The Franco-German War of 1870-71 Part 29

On the right a detachment of one battalion, two squadrons, and two guns, accompanied the 6th Division. It drove before it franctireur bodies, but at La Belle Inutile met with more serious resistance. The post was, however, carried by the 24th Regiment, which made prize of a large ammunition and provision train, and took above 100 unwounded prisoners.

Count zu Lynar moved into the village for its defence.

The 5th Division met with no opposition, but the state of the roads caused extreme delay to its progress. It was not till the afternoon that its head reached the Narais at Gue de l'Aune and took up quarters there and rearward to St. Mars de Locquenay. Its advanced guard went on, however, to La Buzardiere, thus forming the absolute head of the whole army. Parigne l'Eveque, on its left flank, was found to be held by the enemy.

The IXth Corps followed the IIIrd to Bouloire.

Orders from head-quarters had not yet reached La Ferte when, at nine in the morning, the Grand Duke set the XIIIth Corps in motion on Connerre.

Soon after midday the 17th Division came upon the French near Sceaux, and in a struggle wherein it slowly gained ground, drove them first out of the village precincts and then off the road. The French, who had retreated to Connerre by a forced night march, lost above 500 prisoners in this small affair. But the short day was closing in, and the advanced guard halted at dusk at Duneau. A detachment going further forward found Connerre occupied by the French, and many watch-fires blazing in the valley of the Due. The main body of the infantry found quarters in and about Sceaux.

Rauch's detachment, ordered to rejoin the Corps, took possession of Le Croset and of the bridge over the Due in front of that village, and also expelled the French from Thorigne.

The French stayed in Connerre only till the evening; then, leaving a company in occupation, they continued their retreat. This necessarily led from the left bank of the Huisne through the quarters taken up by the IIIrd German Corps, which was disturbed all night by wandering detachments of the enemy, even at Nuille, where the Divisional headquarters lay.

On the extreme right the 4th Cavalry Division occupied Belleme, after driving out the French battalion which had been in occupation there.

Thus on this day the centre of the IInd Army had fought its way to within about nine miles of Le Mans; while the two wings were still some distance behind. As it was probable that the French would accept battle in a prepared position behind the Huisne, it seemed advisable to await the arrival of the Xth and XIIIth Corps; but on the other hand, this would also give the enemy time to strengthen himself. Were an immediate attack determined on, the two Divisions which had been delayed respectively at Chateau Renault and Le Chartre, could scarcely reach Le Mans in time, and the rest of the army would be involved everywhere in a disadvantageous contest with the hostile bodies which were being driven back concentrically on that place. Prince Frederick Charles therefore ordered the IIIrd Corps to push on through Ardenay; the Xth was to advance to Parigne, and the XIIIth on St. Mars la Bruyere, though these points could scarcely be reached from the positions actually occupied by the respective Corps this same evening (9th).

As we have seen, the French army now a.s.sembled about Le Mans had been acting on the offensive on January 6th, when General Jouffroy had advanced on Vendome, and de Curten on St. Amand. But so early as the 7th the French found themselves reduced to the defensive along their whole front, some 50 miles in length. General Rousseau, on the left wing, had evacuated Nogent le Rotrou, and, without being pressed, began his retreat by a night march to Connerre. In the centre, the trough of the Braye was wrested from General Jouffroy; he quitted St. Calais, not rearward on Le Mans, but southward to join General Barry. On the right, General Curten had abandoned Chateau Renault, and set out, unpursued, on the line through Chateau du Loir. To effect some concert in the operations of the three Divisions of his right wing, General Chanzy placed them under the superior orders of Admiral Jaureguiberry. He pushed forward the Division Paris on Ardenay by the high road General Jouffroy had uncovered, and on the left wing he reinforced General Rousseau by stationing three Divisions more on either side of his line of retreat. General Jouffroy was to retire to Parigne l'Eveque, and a Division was sent to meet him there and at Change.

General de Curten succeeded on the 9th in checking the progress of the German left wing for some time about Chahaignes; but the Division Paris was driven back through Ardenay, and General Rousseau, thus beset in Connerre, evacuated that village the same evening. The two Divisions of the right wing were behind as far as Jupilles and Neuille Pont Pierre.

