The Franco-German War of 1870-71 Part 30

The 11th Brigade, scarcely 3000 strong, followed the course of the Gue Perray streamlet up to the northern end of the wood. To protect it against the French columns threatening it from the heights, the 35th Regiment had to form front towards the brook and also occupied the Chateau of Les Arches. The 20th Regiment tried to get forward by the cattle-path, and while holding firmly the Chateau of Les Noyers and the bridge there over the Huisnes, drove back the enemy by sheer hard fighting to Les Granges. But he presently returned so considerably reinforced that the whole brigade had to be gradually brought up into the fighting line. Les Granges was lost and retaken several times with heavy loss, particularly of officers; but the Brandenburgers fought on staunchly.

On the left of the 11th the 10th Brigade now made its appearance, coming up from Change at one o'clock. After an hour-long b.l.o.o.d.y struggle the 52nd Regiment made itself master of the farm of Le Pavillon, of the wooded slope in front, and the farm of Grand Anneau. Strong columns advancing from Pontlieue were driven back, two batteries dashed up into the Cha.s.sepot fire to within 800 paces of Le Tertre; yet the 12th Regiment did not succeed in getting into the farmstead till two battalions of the 9th Brigade from Change had come up to its a.s.sistance.

The farmstead whose possession was so obstinately disputed was taken by storm at about five o'clock, with the co-operation of the Grenadiers of the 8th Life-Regiment.

The 52nd Regiment, having expended all its ammunition, had to retire, but the Grenadier battalions pushed further forward on the cattle-path, where two French guns in action were captured after a b.l.o.o.d.y melee; and the enemy's repeated attempts to recover them were steadily frustrated.

A hostile battery which had been brought up westward of the wood was driven back by quick fire.

As the 35th Regiment had to be brought forward from the Gue Perray brook to support the 20th, the French had recovered possession of Les Arches.

The 12th Brigade, only three battalions strong, arrived there from Auvours at two o'clock. The 64th Regiment recaptured the chateau after a short fight. The overwhelming artillery and musketry fire from the heights on the further side of the river prevented the German artillery from coming into action, and it was only with great difficulty and a heavy sacrifice of gunners that the pieces were brought away again; but every attack on the chateau by the French from Yvre was steadily repulsed.

It was now quite dark, and only the fire of the cannon still lasted. The IIIrd Corps had taken 600 prisoners, but had also lost 500 men. It had fought its way into the heart of the French position, and its outposts were in the closest proximity to the enemy's front. And now strong, though late, reinforcements arrived.

The Xth Corps had marched from Grand Luce to the westward in the morning, to gain the high road from Tours to Le Mans, but slippery roads again delayed its march, so that it only reached Teloche in the afternoon.

The cannon thunder heard to the northward left no doubt that General von Alvensleben was engaged in arduous fighting. The orders sent at noon from the Army Headquarter in St. Hubert sped to General Voigts-Rhetz; but that officer rightly judged that his appearance would now have a more telling effect on the enemy's flank than on the field where the IIIrd Corps was engaged. So in spite of the exhausted state of his men, who had had no opportunity to cook on the way, he at once pushed forward without halting.

To protect himself against Curten's Division on the watch for him from Chateau du Loir, he despatched a battalion to Ecommoy. It was received with firing from the houses, surrounded on all sides in the darkness, and compelled to withdraw from the place; but it then kept the road clear in the rear of the corps.

The head of the 20th Division found Mulsanne but feebly defended, and drove the detachment back beyond the cutting of La Monnerie.

The nature of the country which here had to be traversed greatly favoured the enemy. Ditches and fences afforded his marksmen complete cover, farmsteads and copses furnished excellent defensive positions.

Only eight guns could at first be brought to bear against the enemy's artillery; but nevertheless four Westphalian and Brunswick[69]

battalions steadily repelled the French, and by nightfall reached Point du Jour. The fight first became stationary on the cattle-path in front of Les Mortes Aures. Here the French swept the whole foreground with a continuous rolling fire from tiers of shelter-trenches rising one above the other.

The fight swayed to and fro for a long time, but finally the German left gained ground. The 1st Battalion of the 17th Regiment rushed on the enemy, who delivered his fire at point blank range and then made for the wood. And when now the 1st Battalion of the 56th Regiment advanced from Point du Jour, its drums beating the charge, the French carried away their mitrailleuses and evacuated Les Mortes Aures.

