This week Alan and Michael Perry, Peter Dennis and myself made our now annual pilgrimage to Hamburg Tactica...
The plan was to make a short visit to Denmark and visit Dybbol.
Dybbol was the site of a major battle in the 2nd Schleswig-Holstein war of 1864...
http://www.military-history-denmark.dk/Slesvigske-krige/ENG/ENG_Belejringen_ny.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Schleswig_War
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dybb%C3%B8l
This of course is the same area that was fought over during the first war in 1848-51...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Schleswig_War
A period which I am rather interested in...
Gratuitous images of 'Shiny' 1848 Danes...
We were picked up by our friends Oli, Marcus, Frank and Frank (yes it does get confusing ) and whisked north... For a barbeque and beers...
The next day...
Danish Pastries .... in Denmark...
Once we had eaten we headed to Sonderborg Castle...
https://www.visitsonderborg.com/ln-int/sonderborg-castle-gdk611093
When you enter the castle... there are some cannons....
And what do grown ups do when they see cannons?...
Well... Behave like big kids ... of course.
These guns are from the First Schleswig-Holstein War...
When you enter the castle you are greeted by some very nice armour...
Followed by some very nice models showing the development of the castle over the years...
We moved on to exhibits showing uniforms and weapons from both the first and second Schleswig wars...
There is an excellent collection of prints and paintings... again from both wars...
There is a lovely diorama showing the advance of the Prussians towards the Dybbol redoubts...
My favourite painting is this...
Royal Horse Guards at Korsor on the way to the front line in Schsleswig during the First Schleswig War in 1848. Painting by Otto Bache...
There is so much to see in this painting... and it is beautifully executed ...
There are of course many other exhibits covering many periods... I have only covered the things I like the most....
After the castle we went wondering over the redoubts...
Marcus ... who is not short... demonstrates how steep the sides of this defence are ... and this is the inside.
These aren't tramps!... they are my friends!
We then went on to visit the Sonderborg visitor centre where we were given an excellent tour, saw some very good film presentations and even got a chance for some dress up... for the show offs among us...
My phone of course ran out of battery... first world problem or what...
https://www.visitsonderborg.com/ln-int/1864
Afterwards... some delicious local fish...and beer.
Home for a wargame... Waterloo.
Rather surprisingly the French won... it was an unlikely victory by one point... but going on my record I am taking this one with both hands...
Next up I will post some images from the show...
As my lovely friends post their own accounts I shall add links to this post...
All the best Aly
