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 were equipped with smaller guns and an older type of rifle. 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.
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| - 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 were equipped with smaller guns and an older type of rifle. 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.
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| Strength
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- 66(xsd:integer)
- 126(xsd:integer)
- 5000(xsd:integer)
- 11000(xsd:integer)
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| Commander
| - General George Daniel Gerlach
- Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia
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| Caption
| - The Battle of Dybbøl by Jørgen Valentin Sonne, 1871
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| Casualties
| - 1201(xsd:integer)
- 4834(xsd:integer)
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| abstract
| - 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 were equipped with smaller guns and an older type of rifle. 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 due to too much effort spent fortifying the Dannevirke. Dybbøl particularly lacked safe shelters in the forward line, but worse, the 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 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. The Danes did have one major advantage in that they had more or less unchallenged command of the sea and so were able to deploy the modern ironclad Rolf Krake to the scene to support Danish ground forces at Dybbøl with shore bombardments from its turret mounted 8 inch guns. For much of the siege of 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. The firepower of the Rolf Krake was not exploited as well as it could have been. It has been pointed out that the vessel could have been employed to more aggressively shell the Prussian siege works which were relatively exposed to naval bombardment but the ship nevertheless rendered invaluable support.
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