This battalion had received orders from the Commanding General to settle the business with the bayonet. Captain von Monbart led it on locked up close at the charging pace; all the detachments at hand joined it, and in spite of a heavy fire from the wood La Tuilerie was reached by half-past eight; and here the 40th Brigade deployed, while the 37th stood ready to support it in front of Mulsanne. The enemy drifted away in the darkness. The constant roll of wheels, the noise of departing railway trains and the confusion of cries indicated a retreat. Yet the prisoners who were constantly being brought in, with one accord reported that a strong force was still encamped in the forest. Numerous watch-fires blazed there through the night, and instead of resting, it seemed evident that the hostile troops were preparing to engage in fresh attempts. At half-past ten the outposts reported the approach of a strong force from Pontlieue.

Hitherto it had been only the little-to-be-relied-on National Guards under General Lalande at this point with whom the German troops in this quarter of the field had had to deal; but the Admiral now sent Bouedec's Division against La Tuilerie, and ordered General Roquebrune to support his advance.

For a full hour the Prussian battalions in first line were scourged with rifle fire in front and flank, and pelted by a hail-storm of projectiles, but no serious attack occurred.

According to French reports, the officers strove in vain to bring forward their troops; but the latter constantly hung back. A later a.s.sault made by Gardes-Mobiles was equally fruitless.

But still there was to be no rest. At two in the morning the din of fighting again made itself heard on the right. Deplanque's Division had been disturbed by a flank detachment of the 40th Brigade. This body was advancing by the road from Ruaudin to Pontlieue, to be at hand in case of need; without returning the enemy's fire, it had driven out the holders of Epinettes, and had established itself there close to the cattle-path.

_January 12th._--For the impending struggle of the following day only the IIIrd and Xth Corps could be counted on. The other two Corps could only co-operate indirectly by holding engaged a part of the hostile forces.

Of the XIIIth Corps the 17th Division was to advance by Lombron to St.

Corneille, without committing itself to a contest with the enemy still holding the bank of the Huisne; the 22nd was ordered from La Chapelle to Savigne. The Gue brook was to be lightly held, and part of the artillery was to remain at Connerre with the 7th Brigade of Cavalry.

On advancing it was found that the enemy had already abandoned Lombron, Pont de Gesnes, and Montfort. Arms and equipments thrown away betrayed how hurried had been the flight. Many stragglers were brought in prisoners, and it was not till reaching the Merdereau brook at noon, that the 17th Division met with opposition. The Chateau of Hyre and St.

Corneille were won about four o'clock by an enveloping attack, and 500 French were taken prisoners. The enemy was then driven back behind the Parance brook, where the advanced guard halted at dusk.

Colonel von Beckedorff's detachment of the 22nd Division marched through Chanteloup from Sille, throwing back the enemy on La Croix, where a large body of hostile troops made a stand. But when, after a long halt, the main body of the Division came up, it at once pa.s.sed to the attack.

Entire formed bodies of French here laid down their arms, and 3000 men with many officers became prisoners.

An attempt of the cavalry to advance across the Sarthe to break up the railway on the further side of the river was, however, unsuccessful.

The whole force occupying the heights of Auvours surrendered to the IXth Corps. The 35th Brigade marched up to Villiers, but patrols sent ahead soon reported that the French had retired across the Huisne. When the noise of fighting was heard at mid-day from St. Corneille, the brigade in question was ordered to proceed northward to support the 17th Division engaged there. The 84th Regiment, pa.s.sing through La Commune, lent efficient a.s.sistance in the attack on Chateau Hyre. Outposts were left on the Parance for the night, but the main body of the 35th Brigade returned to Fatines, and the 36th took up quarters between Villiers and St. Mars la Bruyere.

By the battle of the previous day the position of the French before Le Mans had been forced; but they still stood firm behind the Huisnes, and as their left wing had been driven in on their centre, the latter section had been considerably strengthened. There still remained the stream to be crossed, and the steep slope to be climbed, where every row of the vineyards in terraced ascent was held by strong firing lines, and the crest of which was crowned with batteries. The pa.s.sage of the Huisnes near Ivre, on the left, was covered by entrenchments with special carefulness, and the ground in front of the wood of Pontlieue had been made impa.s.sable in many places by abatis. Against such a position the artillery could be of little and the cavalry of no service, while deep snow hampered every movement of the infantry. General von Alvensleben therefore decided on standing for the present on the defensive with his right wing, while he prepared to support the advance of General von Voigts-Rhetz with his left.

