The Franco-German War of 1870-71 Part 15

But on the 15th these repairs were soon demolished again by the artillery of the attack, and a breach was made 40 paces wide and amply spread with earth. As the fortress still kept up a brisk fire, it was determined to bring up the field-batteries within 900 paces. But at eight in the evening, when this operation was just begun, the commandant opened negotiations and surrendered the place on the Sedan terms. The garrison marched out next morning, for the most part drunk. A thousand Gardes-Mobiles were dismissed on parole, 3800 regulars were made prisoners.

The attack had cost 120 men; 128 guns and 8000 small arms became prize of war, besides vast stores of provisions.

STORMING OF CHaTEAUDUN.

(October 18th.)

In obedience to instructions, General von Wittich marched on Chateaudun with the 22nd Division on the afternoon of the 18th. The French troops of the line had already been ordered to retire on Blois, but about 1800 National Guards and volunteers still remained, prepared under cover of barricades and walls to receive the enemy. The infantry attack was also made more difficult by the nature of the ground, and four batteries had to keep up a hot fire for a long time.

It was not till dusk that a general a.s.sault was had recourse to. Inside the town the enemy made a desperate resistance. House after house had to be won, the fighting lasted until late into the night, and a large part of the place was set on fire. The volunteers finally escaped, leaving 150 prisoners and abandoning the inhabitants to their fate; and these, though they had taken part in the struggle, were let off with a fine.

At noon on the 21st the Division arrived in front of Chartres, where 10,000 French were said to have a.s.sembled. The marine infantry and Gardes-Mobiles advanced to the attack, but were repulsed by the fire of seven batteries. The General commanding the Division had deployed both his brigades southward of the city, and with the a.s.sistance of his cavalry, which had been joined by the 6th (Cavalry) Division, completely surrounded it. The fate of Chateaudun had been a warning to the munic.i.p.al authorities, and at three o'clock an agreement was come to by which the troops were to be withdrawn, the National Guards to lay down their arms, and the gates to be thrown open.

General Wittich's orders were to remain at Chartres for the present, while the 6th Cavalry Division was to occupy Maintenon, and so cover the investing army to the west.

Not less fervid was the rush to arms in the north, in Picardy and Normandy. The Saxon Cavalry Division, supported by detachments of the Army of the Meuse, had in the early part of October driven the franctireurs and Gardes-Mobiles beyond the Oise and the Epte on Amiens, taking some hundreds of prisoners. But fresh swarms were constantly coming on, and had to be attacked at Breteuil, Montdidier, and Etrepagny, so that no less than eleven battalions, twenty-four squadrons, and four batteries, were by degrees employed in this direction for the protection of the besieging force. But by the end of the month the French forces were so systematically organized and in so great strength, that for the time the Germans had to confine themselves to holding on the defensive the line of the Epte.

To the south-east also, in the forest-land of Fontainebleau, hostilities were prosecuted by the volunteers, particularly against requisition-parties of cavalry; and from Nangis obstruction was threatened to the transport of the siege-guns. A small force of Wurtemberg troops seized Montereau, which, though barricaded, was not defended; the inhabitants gave up their arms, and the detachment marched on Nogent. This town was held by a large body of Gardes-Mobiles. After breaching the walls of the churchyard, the Wurtembergers, in the face of a hot fire, made their way into the place. The French still offered a stout resistance in its interior, but finally retired on Troyes, leaving 600 dead and wounded. The small flying column rejoined its Division, having traversed over 126 miles in six days.

SORTIE AGAINST MALMAISON.

(October 21st.)

The French capital had now been invested for more than four weeks, and it seemed not impossible, because of the long continuance of inactivity, that it might be brought to surrender by famine. All the sorties. .h.i.therto attempted had only had for their object to drive the enemy from the closest vicinity; a new effort was to aim at greater results. The project was to cross the Seine below Paris at Bezons and Carrieres, and to make a simultaneous attack on the positions of the IVth Prussian Corps on the heights of Argenteuil from the south, and from St.-Denis from the east. A march on Rouen by Pontoise was to follow, into a district not yet altogether exhausted of resources. The Army of the Loire was also to proceed thither by railway by way of Le Mans, and so there would be ma.s.sed in that region an army of 250,000 men.

The Prussian Vth Corps, it was true, stood right on the flank of such an advance across the Seine; its outposts had several times been seen in Rueil. As a preliminary step, General Ducrot undertook to force back this body with 10,000 men and 120 field-guns. Then an intrenched line from Valerien to Carrieres would close the peninsula against interference from the southward.

Perhaps, in the face of much-dreaded "public opinion" and the growing restlessness of political parties in Paris, it was more the urgency to be doing something than any serious hope of success which gave rise to such far-reaching schemes. Considerable difficulties had to be met in attacking the enemy's lines, and greater must inevitably arise if the attack should succeed. It was vain to think of bringing through the miles-long trains which are indispensable for victualling an army.

