The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-18 00:00:00

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THE WAR IN DENMARK.

(From the Times Special Correspondent with the Allied

Army.)
PRUSSIAN HEADQUARTERS, KOLDING,
March 12.

In default of great battles, the results of which
speak for themselves, soldiers naturally make the
most of small engagements, and it was amusing to
observe the excitement the Austrians at Veile were
in about the fight of the Bth, which was but a petty
affair, although its features and the nature of the
ground certainly gave it a peculiar interest. It had
all the outline of a very serious and bloody engage.
ment, an outline which merely required filling up
by larger bodies of troops and a more stubborn re-
sistance. The preparations made were for a long
defence, such as might have lasted for days instead
of hours; but information from Danish sources
has confirmed me in the belief that they were not
made with a view to that particular affair, but long
previously, when the course the war might take was
quite uncertain. With larger forces, and had they
fought with hopes of victory instead of merely fa
the honour of their flag, the very advantageous
positions which extend for some distance to the
south of Veile would have been the scene of severe
conflicts, the trifling cavalry skirmish mentioned in
my last might have been converted into a serious
combat, and the Austrians would certainly not have
been allowed to establish themselves on the wind-
mill height commanding the town without much
greater loss than the very small one they up to
that point suffered. Even with a strong force, it
may be doubted whether a serious defence of the
town would have been attempted when once the
enemy had got his guns upon the hill which so
completely commands it, but the high wooded hills
beyond it wouid surely not have been abandoned at
the first threat of a flank attack. lam curious to
see the :vanish account of the affair. The Dance
at Voile and here declare that the let and 11th
Regiments, which fought at Oversee, had not been
reinforced since then, and consequently could be
reckoned only as equal to one ordinary regiment ;
but there is reason to believe that each of their four
battalions had been made up, either by draughts from
other corps or in some other way, to 600 men, and
the 71a Regiment was probably stronger. The Viele
and Kolding Danes, who are bitter against the Ger-
mans (and against the English, too, for not having
come to their assistance) have got a story in which
they obstinately persist, to the effect that when the
heights north of the town had been abandoned and
the retreat commenced, the Ist Copenhagen Infantry
and the Danish Dragoons and Hussars waited for their
pursuers on the top of the hill, and when the latter
came up the Copenhageners delivered a close volley
and charged with the bayonet, and the cavalry made
a charge in flank, cutting up numbers of the Austrians.
One person in Veile told me that he counted 130
dead Austrians. It is difficult to attach credit to
these stories, and my own belief is that there was no
fighting worth speaking ot after the fortified position
on the centre hill was abandoned and the Danes
retreated northwards. The Danes in Schleswig and
Jutland have repeatedly told me that the Austrians
and Prussians return their losses as less than they
really are, but there is not the slightest reason to be
alleged for their doing so, and it is well known that
nominal returns of killed, wounded, and missing are
published regularly at Vienna and Berlin. 'Where
the Austriana chiefly lost at Veile was among the
last houses of the town, when they came close
under the fire from the heights. In this part of
the affair Baron Lowenstern, a Holsteiner by
birth, attached to the Staff of General Gablenz,
is reported by his comrades to have particularly
distinguished himself. When the infantry ad-
vanced to take the bridge and town, he dismounted
from his horse and led them on, the large amount of
red in his Austrian Malan uniform rendering him a
conspicuous mark for the enemy. When the town
was cleared he took up a dead man's rifle and cart-
ridges and bore an active part in the combat until
the Danes retreated. It was then that, as certain
Veile and Kolding burgesses exultingly, but I be-
lieve fabulously, relate, the cavalry and the intrepid
Copenhageners (under the same colonel, Muller,
who commanded them at Oversee) "smeared," to
use the Danish term, the pursuing Austrians. If it
be a consolation to these poor people to invent
triumphs for their troops, none can grudge it to
them, for they unquestionably have a good deal to
bear just now, especially in the form of heavy con-
tributions in kind imposed upon them by the invad-
ing army. By some of the most respectable bur-
gesses of this place I have been assured that, since
the first entrance of the Austro-Prussian forces, the
little town of Kolding has daily been mulcted to the
extent of 2,000 Danish dollars (2a. 31. sterling per
dollar) in order to supply the rations exacted from
them. This is very hard upon the people, even though
they should ultimately receive compensation from
their Government—as was the case, to a most liberal
extent, I am informed, alter the last war in these
provinces. The lodging of
,tho troops, too, although
only for short periods at a time, has weighed heavily
upon the Jutland towns and villages they have
passed through. The billeting tickets (all those,
at least, which I have seen), issued by the authori-
ties of the town, bore upon them that the soldiers
quartered must also be fed. They have a right to
coffee and other comforts, and I believe the
understanding is that they give their rations and
are supplied with meals—a bad Exchange for those
who have to house them. In some of the poorer
dwellings in which they are quartered the hosts
themaelves live from hnd to month, and, having