Under these circ.u.mstances General Chanzy ordered that on the 10th the Division Jouffroy should fall back on Parigne l'Eveque, but that the Division Paris should once more move forward on Ardenay. He sent the remaining three Divisions of the XXIst Corps to meet General Rousseau, with instructions that he was to retake Connerre and Thorigne.

The offensive movements thus planned by both sides developed into the fierce battle which, on the German side, was fought out single-handed by the IIIrd Corps.

FOOTNOTES:

[64] Lieut.-General Alvensleben II, commanding IIIrd Army Corps, not to be confounded with Infantry-General Alvensleben I, commanding IVth Corps.

[65] Brandenburg is the territorial province of the IIIrd Army Corps. It was the nucleus of the Prussian monarchy, and the Hohenzollerns were Margraves and then Electors of Brandenburg for 300 years before they became Kings of Prussia. The IIIrd is unquestionably the most distinguished Corps of the Prussian line. The late Prince Frederick Charles long commanded it.

BATTLE IN FRONT OF LE MANS.

(10th, 11th, and 12th of January.)

_January 10th._--_The Fighting about Parigne and Change._--Owing to the peculiar nature of the country, deep columns could not deploy without great loss of time. General von Alvensleben therefore advanced in the centre with the 9th and 11th Infantry Brigades on Change from Gue de l'Aune and Ardenay, moving on a broad front in comparatively small separate bodies. On the right the 12th marched by the high road to Le Mans; on the left the 10th was to start from Volnay when Parigne should be found abandoned by the French, and leaving that place on its left, was also to converge on Change.

Parigne had, in fact, been deserted by the French, but had been reoccupied before daybreak by a brigade of the Division Deplanque; and even before the German troops had started, the far-advanced outposts towards the forest of Loudon were smartly attacked. The greater part of the 9th Brigade had to be deployed by degrees between Blinieres and the point of the forest, but only seven guns could be brought into action against the numerous French artillery. General von Stulpnagel decided to reserve his strength for the struggle at Change, and to carry on merely a stationary fight here, which must be inevitably decided as soon as the 10th Brigade should make its appearance on the left.

That brigade, delayed by the badness of the roads, did not arrive by way of Challes till noon; but it brought two batteries to reinforce the German artillery strength, which now vigorously prepared the infantry attack on the high-lying Parigne. Half an hour later the battalions rushed on the place with shouts of "Hurrah Brandenburg!" taking a gun which the enemy had abandoned, and two mitrailleuses still in action.

When the French returned to try to recover them they were again repulsed, and sacrificed another gun, two colours, and several waggons.

After losing 2150 prisoners they fled to the shelter of the forest of Ruaudin. General von Stulpnagel left two battalions at Parigne to maintain observation in that quarter, and hurried on to Change in two columns. In front of this village, at about three o'clock, the 11th Brigade met with a violent resistance at the Gue Perray brook from the other brigade of Deplanque's Division. The 2nd Battalion of the 35th Regiment lost nine officers and above 100 men in a severe struggle at Les Gars. The General in command, who was on the spot, dislodged both flanks of the enemy from his strong position, and on the left two companies succeeded in crossing the stream at La Goudriere.

These at four o'clock now fell in with the advanced guard of the 9th Brigade, which Colonel Count von der Groeben was bringing up from Parigne, having taken possession of the Chateau of Girardrie on the way.

When the companies of the 11th Brigade sent to the right reached Auvigne simultaneously, the "General Advance" was sounded. Auvigne was stormed, the bridge north of Gue la Hart was crossed, and that village carried after a hard fight. Over 1000 prisoners more were taken from the flying French.

It was already dark, but Change, the goal of the struggle, was not yet reached. But when a barricade outside the village had been won it was found that the 10th Brigade was already in possession. This brigade, on its way along the high road from Parigne, had met with resistance at the Chateaux Chef Raison and Paillerie. Having only two guns, it failed to silence the French artillery, but General von Stulpnagel left there only a battalion in observation, and hurried forward with part of the brigade to reinforce the fight at Gue la Hart; the other portion was directed against Change. Here the French had already been for the most part dismissed to quarters, but they soon a.s.sembled and made a prompt and determined resistance. There ensued an embittered street-fight, which ended in about an hour's time in the surrender of the whole garrison of 800 men, who had been crowded together into the market-place.