The troops were roused from their short rest at six in the morning. Two French companies made their way towards the bridge at Chateau Les Noyers with powder-bags, but they were compelled to retreat, leaving the explosives behind them. At eight o'clock the French made a determined attack on the outposts of the 12th Regiment in the wood, and drove them in on Le Tertre. Again a combat raged furiously about this farmstead, which was almost demolished by sh.e.l.l fire. One by one the last battalions of the 10th Brigade were drawn into the struggle, to replace bodies which, their ammunition exhausted, had to retire. Only four guns could be used with effect, but by eleven o'clock the enemy's fire gradually died away, and he was seen to retire on Pontlieue. The battalions of the left wing pursued, and came out on the Parigne road in immediate touch with the Xth Corps.

General von Voigts-Rhetz had left two battalions at Mulsanne, for his protection from the direction of Ecommoy; the whole Corps, after many detachments had been unavoidably detailed from it, was a.s.sembled by about half-past seven for a further advance on Pontlieue. The main body of the 20th Division closed up by the Mulsanne road on La Tuilerie.

Three battalions of the 19th Division ma.s.sed at Ruaudin to strengthen the sideward detachments in Epinettes, while two battalions with the 14th Cavalry Brigade and the Corps' artillery, which could find no opening in the region further to the left, moved up by the roads from Parigne.

The reinforcement meanwhile arrived from Ruaudin, and General von Woyna made his way without hindrance through the forest to La Source, where he halted at one o'clock, his front parallel with that of the 20th Division. A heavy battery of the latter had already driven away the French mitrailleuses in front of Pontlieue. On the right a light battery of the 19th Division was brought up to La Source, and ten horse-artillery guns on to the road from Parigne. The atmosphere was, however, so thick that their fire could only be directed by the map.

At two o'clock General von Kraatz advanced in close column on Pontlieue, whither General von Woyna was now also marching. The southern part of the village was taken after a slight resistance; but on the further side of the Huisne the French held the houses along the river-bank, and just as the Germans approached the bridge it was blown up. The demolition, however, was not complete, and the foremost battalions got across over the debris to reach the enemy. Two made their way into the high street of Pontlieue, one turned left to the railway station, whence were heard signals for departing trains. Nothing interposed to hinder the railway bridge here from being blown up, and thus many prisoners were taken, besides 150 provision waggons and 1000 hundred-weight of flour.

The artillery fire was immediately directed on the town of Le Mans.

Meanwhile the detachments of the IIIrd Corps, which had become mixed up in the forest fight, had re-formed. After a ration of meat, the first for three days, had been served out to the troops, the 10th Brigade resumed its march. The Brandenburg Jager Battalion crossed the river by the paper-mill of L'Epau, and two batteries strengthened from Chateau Funay the artillery fire directed on Le Mans.

When presently the infantry entered the town, a fierce struggle began in the streets, which were entirely blocked by the French trains. Entrance into individual houses had to be cleared by artillery fire; a large number of French were taken prisoners, and a vast quant.i.ty of waggons were seized. The fighting lasted till nightfall, and then the Xth Corps and half of the IIIrd took up alarm quarters in the town. The 6th Division took possession of Yvre, which the enemy had abandoned, and threw out foreposts to Les Noyers and Les Arches on the further side of the Huisne.

The actions fought by the French on this day, had been engaged in for the sole purpose of gaining time for the extrication of the army.

On learning from Admiral Jaureguiberry that every effort to get the troops to advance had failed, and that the last reserves were shattered, General Chanzy had at eight in the morning issued orders for a general retreat on Alencon, where the Minister of War had arranged for the arrival of two Divisions of the XIXth Corps from Carentan.

