3-016-746 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Illustrations of the War in Schleswig by our special artist: the Battle of Oversee, 1864. 'The allies having crossed the Schlei and entered the town of Schleswig at an early hour on Saturday morning, Eeb. 6, they lost no time in pursuing the Danish army, which was in full retreat to Flensburg...The Nostitz Brigade lost altogether about 600 killed and wounded, a third of these being officers; Duke William of Wirtemberg had a portion of one foot shot away, and has since undergone amputation.General von Gablenz was personally in the thickest of the fight. After a protracted and desperate struggle, the Austrians managed to storm the position on the right hand, but not before the Danes had removed their guns. On the left hand was a small lake or mere, which borders the road between Oversee and the village of Bildschau, nearer Flensburg. This lake being covered with ice, the Danes, when hard pressed by their enemy, thought they could retreat across it and take shelter in the wood beyond. Some of them attempted to do so...but the ice broke when they were in the middle, and many of them were thus drowned'.From "Illustrated London News", 1864.