Denmark of 9 April 1940 ISOT to 1 February 1864.

Mysunde 2 February 1864 1030 AM



The Prussian Advance Guard of 11. Brigade, 6. Division had reached Langsø south of the Fieldworks of Mysunde guarding the Cable-Ferry at the narrow part of Slie Fiord leading east to the Lillebaelt and the Baltic.
The Prussians moved forward towards the Danish Pickets of the 1. Battalion, 18. Regiment and shots were loosened..
Following a short but intensive firefight the Danish Pickets fell back to the Fieldworks with the Prussians not far behind.
The Fieldsworks were occupied by the rest of the 1. Battalion as well as 6. Fortress Battalion commanded by Captain Hertel.
14 Fortress Guns placed in the two Fieldsworks in front of Mysunde. Across the Slie Fiord was other Fieldsworks and 6 more Fortress Guns.

Due to the heavy fog it took some time before the Danish Liaison officers of 1940 attached to 18. Regiment got information of the initiated Prussian attack and were able to send off their first signal to the 1940 Army north of the Border and to their fellow officers at Schleswig.
(Years ago Colonel A.R. Jørgensen, Lieutenant April 1940 at 2. Pioneers Battalion (Engineers) who on 1.-4. April 1940 built with troops from Anti-Tank Engineers Regiment a waterobstacle at Oksenvad in South Jutland to delay an advancing enemy, wrote that the Danish 1940 Army hadn't the written instructions for conducting a fighting withdrawal – this time it won't need it)

Their signal were received at Schleswig and General de Meza notified.
At Padborg Colonel Harz received the signal ordering the Advance Guard 2. Anti-Tank Regiment Battalion along 3. Battery/8. Light Battalion/3. Artillery Regiment to move to Mysunde to repel the Prussian assault.
2. and 6. Regiment 3., 4., 13. Infantry Battalions and Gun Battery, Anti-Tank Regiment NCO-School and 14. Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion to follow going to Schleswig to bolster main defences and detach 4. Battalion to guard the West Coast area along the 1864 Cavalry Division.

Waiting for the reinforcements from north short after having sent the radiosignals the 1940 Liaison Officers realized that 1864 Divisional Commander Gerlach and 2. Brigade Commander Vogt were missing. Having attempted to find the Generals the Liaison Officers reckoned the Generals to be somewhere in the trenches caught in the fighting.

Local reinforcements of 1. Battalion, 3. Regiment arrived at Mysunde north of the Slie 1130 AM. Reinforced by a Troop of Dragoons this force was ferried across the Slie and entered the grounds in front of the Fielsworks where it ran into a force of 3 Prussian Battalions.
Following the ensuing firefight during which several Officers were killed or wounded the Danish force withdrew to the Fieldworks.
The Prussians pressed on and came within 200meters of the Fieldsworks and the trenches.
Due to the thick fog not many shots were loosed by Danish Artillery as the opponent was difficult to pinpoint and counterbattery fire was against muzzleflashes in the fog.

Half an hour later at 12 AM General v. Manstein arrived at the Battlefield ordering an assault and bringing up more Artillery for a concentrated bombardment of the Danish Fieldworks prior to assault.
At 1245 AM two Prussian Batteries opened fire and shortly there after the main Prussian Artillery consisting of 9 Batteries for a total of 64 Guns/Howitzers.

10. Battery of the 1864 Danish Army had arrived at 12 AM at Mysunde.
As the Prussian barrage were building 3. Brigade, Danish 1864 Army, reserve for the defence of Slie Fiord had been ordered to Mysunde, but because of its slow march 2 Companies of 2. Battalion, 3. Regiment guarding another section of the Slie had been orderen to the Town to strengthen defences.