The 12th Brigade had at last left Ardenay at eleven o'clock; it advanced along the high road without opposition as far as St. Hubert, where an abandoned commissariat train was seized. Having there aligned itself with the rest of the Corps it halted for a while, but after one o'clock was fired upon by French artillery; and the enemy again advancing along the highway, General von Buddenbrock[66] on his part pa.s.sed to the attack, and drove back the enemy out of Champagne, in part across the Huisne, and in part to the heights behind the village. Two guns successfully dealt with the fire of the French artillery near Lune d'Auvours, and then the infantry expelled the French from that shelter also.

Further to the right a German battalion had taken St. Mars la Bruyere after a slight skirmish, and was subsequently joined there by General Count zu Lynar's detachment.

Fighting thus with equal skill and success the IIIrd Corps had indeed already lost 450 men; but it had brought in more than 5000 prisoners, and had won many trophies of which it had a right to be proud.

The Xth Corps had started this day from Vance and Brives, and un.o.bstructed indeed by the enemy, but along very heavy roads, reached Grand Luce at two o'clock. Here it took up quarters.

The IXth Corps remained at Nuille.

Of the XIIIth Corps the 17th Division had continued its advance along the left bank of the Huisne, and found Connerre already deserted by the French. But on the further side of the river the heights of Cohernieres, the railway station, and the wood to the north, were occupied by the 2nd Division of the French XXIst Corps. General von Rauch led two battalions to the attack from the south, in which shared the 22nd Division from the east, having crossed the Huisne at Sceaux and taken the direction of Beille by the right bank. A stubborn resistance was encountered, and the fight swayed to and fro till darkness fell. The Chateau of Couleon, indeed, and several villages at the foot of the wooded heights were taken, but the French maintained their hold on the heights and their position at Cohernieres.

The 17th Division had meanwhile continued its advance along roads frozen as smooth as gla.s.s, and reached La Belle Inutile; the 22nd pa.s.sed the night at Beille.

This division had in the morning sent a detachment sideward to Bonnetable, whither the 4th Cavalry Division now proceeded. The 12th Cavalry Brigade followed to Belleme. Colonel von Beckedorff then continued his advance to Chanteloup, whence he drove out the French in spite of an obstinate defence.

General Chanzy had determined to risk a decisive battle in front of Le Mans. Curten's Division had not yet reached him, and only a part of Barry's had come up, but on the other hand the army from the camp of Conlie, in strength some 10,000 men, had arrived. The right wing of the French position rested its flank on the Sarthe near Arnaye[67]; it extended for more than four miles along the Chemin aux Boeufs, and continued in a slight curve leftward to the Huisne. Barry's Division, already weakened by previous reverses, and General Lalande's National Guards--undisciplined and badly armed troops--were posted on the extreme right which was the least threatened. Deplanque's and Roquebrune's Divisions, Desmaison's Brigade and Jouffroy's Division, held the centre and left, the last body in the first instance opposite to General von Alvensleben. Behind this line Bouedec's Division and Colonel Marty's detachment const.i.tuted a reserve. In all from 50,000 to 60,000 men under the command of Admiral Jaureguiberry, with full ranks and well commanded, crowded the entrenched front of the most important section of the line--that between the two rivers (Sarthe and Huisne). Five Divisions more, under the command of General de Colomb, lined the right bank of the Huisne for a distance of about eight and a half miles, the Division Paris was at Yvre; Gougeard's Division, also holding the heights of Auvours on the hither side, was northward of Champagne; then came Rousseau's Division at Montfort and Pont de Gesnes, and finally, Collin's Division in hook-formation about Lombron. Besides these Villeneuve's Division, quite on the flank, fronted toward Chanteloup.

_January 11th._--On this day the IIIrd German Army Corps was directly opposed to the main body of the French forces. It could not for the present hope for any a.s.sistance from the corps of the flanks, and had before it the certainty of an arduous struggle.

On the left, the Xth Corps was still this morning at Grand Luce, and on the right the XIIIth Corps had been detained on the previous day by the obstinate resistance of the French, who had held their own between Les Cohernieres and La Chapelle, and occupied Le Chene in their front.

The troops of the 22nd Division had necessarily lost their formations and become mixed up in the course of the struggle in the wood, and it was not till they had been re-formed and the enemy's position had been reconnoitred by both the Divisional Commanders that the attack was renewed at about eleven o'clock.

