De Meza was responsible for the withdrawal of the Danish army from the Danevirke, an event which shocked the Danish public and resulted in the loss of his command.
Danevirke 6 — Hovedvolden and Thyraborg
Valdemar I fortified the rest of Hovedvolden with the famous "Valdemar-wall", a 7-m high wall of stones in mortar on a granite boulder base, propped up with buttresses and covered with tiles.
•
Hearing of the plans, Danish archaeologist Søren Telling — aware that all archaeological investigation was under the ultimate jurisdiction of SS chief Heinrich Himmler — immediately telephoned both the head of the SS's archaeological department, Amt für Ahnenerbe ("Office for ancestral heritage"), and Himmler himself.
In the Battle for Königshügel (Danish Kongshøj) near Selk on 3 February 1864, Austrian forces commanded by General Gondrecourt pushed the Danes back to the Dannevirke.