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
Splendid pics thank you, I got greener with every scroll, not in an Incredible Hulk way of course. Look forward to the show pics.
ReplyDeleteCheers Phil...
DeleteIt was well worth the effort...
We stayed in a holiday village that looked like it had been designed by Lego...
One of the things I forgot to say was... it was rather bloody freezing.
All the best. Aly
It looks like a fantastic weekend by all accounts. . . And the french won. Vive l'Empereur!
ReplyDeleteBest Regards,
Stokes
It was indeed a great weekend...
DeleteI have to say that no one was more surprised than me by the French victory...
All the best. Aly
What a fun way to spend a weekend with friends! I enjoyed your museum and battlefield tour very much. The Bache painting is superb. You don’t often see a cavalrymen bending over to pick up a dropped pistol in a painting.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff!
A splendid time indeed...
DeleteOne of the things I love about the Bache painting is the small details...
All the best. Aly
Very nice Aly - I visited Denmark twice with my parents in the 70's, when I was about 12-14 years old I think - ferry to Esbjerg both times, took our own car - we even went over the border one day for a brief visit to Flensburg - great country and wonderful people!
ReplyDeleteI would definitely go back... and I would also like to stay longer.
DeleteAll the best. Aly
Sounds great Aly, never been there, but ot's obviously very tempting, many periods to follow there...There's something beautiful in the kingdom of Denmark!
ReplyDeleteThere certainly is a lot more to explore... I highly recommend it..
DeleteAll the best. Aly
Makes the thought of going ever more tempting.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a country I would like to see more of...
DeleteAll the best. Aly
Interesting post Aly. It was warmer at R.O.B.I.N. but far less interesting...😉
ReplyDeleteI’m glad you enjoyed it David... I certainly did...
DeleteHopefully R.O.B.I.N. Will be on a different day next year...
Looks a great trip. At 52 years old I still have to have my picture taken with every cannon we find on our trips ;)
ReplyDeleteYour not wrong Paul... maybe we should start a blog called... ‘me and my cannons’...or ‘check the calibre on this’
DeleteAll the best. Aly
Great looking trip with your scruffy friends,it does look awfully cold though!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
I think future fashion infuencers is a better description... ;-)
DeleteTramp Chic...
All the best. Aly
It looks like you had an excellent time and the museum looks well worth a visit.
ReplyDeleteIt’s well worth a visit David... now that you are officially old and retired you will have time to get over there...;-)
DeleteAll the best. Aly
Thanks for sharing that Aly, looks like you had a grand day out. What a cracking museum!
ReplyDeleteIt’s a pleasure Stuart...
DeleteAs I have already said... well worth a visit.
All the best. Aly
What a fantastic museum Aly, thanks for posting. You are quite right the painting of the Royal Horse Guards is superb, but so is that shiny trooper firing his carbine from the back of his galloping horse...complete with cast on smoke and flames...absolutely wonderfull!
ReplyDeleteThank you Mark...
DeleteThe figure was a simple body swap ... I wasn’t sure about adding the smoke but it worked really well...
All the best. Aly
Coming late to the party—excellent post. Thanks for sharing. Turns out I got the green of the Danish guns spot on (always nice to get confirmation). As far as to capture the impression of the pictured crew, that will take a bit of conversion work...
ReplyDeleteYou would so be all over this place Ed...
ReplyDeleteI was surprised how dark the green on the guns was... they are quite substantial... I am not sure I would have wanted to sit on the seats though...
We were clearly trying to reflect what would have been worn on campaign... honest!
All the best. Aly