in reserve 126 guns [1]	5,000 at the defences + 6,000 in reserve 66 guns. 11 mortars [2] 1 Ironclad Warship [3]
Casualties and losses
1,201 dead, wounded, or captured	4,834 (c. 700 dead, 554 wounded, 3,534 captured)

The Battle of Dybbøl (Danish: Slaget ved Dybbøl; German: Erstürmung der Düppeler Schanzen) was the key battle of the Second Schleswig War and occurred on the morning of 18 April 1864 following a siege starting on 7 April. Denmark suffered a severe defeat against Prussia, which decided the war. Dybbøl was also a battlefield in the First Schleswig War.

Following the annexation of the Duchy of Schleswig in November 1863 by the Danish king Christian IX (who was also the Duke of Schleswig), Prussian and Austrian troops invaded Jutland in January 1864.

The defending Danish army infantry were equipped with French M1822 percussion musket converted to Minie rifling and Tapriffel M1864. The Prussian army used the Dreyse needle-gun, a breech-loading rifle that could be loaded while the user was lying down. Since the Danes had to load their older muzzle-loading rifles while standing, they were better targets for the Prussians.

The Dybbøl fort lies in 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 on the island of Als.

The Dybbøl position was ill-prepared as a result of too much effort having been expended on fortifying the Dannevirke. In particular, it lacked safe shelters in the forward line, but worse, technological developments in artillery (particularly long-range rifled guns) had made the geography of the position unsuited for a lengthy defence. 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 the length of the line. 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effectively saturated during the approximately two months of bombardment, but also most of the defending crew had to be withdrawn far behind the line because of attrition by the bombardment and lack of effective shelters, and when the storm assault was finally initiated, the line was consequently undermanned by tired and demoralised troops.

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