The Express.
London, England, 1864-04-25 00:00:00

.HlOll WATZR AT LONDON MOOR

MI Day Morning, 3h. Voi Alirrooon. Oh. 15m
T04309.110w Monolog. 4b. Jim Alloonoon. 4tl. .14

LONDON, MONDAY, APRIL 25.

We have now a more detailed account of the
butchery at Duppel this day week, which the Ger-
man Powers poetponec' the Conference to perpe-
trate, and it is of a kind which must have satisfied
even M. BISMARCK'S lust of useless bloodshed and
gratuitous violence. Had the Conference met at
the appointed time the Prussian troops would pro-
bably have held a few sandy hills the leas, and
very nearly two thousand lives would have been
saved. The Danes, it appears, held their posi-
tions to the last, having commenced their retreat
across the bridge to Alsen only when all their
works were in the enemy's hands. The German
official papers speak contemptuously of what they
call the obstinacy of the Danes. But free nations
are accustomed to be obstinate in their resistance
to the military despots who would enslave or
destroy them ; and the Danes have earned the
gratitude of every free people in Europe, of every
small nationality in the world, by their heroic de-
fence of their national existence.

It was evident to all within the works at Duppel,
for days, if not weeks, before the final attack, that
it would be impossible to hold the place much
longer, and that it must almost inevitably fall be-
fore anything like a vigorous and continued as-
sault. Some days before the assault, our Corm•
spondent, referring to the Duppel works, said :
"If victory rewards his rather timid strategy,
" Marshal WRANGEL will marvel at the trouble such
" entrenchmenta have cost him. Without regular
" fortifications or bomb proofs, the Danes hold on
" desperately to a line of ruined forts connected
"by low curtains." This was written of coarse
before the terrific and most destructive bombard-
ment had taken place. What the condition of the
works was after the cannonade on the morning of
this day week, when the worn out Danish troop&
mustered to their fearful vigil for the last
time, may be sufficiently learnt in the
statement of an eye-witness. " During the
" night front Sunday to Monday the bombard-
" meat had been carried on with greater vehe-
" mence than had previously been known, and our
" works—already little better than hears of
" rubbish, and whose guns were mostly dis-
" mounted—were now in perfect ruins. Nut a
" bridge could be raised, not a cannon was unin-
" jurod ; everything demonstrated that an a-sault
" must succeed." Although anticipated by the
Danes much earlier, the advance of the storming
parties from the Prussian parallels did not take
place until ten o'clock, and by tw•e've the struggle
was over, the Danish army having retreated to
Allen, and the whole of the D ppel works being
in the hands of the Prussians, But the conflict,
if comparatively short, appears to have been while
it lasted, especially at some points, terribly severe.
The Prussian attack commenced by a simultaneous
assault in six columns on the six forte which con-
stituted the left wing of the Danish line. The
cannonade against these forts had from the first
been most continuous and most destructive, seve-
ral of them being directly exposed to the powerful
Broager batteries, had sustained their severe flank-
ing fire for weeks before the assault. The assault-
ing parties had little difficulty in reaching the
Danish works, the majority of the guns having
been previously silenced, and the distance to be
traversed between the parallels and the forts being
at most only a few hundred paces. The majority
of the forts were accordingly stormed in • few
minutes, and then the hand •to-hand fighting
within the works commenced. Here the inferiority
of the Danes in point of numbers speedily told
with disastrous effect. The Danish brigade con-
sisting of the 2nd and 22nd Regiments, which
formed the first line on the left wing, was soon not
only outflanked but isolated, the three forts to-
wards the centre having been captured before
those on the extreme left, the retreat of the
left wing, which had thus become inevitable,
was, however, to a great extent, cut
off, and after a desperate resistance what
remained of the gallant brigade which held this
part of the line was compelled to surrender. An
heroic attempt was indeed made to rescue these
devoted regiment', but the central forts had fallen
so rapidly that the reserves could not be brought
up until it was too lute. All that bravery, how-
ever, and determination could do was done.
" The men nevertheless went furward with steady
" courage under a violent fire ; they succeeded in
" repulsing the enemy, and even in recovering a
" portion of the works, but were ultimately corn-
" pulled to withdraw by the hail of bullets from
" the storming parties, and the tire of the field
" batteries planted upon the heights." The
struggle at this p4int appears to have been a des-
perate one, these regiments having lost half their
numbers in a fee.. minutes. According to the re-
port of a local journal favourable to the invaders,
it was in fact a " horrible butchery." " The
" Danish losses in killed were enormous ; in some
"places ten and twelve corpses lay one across
" another ; the ground was torn up, and great
"pools of blood covered the surface." The Danish
official account states that of these supporting re-
giments less than half fell in after the engagement.
After this complete defeat of the left wing the
right could not of course long be held, but for •
time the defence in this quarter was more sue•
cessful. The regiments not only held their ground
after the retreat on the left, but kept open their
c-immunicatious, and retired to the oc-du-pont in
good order, though with considerable loss. But
perhaps the most remarkable feature of the whole
struggle is the gallant manner in which the t,P •de
pout was held by its small garrison against the
whole force of the advancing Prussians, backed by