The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-13 00:00:00

THE SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN WAR.

(From the Times Special Correspondent with the Danish
Army.)
DANISH 'HEADQUARTERS, SCHLESWIG,
February 3, 3 A.M.

I left Copenhagen only on Monday evening, and
arrived here after 24 hours' journey, to find that I
was one day too late to witness the first outbreak of
4.".114:.... X t....alusca ••

courtesy and cordiality which, I am sure, would
have been nothing surprising under any circum-

stances among officers belonging to the Danish
people, but which may be to some extent, in my
case, prompted by their desire to evince, their grati-
tude for the sympathy with their cause entertained

- -
as they believe by the generality of the English

natiorr.

The King has been here since Monday, at 3 in
he afternoon, and resides at the Castle of Gottorp.

Bishop Monrad, his Prime Minister, is with him.
The head-quarters are in Bjelke's palace, the pro-
perty of Duke Charles of Glucksburg. The Com-
mander-in• Chief, General de Meza, lives close by,
in what is called the Prince's Palace. Every house
in the town is, of course, swarming with officers,
and all hopes for your correspondent to sleep other-

wise than in his blanket are for the present very
faint indeed, as the good Madame Esselbach, the
landlady of the Hotel Stadt-Hamburg, where I am
writing, has herself no place where to lay her
head.

The position of the Danish army, even by the
account of its leaders, is far indeed, from reassuring.
A variety of circumstances contributed to bring
the Danes into the field unprepared ; they avow
that they have not 50,000 men in their lines ; how
much less than that they really may have I did not
inquire ; had I been told I should not consider my-
self authorised to state it. The line they defend is
altogether too long. The central stronghold of the
Dannewerk is, as I told you, more than three Danish
miles (13k English) in length. Its forts exceed 25 in
number. They have, besides their left wing on the
Schlei,24 English miles,and the whole extent between
the Dannewerk and Frederickstad ton the right fully
as long. The Austro-Prussians made their first onset
yesterday (Tuesday), at Missunde, and this would
seem, for the present, their deliberate point of attack.
They came up from Kiel to Eckernforde, the Danes
I falling back before them as the enemy advanced and
taking up their positions at Holm, Kosel, Ornum,
and other villages constituting the outposts of Mis-
sunde. Missundo commands the pass on the nar
rowest point of the Schlei, and consists of a group
of forts, four or five in number, rising on both sides
of the water. The Danes had no more than a regi-
ment and a half on the spot, a force of about 2,000
men, under Lieut.-General Gerlach, who commands
the first division on this side. The engagemEnt
began at 10 o'clock in the morning, and the Danes,
outnumbered by the forces which were brought to
bear against them, were compelled to abandon the
outposts, and to seek shelter under the cannon of
their forts. The fire from these forts slackened the
onset of the Germans, and the Danes were enabled
to regain their position at the outposts. The com-
bat was kept up till 4 o'clock in the afternoon—
we may say until evening, as:it happened to be un-
commonly murky and gloomy. We have as yet
no account of the casualties in the rank and lie;
of the officers, Captain Schow was killed, Lieuten-
ant Mielengraft veverely wounded (it is believed
since dead); Capt. ,Aratz, Adjutant Bleihum, and
Lieutenant Somner wounded. The Austro-Prus-
sians, it is said, left- their dead on the field.
There is every probability of a new engagement
this morning, and the a,,.my will be in readiness to
march by 3 o'clock after midnight.
To return now to the ro Any disadvantages of the
Danish position, In the Srst place, as I said, their
numbers are almost absu. 7tily inad€quate to their
wants. It is impossible 1 'or them to assemble in
sufficient numbers at all th e points which may be
menanced by their 'unhand it ous foe, and the means
of communication from one 4 and of the line to the
other are still in a very ban); :ward condition. The
railway from Flensburg is i ,ntirely placed at the
service of the military, and, el
traffic. I could only travel osed against common
fro m Sonderburg to this
place in a postchaise. This c ,a. ilway, as I told you,
comes down from Flensburg I;0 1 lasum and Tonning,
and there,is a short branch star,
ing from Wallbull,
a
halfway between Husam nd l ,
the railway line
'onning, to Frede-
rickstadt. From Husam'
sends forth a branch to K. again
losterko,
, and from this
latter place a few miles' . branch court
I
wig. But the import int junction of loster
lies just out the lines or the Da sup to Schles-
nnewl. ,
,rk; IC ko
and it is