April 6. Avnbol, Hadersleben and Ullerup. A series of skirmishes between Danish and German outposts. The German outposts were driven back.
April 20. The Germans occupy Kolding and set up defensive lines behind the Kolding A Stream.The main German forces are Schleswig's 14 infantry battalions supported by 10 cavalry squadrons and forty guns.
April 23. The Danes launch a large attack on the Kolding position. Rye's force (5 Infantry Bns + 12 guns + 2 cavalry Brigades of 14 squadrons) assault the stream and are repulsed. Bulow's force (estimate = 10 Infantry Bns + 20 guns + cav) capture the town after a bitter fight but withdraw as the Schleswig troops counterattack. Great wargame scenario.
The German May campaign into Jutland appears to be able to defeat the Danes. However, the Danes hold three key positions (Dybbol, Fredericia and Helgenas) which are on the flank and even behind their extended foward positions. These continue to threaten supply lines and even allow for the Danes to concentrate forces for a major attack in their rear. Such conditions are why a swift victory was not possible for the Germans. They had to capture these positions in order to continue the advance.
May 7. Near Gudso, Gen. Bulow's force attempt a probe but are blunted by Schleswig pressure.
July 6. The Danes reinforce the besieged forces at Fredericia and launch massive attack. The Danes (19,000) surprised the Schleswig Division (14,000) and after a hard fight pushed them back to the town of Vejle. The Danes lost 2000 men and the Germans lost 3000 men and 31 guns. Great wargame scenario.
The second major ceasefire lasted from July 1849 until July 1850.
During this period the German Federation agreed to withdraw its forces from Denmark. The Schleswig Army withdrew along with the retreating Federal troops but assumed positions near Idstedt. The Schleswig contingent refused to disband and may have been enlarged by German 'volunteers' as it now had almost 30,000 men. The Danish Army was still able to muster almost 37,000 men. As a result the war continued as a civil war.
More Danish Schleswig-Holstein War Chronology: 1848-1850
Back to Time Portal Passages Summer 2001 Table of Contents
Back to Time Portal Passages List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 2001 by Rudy Scott Nelson
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com