PR1CE...... ...4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

nothing, can, of course, give nothing, but where
' there is anything the foreigners demand and obtain
their share, and I have myself been present when
they entered the kitchens of houses and asked for
their food, which the people seemed to admit that
they had a right to in virtue of the terms of their
billeting paper. They are entitled to straw to sleep
upon, to lights and fuel, and of this last article they
are by no means economical, probably feeling a good
deal of warming necessary after all the cold they
have gone through. Of the conduct of the men
generally I must say that in no place that I have
visited in Schleswig or Jutland have I heard any
serious complaints. Here, in Kolding, I am told
that, one night of the week just over, a great number
of Prussian troops came in very late ; there appears
to have been no regular distribution of billets; the
men pat themselves up where they chose, some of
them got drunk, and some shopkeepers complain of
having been robbed. But even the bitterest Danes
with whom I have spoken admit that, as a rule, the
conduct of both the Austrian and the Prussian sol-
diery has been good, and that the exceptions
have been verytfew, and not a single case has come
to my knowledge of people having been beaten or
otherwise personally ill-treated, as is so commonly
the case when an army is in an enemy's country.
I need not say that with this locust like cloud of
soldiers living in great measure on the land, in a
district where places like Veile and Kolding, which
in England we should call large villages, aro the
principal towns, things eatable get dear and very
scarce. I hear of persons being put to great shifts
for a meal—not for want of money, but because
tolerable provisions are often not to be bought at
any price. lam told that horseflesh is no un-
common food with the lower classes in this coun-
try, and few things would surprise me more than
to be furnished with proof that some of the
steaks I have lately eaten did not proceed from
quadrupeds of that description. Here, in Kold-
ing, there are much fewer troops than there were,
and some left this very morning, but others
(Prussians) are expected to-day, if they have not
already arrived, and there are a great many officers
in the place, which makes it difficult to find quar-
ters. In campaigning, however, it is a great thing
to get shelter, especially at this season, and a rug
and cloak upon the ground or on a table may be
accepted as a good bed when one has a roof over
one's head and, as is here generally the case, a stove
to warm the room. In front of Duppel, at the little
town of Gravenstein, and in that neighbourhood,
we hear that accommodation is much harder to be
found, and persons proceeding thither are recom-
mended to take a carriage to serve them as a sleep.
ing place in case of need.
Three large vessels were lately seen going up in
the direction of Aarhuus, to fetch, it is believed, the
troops that fought at Veile and afterwards retired
through Horsens. We are puzzled to conjecture
the object of the Danes in taking that route, since
there is no apparent reason why they should not
have gone into Fredericia as soon as the Germans
advanced from Kolding, since they did not propose
making any serious stand northwards—which, in-
deed, they had not the means of doing, outnumbered
and overmatched as they were. They have given
themselves several long marches, of which one would
think they had had plenty before, merely to have a I
little fight at Veile and to return by sea, in ex- I
tremely bad weather, at Fredericia, and perhaps to
Funen, Nobody seems to know what has become of
the Danish fleet. None of their men-of-war have
for some time been seen. It is thought they may
be lying in wait somewhere for the Prussian navy,
when that force shall choose to make its appear-
ance—or at the entrance of the Belt, for the
Austrian ships which have been reported as coning
round in this direction. Wherever they are, if it
be near to their own coast, they must have had
rough work of late, considering the gales that have
been blowing over this inclement Cimbrian penin-
sula, although the natives tell me that those gales,
which in most countries would be talked of as tem-
pests or hurricanes, are nothing compared to what
is sometimes witnessed in a land where it is no un-
common occurrence for houses to be unroofed and
even completely overthrown by the fury of the
winds.

