Carl Vilhelm Behagen Castenschiold

Born at Borreby on February 14, 1837, and dying there on July 23, 1919, Carl Vilhelm Behagen Castenschiold was a Danish officer, estate owner, and later memoirist. He studied mechanics at the Polytechnic school in Copenhagen and graduated in 1861 before entering military service as a reserve artillery officer.

He is especially remembered for his role in the Second Schleswig War. Sources describe him as serving in the artillery during the fighting at Dybbøl in 1864, where he helped lead the guns at Skanse II. That experience later became the basis of his book Indtryk og Minder fra Dybbøl, a personal recollection of the campaign.

Beyond his military service, Castenschiold belonged to the long-established Castenschiold family and was associated with the Borreby estate. For readers today, his appeal lies in the way he combines a soldier’s eye for detail with the reflective voice of someone looking back across many years.