Serious embarra.s.sment would ensue when the troops had consumed the three days' rations they would carry with them. To live on the country the army must disperse itself; but with the enemy at its heels close concentration was indispensable. And, in any case, it is hard to see what would have been gained by withdrawing from Paris the forces which had been a.s.sembled for the defence of the capital. Success could only have been hoped for if an army from without had been so near as to be able immediately to give the hand to the troops marching out.

However, on the 21st of October, after Mont Valerien had all the morning kept up a seemingly ineffective fire, General Ducrot advanced at about one o'clock to attack the position of the Prussian 19th Brigade whose supports held the line Bougival--Jonchere--Fohlenkoppel. Fourteen French field-batteries deployed on either side of Rueil and about the southern base of Valerien; the infantry advanced in five columns behind this artillery front.

On the German side only two batteries could at first engage in the unequal duel, and one of these near the Villa Metternich had very soon to retire. The French guns advanced rightward to within 1400 paces of Bougival, and at three o'clock four companies of Zouaves rushed out of Rueil. Being received with a hot fire, they wheeled into the park of Malmaison, and without opposition seized the Chateau of Buzanval and the eastern slope of the deep-cut ravine of Cucufa. And here one of their batteries was brought up into the fighting-line to support them.

While the main body of the 9th Division advanced from Versailles on Vaucresson, the 10th deployed against the ravine and at Villa Metternich. The infantry fire lasted for a full hour, and wrought the French much loss. When at about four o'clock they seemed sufficiently shaken, and a reinforcement of the Guard Landwehr had come up from St.

Germain on the left, the German left wing advanced from Bougival and over the height of Jonchere, forced its way into Malmaison in spite of violent opposition, and followed the retreating Zouaves as far as Rueil.

The right wing at the same time having turned the head of the Cucufa ravine, charged against its eastern slope, drove out the enemy, seized the battery of two guns, and occupied the Chateau of Buzanval.

The French now retired on all sides, firing ceased by six o'clock, and the 10th Division, which had repulsed the enemy's a.s.saults single-handed, re-established its previous fore-post line.

The struggle had cost the Germans 400 men. The French, on the other hand, had in this luckless enterprise left 500 dead and wounded, and 120 prisoners.

Soon after this affair the French began to throw up entrenchments within 800 paces of the line of the Guard Corps; and in the early morning of the 28th, General Bellemare, under cover of the darkness, advanced on Le Bourget with a force of several battalions.

The German company in occupation there, taken completely by surprise, could only retire before such overwhelming numbers, to Pont Iblon and Blanc Mesnil. The French promptly barricaded themselves in the place and prepared it for an obstinate defence. A German battalion made a vain attempt that evening to drive them out; it was repulsed with heavy loss.

Equally unsuccessful next day was the fire of thirty field-guns directed against the place from Pont Iblon. Then, however, the Crown Prince of Saxony issued imperative orders to the Guard Corps to recapture Le Bourget without delay.

STORMING OF LE BOURGET.

(October 30th.)

Accordingly on October 30th, nine battalions of the 2nd Guard-Division and five batteries, under the command of Lieutenant-General von Budritzki,[33] were a.s.sembled at Dugny, Pont Iblon and Blanc Mesnil for a concentric attack on Le Bourget. The artillery in action along the bank of the Moree inundation opened the attack at about eight in the morning, and then the infantry went forward. The terrain was perfectly open, and the advance was under fire, not merely from Le Bourget, but also from the heavy guns of the forts. Nevertheless the Grenadier Battalion of the Queen Elizabeth Regiment, at the head of the central column, at nine o'clock made a successful a.s.sault, charging over the barricade at the northern end of the village, and entering it through a breach in the wall promptly made by the pioneers. The Emperor Francis Grenadier Regiment advanced against its western face and took possession of the park. A fierce street-fight ensued on a further advance into the village, in the course of which there fell the commanders of both regiments, Colonels von Zaluskowski and Count Waldersee. The walled farmsteads left of the main street, were stormed one after another in spite of a determined defence; the windows of the church, high up in the walls as they were, were broken in and scaled, and a hand-to-hand fight raged furiously inside the sacred building. The Guard Rifle-Battalion forced its way into the gla.s.s-works.

At half-past nine the French attempted to bring up into Le Bourget reinforcements from Aubervillers and Drancy; but the left German column had meanwhile seized the railway-embankment, placed a detachment of the Emperor Alexander Regiment to hold it, and was forcing its way into the southern quarter of the village. Two batteries had taken up position on the Mollette brook, and their fire drove back the enemy and even compelled him to evacuate Drancy.

