The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-28 00:00:00

TE WAR IN DENMARK.

(Rom the limes +sPecia? Correspondent with the Allied

Army.)
BROACKER, March 20.
I took a ride yesterday afternoon round the Prus-
sian advanced posts, as far as Rackeball, passing
over most of the ground in which the fight of the
17th inst. occurred. Taking a northward road from
Broacker I reached the high road, rather in advance
of Nubel, and prozeeded along it, past Frydenda!,
to the hill usually known as the Rahenberg, but
which Ido not find named on any map. It is im.
mediately on the right of the highway, and has re-
mained in the hands of the Prussians since its cap-
ture on Thursday last. A strong picket of infantry
and two howitzers are stationed there. A roof of
planks has been laid over a pit, forming a sort of
but for the men to sleep in. Immediately below the
crest of the hill the ground is slightly hollowed out
and here straw is spread, and men lying down on
it watch the proceedings of the enemy, Judging by
the eye, I estimate the distance from this hill to the
nearest Danish fort (No. 5) at half an English mile,
or little more. At the further end of the first field
from the advanced picket, and behind the hedge
of the next field wore the sentries. About 150
yards further stood the Danish sentries, spread
along a line by twos. Every now and then a few
shots are fired by the men in advance, the tempta-1
tion beinglas it seems too strong to resist. A house
a little in rear of the hill had been burnt during the
fight on Thursday. Having seen all that was to
be seen, and had a good look at the Danes
moving about within their lines, I returned
along the highway and took the cross road through
West Duppel. The ♦illage is not nearly so much
destroyed as was reported ; a few houses have been
burnt, but the majority are still standing. Many
bear the marks ot shell and bullet, including the
church, which is nearly the rearmost building of the
village, and whose belfry and walls had suffered
from Prussian shot. Around it and in the neigh•
bouring houses the Prussian garrison is now chiefly
stationed, the foremost houses of the village being
too much at the mercy of the fire from the Danish
forts. Continuing my way along a narrow lane
still northwards to Rackeball, I passed just within
the advanced posts, extended behind the hedge-row
a rising ground to the right, and suddenly, by fa.
your of a dip in the land, obtained an excellent
view of Fort No. 9, and, to my surprise, for I was
not aware it could be seen from that part of the
line, of the town ot Sonderborg—from the north-
west, as I previously had seen it from the south-

west, this latter being, however, by far the best poin
to observe it from. Oa Fort No. 9 was visible a black
mass of troops, the Danish outposts were very near,
and the Prussians in the lane and fields seemed
much upon the alert, as if anticipating a brush.
Rackebull, a small straggling village, was occupied
by a considerable number of soldiers, and they had
established a lookout place on the roof of a house
by means of two connected ladders, reaching to the
summit of the eloping roof. Desiring, if possible,
to return home by another road, I and my com-
panion pulled up in the middle of the village, and
began to study a map. This was too much for
the equanimity of the soldiers, who had already
Eyed us with something more than curiosity as we
pursued oar zigzag way among the scattered cot-
tages. Two civilians, evidently foreigners—for our
tongue, 1 fear, betrayed us in some inquiries we had
made about the road—presenting themselves thus
among the outposts within easy distance of the
Danes, and pausing in the market-place to look at
a map and ask questions, what could they be but
spies ? It was exactly what spies might be expected
to do, so, at least, evidently thought the garrison of
Rackebull. With the corner of my eye, as I sought
the right path upon the map, I marked the rising
suepicion,and when I looked up, we were surounded.
" Who are yon, and whence come, and whither
going ?'"lhe houeat, good-humoured fellows, who
seem to dream of spies, had, I believe, ;sent for an
offivr, but he was not immediately to be found.
The production of a piece of paper, bearing a few
magical words and a magnidcent seal (the seal is
of great effect in such cases, especially if one has to
do with people who, like Tony Lntnpkin, are not
very apt at reading handwriting) quickly produced
an apology and opened a passage. As there is no
second road, except a very circuitous one, from
itickbull to Broakor, we returned by the way we
came, varying it by passing through the Buffel
Koppel, a sloping and picturesque woodland patch.
The whole of the ride was through a country which,
when spring shall have replaced the stubborn win-
ter that still refuses to relinquish its icy grasp of
the soil, will certainly be extremely beautiful.
Last night a battery of three rifled 12 pounders was
established on the right of the Ruhenberg, a little
to the rear of that important hill and nearer to the
Venning Bund. This morning there has been some
pretty brisk firing, the Danish batteries have been
unusually lively—irritated, I suppose, at seeing
their enemy closing in upon them. They have been
firing shell from large ship guns-68 pounders, I
believe—and at one time, when I was observing them
from a height near Broacher, they seemed to be
paying particular attention to the new battery, as
if they considered its intrusion unwarrantable.
Several shells burst in it or unpleasantly near to it,
bat what casualties occurred I have not yet heard.
The distance is not great, but it is astonishing what
a deal of powder and shot it sometimes takes to
make up a few dead men even at short range. Of
this we had an example in the combat of the 17th.
Considering the amount of shell and rifle bullets
then fired away one might have expected a heavy
butcher's bill. Bat the Prussian loss is returned as
less than 100—between 80 and 90, I hear. Concern-
ing the loss of the Danes exaggerated rumours have
been current, but I have good grounds for believing
that when you get the returns from the other side
it will prove to have been nearly 100 dead and
about twice as many wounded. besides the 270 pri-
soners before mentioned. The Danes left many dead
and wounded behind them, and the latter are in the
Prussian hospital, with tho exception of two or
three who have already died of their wounds. On
Friday there was a suspension of arms for a few
hours for the purpose of burying the dead left on
the field. This morning gravedigging was going on
in Broacher churchyard, so probably there have
been some more deaths in the hospital. The doctors
tell me that moat of those who are mortally wounded
die within the first two days. For the disparity of
the loss of the 17th betweeen Prussians and Danes
I can account only by the great superiority of the
rifles used by the former. Reverting to the recent
little action, and with reference to the account I
gave of it in my letter of the 18th, I find that it
commenced with a kind of sortie of the Danes—
that is to say, two battalions advanced on 'lecke.
bull, hoping to burn it before the troops stationed
there could be reinforced. They were quickly re-
pulsed, bat this brought on the fight. It was not
at first intended to keep West Duppel (East
Duppel, erroneously reported to have been taken,
/V" situated close to Fort No. 6, and was razed
to the ground by the Danes some time ago) but
Prince Frederick Charles, for reasons which
are not Public, but which may easily be divined,
afterwards resolved to do so, and sent down
an aide-decamp
with the requisite order. The
place must soon have been taken if the attack
on Duppel was to proceed, and of course it was best
to keep it when once captured. Unfortunately the
vtilege had already been eyeenated, and had to be
taken again—with less fighting, however, than the
he o first time, according to _ •
pinion of various officers
ea6,,,g.,d. The interval between the end of the first
fight and beginning of the second was very brief.
The extent of ground acquired by the Prussians is
not great, but it is decidedly important, by reason
of the diminution it makes in the distance between
besiegers and besieged. The Danish positions are
certainly exceedingly strong, and although one
heard speak, some time ago, of taking them by a
rush after daunting the garrison a little, by a heavy
cannonade, I do not hear anything of th© kind now,
but on the contrary, men talk of regular approaches
being made, and of the place being treated like
another Sebastopol, which fortress, at least in the
strength of its massive earthworks and the seep.
ness of some of its ascents, it not a little resembles.
If the D Ines be as good soldiers as their friends
represent them, and as they have to some extent
proved themselves to be in the present war, the