Dybbøl Mill is located at the highest point of the battlefield of 1864, where the Danish army (~ 38,000 men) made a stand against the combined invading forces of Prussia (under Bismarck) and Austria. The mill was used as an observation point, and recognized as such it was shot to pieces (for the second time) by the enemy during the battle. It was rebuild, and today it is a strong symbol of Danish national feelings and pride. After retreating mainly on foot from the defensive earthworks at Danevirke by Schleswig in the harsh Winter of 1864, spawned by the immediate threat of being outflanked by a vastly supperior enemy (> 2 x as strong), the Danish general staff decided to entrench the bulk of the army at Dybbøl on the mainland opposite the town of Sønderborg on the island of Als. The rest of the army would be positioned about 100 km further northward in the fortress-town of Fredericia. The idea was to threaten to cut the enemy's supply lines, in case he decided to venture further upward into Jylland in pursuit of the rest of the army, thus leaving a substantial part of the Danish army in his rear. Successfully fighting several rearguard actions while retreating - at times helped by naval vessels, the Danish army managed to disengage the enemy at Danevirke and slip away without suffering any severe casualties - although the Winter weather took it's toll (north gale with snow). Meanwhile work had begun at Dybbøl to build earthworks and trenches. The escaping army reaches Dybbøl in mid-February barely ahead of the enemy, and shortly after a siege of the position begins. Several attempts by the enemy to storm the position are beaten back, and the enemy instead resorts to long-range bombardment. At the same time enemy engineering troops work to dig trenches ever closer to the Danish positions, as jump-off points for an attack. The Danish army has little to offer in return, as most of the heavier artillery was left behind at Danevirke... the enemy guns are out of range of the Danish atillery. On April 2nd 1864 a heavy artillery bombardment of the Danish positions at Dybbøl and the town of Sønderborg begins, and for the next 16 days around 65,000 shells rain down on trenches and town. Several memorial tablets today commemorates where shells exploded in Sønderborg and killed soldiers and civilians alike. A Prussian attack on Dybbøl on April 4th is thrown back. On the morning of April 18th the artillery bombardment intensified, and at 10 am the enemy finally charged with over 10,000 men. Within 13 minutes they had managed to pretty much overun the Danish defences, and only a valiant - albeit doomed - counterattack by the Danish 8th brigade (losses > 50%) prevented it from turning into a complete massacre. What was left of the Danish forces managed to escape across the sound to Als. The army continued fighting for Als helped by naval forces, but by late June the enemy had managed to cross the sound in strength, and the remnants of the Danish army was evacuated from the southern peninsula of Kegnæs. The aftermath... The war was lost and over. For the next 54 years this part of Denmark was under German rule. In 1920 it was re-unified with Denmark after a generel referendum. The duchies of Schleswig and Holstein remained German, though. The victorious Allies after WW II offered Denmark to have these areas back, but the Danish government thanked no-thanks, knowing well that both these areas had voted heavily in favour of German rule at the generel referendum 25 years earlier... no need to stir up old hostile feelings. Today this area enjoys peaceful co-existence between Danes and Germans, with respected minorities on both sides of the border.