At ten o'clock the French still held the buildings on the north side of the Mollette. These were now a.s.sailed from the south. The 4th Company of the Emperor Alexander Regiment crossed the stream and forced its way through a breach made by the sappers into the farmstead in which the enemy's main force was gathered. The defenders had to be quelled with the bayonet and with clubbed arms, and here the French Colonel de Baroche met his death.

Although by this time--eleven o'clock--all the three attacking columns had struck hands in the heart of Le Bourget, the enemy continued the struggle in detached houses and gardens with embittered desperation till the afternoon, while all the forts on the north front of Paris overwhelmed the place with sh.e.l.l-fire. It was not till half-past one that the troops of the attack could withdraw by companies to their respective quarters. Two battalions remained to garrison Le Bourget.

The desperate resistance of the French showed how important they considered their retention of this post. Its success had cost the 2nd (Guard) Division 500 men. The enemy's loss is not known, but 1200 prisoners were taken. This new disaster added to the dissatisfaction of the inhabitants of Paris. The revolutionary factions, which at all times lurk in the French capital, came ominously to the front.

Highly-coloured reports could no longer conceal utter lack of results; the authority of the Government was steadily on the wane. It was accused of incapacity, nay, of treason. Noisy mobs clamoured for arms, and even a part of the National Guard took part in the tumult. The Hotel de Ville was surrounded by a throng shouting "Vive la Commune!" and though other troops dispersed these gatherings, the ringleaders, though well known, went unpunished.

On the 31st of October uproarious ma.s.ses again paraded the streets. As General Trochu had forbidden the sentries at the Hotel de Ville to use their arms, the rebels forced their way in. The Ministers were their prisoners till the evening, when some battalions which remained staunch liberated them.

Monsieur Thiers, who had returned from his fruitless tour among the European Courts, thought the time had come for re-opening negotiations with Versailles. On the part of the Germans there was still the readiness to grant an armistice, but it was naturally impossible to accede to the condition demanded by the French, that the city should be re-provisioned, and so hostilities had to take their course.

At this time, towards the end of October, the situation on the Moselle had a.s.sumed an aspect which essentially modified that of the whole war.

* * * * *[34]

By the exchange of German prisoners for French who had fought at Sedan, details of the disaster which had befallen France in that battle were currently known in Metz. But Marshal Bazaine declared that the Army of the Rhine would continue to defend the country against the invaders, and maintain public order against the evil pa.s.sions of disloyal men--a resolution which certainly could be interpreted in more ways than one.

It would have been eminently satisfactory to the Germans, politically speaking, if there had been in France an available power, apart from the pretentious but feeble Government in Paris, with which to come to an understanding as regarded the termination of the war. Permission was therefore given for the admission to Metz of a person representing himself to have a commission from the exiled Imperial family. As he was unable to authenticate himself in this capacity to the satisfaction of Marshal Bazaine, General Bourbaki was allowed to pa.s.s through the German lines that he might betake himself to London, where, however, the Empress Eugenie declined all intervention in the already so disastrous affairs of France. The General then placed his services at the disposal of the National Defence Government at Tours.

Meanwhile the army which had been beleaguered in Metz since the day of Noisseville maintained a waiting att.i.tude. The necessary supplies for 70,000 inhabitants, including the country-folk who had taken refuge in the city, had originally been enough to last three months and a half, those for the regular garrison were calculated for about five months; but for the Army of the Rhine there was sustenance in store for only forty-one days, and there was forage for only twenty-five.

Certainly it was possible to supplement the supplies for the troops by purchase from the abundant stores of the citizens; but ere long smaller rations of bread were served out and horses were being slaughtered to furnish animal food, so that most of the cavalry regiments were reduced to two squadrons.

On the German side, the service of supplying 197,326 men and 33,136 horses was one of great difficulty. The outbreak of cattle-plague in Germany restricted the importation of live beasts to those purchased in Holland and Belgium. The meat rations had to be supplemented by tinned provisions; and increased rations of oats had to take the place of hay and straw.

The losses of the army had hitherto been made good from the reserves, but the transport of the prisoners from Sedan alone required the services of fourteen battalions of the force blockading Metz. Thus it had not yet been possible to provide sufficient shelter for the troops near the wide extension of the entrenched line. Raw, rainy weather had come on early in the season, and a fourth part of the men were still roofless; so that by degrees the sick in hospital reached the alarming number of 40,000.

Although fifty heavy guns had been brought up from Germany, they were useless for the bombardment of Metz, since in consequence of the superior calibre of the fortress artillery they could only be fired at night, and with frequent change of position. There was nothing for it but to hope for the best, and have patience.

For four weeks already had the besieged been consuming their stores. To replenish those in some degree, and at the same time to revive the spirit of the troops by active measures, the Marshal decided on fetching in all the provisions to be found in the villages inside the line of the German investment, under cover of a sortie.