Christian Lunding

In the winter of 1848–49, he was entrusted with various design works concerning Jutland's defense, of which Fredericia's fortress formed an important part, and despite a lack of manpower and funds, he increased his defensive ability to such an extent that the Ministry of War decided to keep him garrisoned there. When the war broke out again, Lunding was appointed commander on 8 April.[1][4]

With his great knowledge of the fortress, his rare ability to work with resourcefulness and great energy, he was deemed the right man for the job. Not only did he resist the siege of the insurgents despite the odds, but prepared the outcome on 6 July by careful measures. As a reward, he received the Commander's Cross from Dannebrog, just as he soon after he was promoted to colonel.[4]

In 1852, Lunding was employed as a conducting staff officer at the Fortress Service in the 1st General Command and the following year in the same position in Holstein. Two years later he returned as interim commander in Kastellet, but resigned in 1856 from Ingeniørkorpset and became commander at Kronborg, being given the rank of major general.[1]

At the imminent prospect of war in December 1863, he was asked to take over the fort again as commander in Fredericia, to which he was immediately ready, although the fortress, despite the works used thereon, was still in poor condition at the time.[1] After arriving there, he urged the council to abandon it, but the ministry rejected this.[5]

It ordered him to relentlessly put the fortress on the defensive, and he then seized upon the old zeal and tenacity, so that when the Prussians and Austrians in March appeared outside its ramparts, it was able to endure a siege. However, there wasn't an actual siege as the Prussians and Austrians confined themselves to a bombardment, and Lunding then easily had to reject General Ludwig von Gablenz's subsequent call for surrender.[6]

During the ensuing containment, Lunding worked hard on the fortification of the fortress, as well as having several sorties and raids to harass the Germans. After Dybbøl's fall on 18 April, however, the government decided to evacuate Fredericia, and Lunding received the order to do so on the 26th of the same month, which was such a hard blow for him that he relinquished command and had someone else lead the escape.[6][1]

Lunding, who in March was promoted to lieutenant general and after the war ended, returned to Kronborg and was pardoned in 1867 with the Grand Cross of Dannebrog.[1] That same year he resigned as commander and was put à la suite in the army, while the Reichstag that same winter granted him a special pension in recognition of his merits of the fatherland.[6] One of his closest friends has described him as a complex character, a mixture of gentleness and severity.[6] Lunding was also remembered as a man who defended Fredericia not once but twice.[1]