The 1940 Advance Guard had had its Bicycle Infantry loaded on requisitioned Trucks to speed up movement and reached Mysunde within 2½ hours at 2 PM. Getting in contact with the Liaison Officers the 2. Anti-Tank Engineers Battalion used the Cable-Ferry to get across the Slie along their 20mm Cannon with Rangefinder and the Engineers with their tripod Machineguns.
As the Prussians were trying to move Infantry from the road leading into Mysunde from the east an Engineers Company were moved there to support the defence with their Machineguns while the 20mm Cannons moved into the Fieldworks to help repel the continued Prussian Infantry prying the defences and with their Rangefinder try pinpoint the Prussian Artillery for counterbattery fire.
The Engineers Cannon crews soon realized that the 1864 Fortress Guns was quite excellent in repelling enemy Infantry by shot and began to get into the counter-battery fire instead to deprive the Prussians of their asset.
The Engineers tripod Machineguns proved very effective at Prussian attempts at assaulting the Fieldworks and the other Danish positions with their ability to fire a volume never before seen which would stop the Prussian assaults in conjunction with the 1864 Fortress Guns firing shot.

As the Anti-Tank Engineers were slugging it out across the Slie Fiord the 3. Battery, 8. Light Battalion, 3. Artillery Regiment emplaced their four 75mm guns north of the Fiord and began ranging in on the Prussian Batteries still using the muzzleflashes as targets in the heavy fog just as the 1864 Artillery had been doing.
Unknown to the Danish Artillery due to the fog obscuring impacts they were actually quite effective in landing volumes of shells on or rather close to the Prussian Batteries.
Because of this the Prussian Artillery began to suffer heavy loss mainly from shell fragments and slowly pull out of the fight forcing v. Manstein to eventually call off the assault at 3 PM. Not only the Artillery but also the Infantry Battalions had suffered heavily during the last hour of the battle.

Shortly after 3 PM a Prussian Officer with a white flag asked for an armistige to evacuate the wounded as the Army was retreating.
The Prussians having left the field of battle the Danish 1864 and 1940 Officers alike surveyed the remains.
Seemed the Prussians had left a lot of their Artillery behind – the number of dead Horses and Artillerymen testament to that. Also quite a number of caissons had been hit by shells and exploded.
Generals Gerlach and Vogt had been found on the battlefield both wounded but being patched up.

Danish ability to sustain operations 1864
Denmark of 1940 was in contrast to 2023 a much selfsustained society with almost all trades to secure a civilized (1940 style) way of living would be present in almost all Cities and Towns.
This was also a time of not disposing of stuff just because it had become out of fashion or slightly broken – things useable would be cannibalized or stored for other uses.
Army and Navy workshops would cannibalize any wrecked vehicle or aircraft for any useable parts to supply the spare parts inventory.

There were Truck factories one of which produced a halftrack-drive for Army trucks, Motorcycle factories, Arms factories, the Ammunition Arsenal which reloaded cartridges of all used munitions and manufactured all kinds of ammunition, a very small Aeronautics firm KZ ”Kramme & Zeuten” which produced private aircraft and sports aircraft utilizing foreing engines.
The Navy Works – Orlogs Værftet – also produced aircraft prior to 1930 and aircraft engines however a large number of chrashes during the 1920 led to the building of aircraft to be of licensed foreing types; however the only expertise - that of the Navy Works and Armed Services officers in charge - hadn't been consulted on the matter. The Navy Works had previously built its own 160 HP, 6 cylinder in-line aircraft engine to replace unsatisfactory Mercedes imports! The homegrown was known for its reliability and endurance.
The Nation sported several Shipyards first among these Burmeister & Wain at Copenhagen which also in earlier days had built truck diesel-engines.
As long as a flow of materiel needed for production could be provided when the stockpiles ran out Denmark would be able to supply its Armed Forces with the needed.

