The three dead enemy soldiers in the war of 1864
The story of how three enemy soldiers ended up in a grave in Skive Cemetery.
At the grave site
The iron cross on the gravesite reads: “Below rests the dust of 2 Prussian and 1 Austrian soldier who died at the hospital in Skive 1864”. The text is in Danish, and it can be assumed that it was put up after the end of the war – by Danes who felt that the dead soldiers should not be forgotten, even though they came to Denmark as enemies.
Church records information
The church records for Skive Parish only contain information about two of the three soldiers:
- Georg Kretz – infantryman in the 72nd Austrian regiment, died at the age of 26 on July 30, 1864 of typhus.
- Heinrich August Nietschke – infantryman of the 52nd Prussian regiment, died at the age of 23½ years on November 4, 1864 from typhoid fever.
- There is no information about the other Prussian soldier.
Skive during the war 1864
Skive escaped relatively unscathed from the war between Denmark and Prussia/Austria-Hungary in 1864. German and Austrian troops came to the city several times, but the war was several months old before the first troops showed up. Prussian troops arrived in Skive on May 6, but only 10 days later they moved on. In late May and mid-June, Prussian troops came to Skive again, but again only for a few days.
The infantryman is left behind
On July 9, 1864, Austrian troops entered Skive and Salling. They left on July 21, but left the sick infantryman Georg Kretz at the hospital in Skive, which – it seems – was housed in Skive City Hall. He died here on July 30, 1864.
More troops arrive
After this, the Skibonites were left alone until September 10, when three companies of Prussian infantry and a squadron of hussars arrived and left again four days later. But then things really got going: The Prussian troops in Jutland began preparing to go into winter quarters, and on October 1, the 1st Battalion of the 18th Prussian Infantry Regiment arrived. The battalion left Skive again on October 8, but already on October 12, two battalions of the 10th and 52nd Infantry Regiments – a total of 12-1400 men – arrived to be billeted and fed in Skive. This was a huge task for the small town’s 1600-1800 inhabitants, and it became necessary to convert all the larger rooms in the town into barracks for the Prussian soldiers.
Peace is made – but Heinrich doesn’t come home
Fortunately for Skive – and Denmark – peace was finally made with Prussia and Austria-Hungary on October 30, and the Prussians left Skive on November 4 and 5. A single Prussian soldier did not come home: Heinrich August Nietschke, an infantryman in the 52nd Infantry Regiment, died on November 4, 1864 – the day his comrades began the return journey from Skive to Prussia.
Sources
The reinforcement man: Around the Skive of the sixties. Christmas in Skive 1938 p. 25-31.