The Austrians have gone northwards, I know not
how far; the Prussian headquarters continue here
for the present, but it would not surprise me if in
a few days they were to be transferred to Graven-
stein—although what is to become of the people
they will there dislodge it is impossible to say. It
is understood that the sieges of Duppel and Frede-
ricia, should they take; place, will be commenced
simultaneously. Before, then, however, some time
must pass. A good deal of heavy artillery has to
be got up. I hear of some having arrived at
Flensburg. That far, there is no great difficulty,
and the railway has now been opened, at the par-
ticular urgency of the military authorities, to a
place a short distance to the west of Apenrade.
Bat where the railway ceases the labour begins.
The roads are very heavy, especially the country
roads, and even the highway begins to suffer from
great traffic and want of regular repairs. A. friend
who has just returned from Flensburg informs me
that in some places the metalling of the high road
is cut completely through. As for minor roads,
most of them are full of deep ruts and holes,
making the passage of heavy vehicles a matter of
great difficulty. Nobody seems inclined to pre-
dict the probable date of commencement of the
two sieges. Some perhaps doubt whether they
ever will take place, thinking that if the five great
Powers have agreed upon a Conference they will not
allow their project to be wrecked on Denmark's
refusal. Of those who may thus doubt, some per-
haps, also hope that the war is virtually at an end,
and that there will be no more of this fruitless
bloodshed. Of course, military men engaged in a
campaign are slow to express such a feeling, and,
with a more powerful foe before them, probably none
in the AustroTrussian army would for an instant
entertain it ; but in a war where the forces on either
side are so unequal it is evident that even from the
most complete triumph no great glory is to be gained.
The taking of Duppel and Fredericia might give
opportunity for the display of much valour and of
excellent military qualities; in sieges, too, the dis-
proportion of numerical force in great measure dis-
appears; but many thousand lives might be sacri-
ficed before the places were reduced, and for what?
That foreigners may pity the pigmy whom the
giant has crushed.

_
In an attack on Fredericia—which, of course
would necessitate a siege of some duration—a large
part of the assailing forces would probably have to
camp out, especially if a report which has just
reached me, that the Danes are destroyinghamleta
and detached houses in the neighbourhood of the
fortress, should prove to be correct. Except at Fre-
dericia and Duppel, there seems no chance of fur-
ther fighting in .this campaign, unless the Danes
should risk a descent on some point of the coast
where they may imngise they can obtain an advau-
tege as partial compensation for their late
. nmiaishtahpeisr.
to
Some of their friends have expressed
conviction that they will not allow tho campaign
to end without some dashing attempt of the kind,
but I suspect they will find the Prussians and Aug-
erilig up her©, and al-
though the
trims everywhere pretty well upon their guard,
no probability of
For the present there seems
tahnoyutghingl) f i
nt
e rest
Ocur
courtesy and kindness shown me
by Marshal Wrangel, General Falkenstein, and the
Staff in general render their headquarters a more
agreeable residence to me than any other I am
likely to find in this part of the world, I think it
right to leave them for a short time and to visit
Gravenstein and the •
neighbourhood of Duppel
whore I have not yet been. My next despatch, there-
fore will, I hope, be from the headquarters of Prince
Frederick Charles.

You have really some strange people in England.
Mrs. Elizabeth Cottle, with whose eccentric commu-
nications most public men at home and abroad have