Stauning well knew this and that a drying out of materials to keep industry going and its workers working – his constituency – he needed to get the flow of needed materials going again from this world not closed down due to looming Great War.
The obvious problem being the lack of the Gold Hoard but nobody knew any better during 1939 than to secure it; which had been done.
Now it was sorely missing but even during 1864 Denmark had been an exporter of agricultural produce to countries wanting this such as Britain and that wanting still existed. Post the 1864 War Denmark had due to the loss of access to other ports now controlled by Prussia build a new on the West Coast of Jutland to continue agricultural exports and thus make money.
To make the exports of 1864 resumed he called upon Minister for Industry, Trade and Seafaring Johannes Kjærbøl and Minister of Agriculture Kristen Bording as well as Treasurer Vilhelm Buhl all Socialdemocratic Party to get a clear picture of the 1864 state of exports and the possibility of honoring those as well as building new ones – mainly regarding oil.

At the following meeting which was also attended by Minister of Defence Alsing-Andersen the various Ministers was asked to as quickly as possible identify areas of raw materials or other materials that needed attending to keep society supplied and able to sustain the current level of infrastructure and general supply but were also breifed by the Minister of Defence on Armed Forces needed material.
Stauning asked the ministers to address Industry and Trade Organizations and Industrialists to get updated on which 1864 agreements would be around and the ability to fullfill such to get a capital base on which to extend trade once the basics had been covered.
Stauning ordered the Treasury to get an overwiev of the available Precious Metals in country to be able to build a currency base. Treasurer Buhl was instructed to if possible get such in National custody at the National Bank of Denmarks.
The various ministers were also ordered to set up recirculation of all sorts of waste; even if such wasn't out of the ordinary the extraordinary situation warranted such.
All reserves of metals and oil products should be controlled by state and prices as in all other areas regulated. Rationing would be upheld untill supply and needed stores had been secured in each area.

Stauning finished the session saying that ”We need to pull through these uncertain times the only good thing is We had to some extend expected such a situation though in a different time-frame and that ought to make us able to pull through these weeks untill we get import-export running.”

Copenhagen 6PM 10 April 1940/ 2 February 1864
Stauning: ”General I understand Your troops was involved in Battle today in Slesvig?”

General Prior: ”Indeed they were Primeminister and they performed well. The Prussians was repulsed with some heavier losses than in the 1864 we know of. De Meza and I still expect an Austrian attack tomorrow on the forward defences of Dannevirke but we now have the possibility of doing things more our way. 1864 the Austrians contrary to the Prussians actually forced our Army off its forward positions; tomorrow we will not let them.”

Stauning: ”I see. Was there heavy losses on our side?”

General Prior: ”Slightly less than the 1864 we knew off. Some 7 Officers and 120 NCOs and Soldiers of the combined armies. Our modern reinforcements arrived around 2 PM and the battle was called off by the Prussians at 3 PM.”

Stauning: ”Seems we did have some impact on the battle then.”

General Prior: ”Oh we did. The Artillery Battery was very effective in defeating the Prussian Artillery however weather was adverse making sighting difficult. Tomorrow won't be much better as 1864 it snowed. We probably won't be making much impact with our Aircraft but the Artillery will be ranging in better.”

Stauning: ”General keep losses low and conserve materiel – I'm going to secure us supplies but at the moment we are living on the few reserves.”

General Prior: ”Actually Primeminister if You are able to conserve fuel for Trucks and Trains we will overcome. Ammunition is still plenty and so is rations for the troops – all the troops.”

Stauning: ”I much appreciate Your optimism General – works on me too. I am invited to speak on Radionews in an hour; I'll relate Your success of today.”

Stauning: ”Vice-Admiral any news from the Navy?”

Vice-Admiral Rechnitzer: ”There have been conducted reconnaisance flights over the Baltic ports. The Prussian Navy is at Stralsund and Swinemünde; the two Corvettes at Swinemünde the rest of the Navy at Stralund. They won't probably leave port at the moment as there is sea-ice in the area.”

Stauning: ”Good news Vice-Admiral. Lets keep an eye upon them.”

The Vice-Admiral won't have the balls to order it; also the resources are needed as soon as the sky over Schleswig clears!