Two battalions of the 17th Division and one battery were left in observation in front of Pont de Gesnes, on the southern bank of the Huisne; on the northern side, the Mecklenburg battalions stormed Cohernieres in the afternoon after a sharp contest, and in conjunction with the Hessians forced their way westward up to the Gue and on towards Lombron about four o'clock.

Further to the right two companies of the 90th Regiment (22nd Division) meanwhile took Le Chene by a closed attack on the obstinate defenders; the 83rd Regiment, after a sharp fire fight, stormed the farmsteads of Flouret and La Grande Metairie. Colonel von Beckedorff, on being relieved at Chanteloup by the 4th Cavalry Division, had driven the French out of St. Celerin, and he then advanced to La Chapelle-St. Remy on the right of the Division, which occupied wide quarters behind the points it had seized.

The Mecklenburg Grenadiers had held their own for a long time at Le Gue and La Brosse against superior numbers attacking from Pont de Gesnes; but the main body of the 17th Division was retired in the evening further back to Connerre.

The more completely that General von Alvensleben had to rely solely on his own command, the more essential it was to keep the troops composing it closely concentrated. But a strong force of the enemy was now on his flank, almost indeed in his rear, on the heights of Auvours, where it was only kept at bay by his 12th Brigade, which therefore for the present was not free to advance.

And here it was that the battle first really began. The French had repossessed themselves of Champagne, and had deployed artillery on the heights behind it. When their fire had been subdued by four guns of the brigade, two battalions advanced to an attack on the village. It was not till after an obstinate street-fight, that the enemy at eleven o'clock was driven back to the heights, and the bridge over the Huisne carried.

General von Buddenbrock now let the two battalions remain in observation, sent a third to Lune d'Auvours, and at noon started with the rest of the brigade to rejoin the Corps.

Meanwhile the conflict had been raging with such fury all along the front of the latter that at twelve o'clock Prince Frederick Charles sent orders from St. Hubert to General Voigts-Rhetz, to hurry forward by the shortest roads to the battle-field with the Xth Corps; and at the same time General von Manstein was instructed to seize the heights of Auvours with the IXth.

It was already one o'clock when the advanced guard of the IXth climbed up the hollow way, deep in snow, followed by two battalions of the 12th Brigade, and by two batteries straining every nerve. The infantry plunged forward through the wood, strongly held as it was by the enemy, straight on Villiers; the skirmishers of the Fusilier battalion of the 11th Regiment seized three mitrailleuses in action, and when the French had abandoned the village, turned them against the wood.

Further to the left, at about three o'clock, two battalions of the 85th Regiment from the main body of the 18th Division, were directed on the western end of the ridge, supported by the Jagers and two batteries which were brought up near Les Hetres. To cover them two companies moved on La Lune, and baulked for the moment the hostile rush along the high road. But against these movements the French opened a heavy fire from their commanding batteries behind Yvre. Regardless thereof the Holsteiners[68] on the left charged on a hostile battery and seized three of its guns. On the right they took possession of the neighbouring farmsteads; and soon after five the French abandoned the whole plateau as far as its western edge.

Over it, however, a strong counter-attack was delivered in the evening, when part of Gougeard's Division charged up the slope from Yvre. Its further advance was arrested; but the French could not be prevented from remaining there during the evening and night. Nevertheless, this offensive struggle on the part of the 18th Division had relieved the pressure on the rear and flank of the IIIrd Corps. It received the further order in the evening to secure the pa.s.sage over the Huisne for use next day. Three battalions and one battery immediately crossed over to the northern bank and drove from the bridge the hostile detachments in its vicinity. The Division lost 275 men.

General von Alvensleben had delayed the advance of the IIIrd Corps till eleven o'clock, in antic.i.p.ation of the arrival of the 12th Brigade.

During the night (10--11th) the French had completed their entrenchments on the skirts of the wood and had taken up their position there; they also lined the heights on the further side of the river with numerous batteries. Thus a frontal attack must involve heavy loss, and it was impossible to out-flank lines so extensive. General von Alvensleben therefore decided on advancing at first only against the enemy's left wing, and a.s.signed to that task the 11th Brigade. The 10th and 9th remained in reserve for the present about Change and Gue la Hart. The 12th, released at Mont-Auvours, was indeed marching up, but on circuitous ways, because the high road was everywhere entirely commanded by the batteries on the heights.