The advance of the IInd Army to Le Mans had been a series of seven days'

incessant fighting. It was made at a season when the winter was in extremest severity. Ice and snow-drifts had rendered every movement one long struggle. Bivouacking was out of the question; and the troops had to seek their night shelter often at a distance of some miles in rear; their rea.s.sembling in the morning cost precious hours, and the shortness of the day then prevented their taking full advantage of their successes. Whole battalions were employed in guarding the prisoners. The roads were in such a state that the trains of the army could not be brought up; officers and men alike marched insufficiently clothed and on scanty rations. But zeal, endurance, and discipline conquered every difficulty.

The army had sacrificed in this prolonged struggle 3200 men and 200 officers, the larger half belonging to the IIIrd Corps alone. Many companies fought under the command of non-commissioned officers.

The French estimated their losses at 6200 men, and 20,000 taken prisoners; seventeen guns, two colours, and an abundant supply of materiel remained as trophies in the hands of the victors.

After exertions so severe the troops imperatively needed some rest. The instructions from the supreme Headquarter were that the operations were not to be extended beyond a certain limit; and it was possible that the services of the IInd Army might almost immediately be required on the Seine and the Loire. Prince Frederick Charles therefore determined to follow up the retreating enemy with only a small force.

On the French side, that each Corps might have a separate road for the retreat to Alencon, two Corps had necessarily to draw out westward in the first instance. On the evening of the last day's fight the XVIth Corps reached Chauffour on the Laval road, and the XVIIth Conlie on the road to Mayenne, each covered by its rear-guard. The XXIst was a.s.sembled at Ballon, on the left bank of the Sarthe. From these points all were to march in a northerly direction. General Chanzy still deluded himself with the hope of coming up by Evreux to the a.s.sistance of the besieged capital. He would have had thus to make a wide circuit--an arc by moving on the chord of which the Germans could easily have antic.i.p.ated him; and in a country where all arms were available, his army, in the condition to which it was now reduced, must have inevitably been destroyed.

Ultimately the defeated French army retired in the direction to the westward of the Sarthe.

After the distribution of rations and forage, General von Schmidt set forth at mid-day on the 13th with four battalions, eleven squadrons, and ten guns, and reached Chauffour after some skirmis.h.i.+ng. The XIIIth Corps advanced to the Sarthe, the 17th Division sending its outposts across the river at Neuville, and the 22nd drove the French out of Ballon, whence they retired in full flight to Beaumont. The XXIst French Corps had taken up quarters this day at Sille. The National Guards of Brittany fled wildly to Coron, and thence made homeward toward their own province. They were joined by the troops left in camp at Conlie, after the camp there had been plundered. The XVIIth Corps also went off, without halting by the Vegre as it had been ordered to do, but retreating direct on Ste. Suzanne. The XVIth withdrew on Laval, leaving Barry's Division at Cha.s.sille as rear-guard. Numbers of abandoned waggons and cast-away arms, everywhere testified to the demoralization of the defeated forces.

On the 14th the French were driven out of Cha.s.sille. The XVIth Corps had by this time almost entirely lost its organization; it retired during the night to St. Jean sur Erve. In the camp at Conlie were found 8000 stands of arms and 5,000,000 cartridges, as well as various other war materiel.

The Grand Duke had marched on Alencon along the right bank of the Sarthe. The French in Beaumont made a feeble resistance to the advanced guard of the 22nd Division, and lost 1400 prisoners.

On the following day General von Schmidt advanced further on the road to Laval, but found that the French had concentrated at St. Jean and posted a strong force of artillery on the heights behind the Erve. The Oldenburg Regiment[70] forced its way as far as the church of the little town, and the Brunswickers drove the enemy back on Ste. Suzanne, higher up the river, but there the pursuit ended.

Barry's and Deplanque's Divisions, according to the French estimate, had now no more than 6000 fighting men, and Curten's Division had still not yet come up, but this strength was considerably superior to that of the weak German detachment confronting it. The rest of the Xth Corps was moving up in support, but had as yet only reached Chasille. A battalion advancing from Conlie came into conflict at Sille with the XXIst French Corps a.s.sembled there, and sustained heavy loss. The 22nd Division of the XIIIth Corps also met with serious opposition before reaching Alencon, from the National Guards and the volunteers under Lipowski; and the attack on the town was postponed till next day.

But on the following morning the French positions in Alencon as well as in Sille and St. Jean were abandoned. Those places were at once occupied by the Germans, and General von Schmidt marched forward, close up to Laval. Numerous stragglers from the retreating army were taken prisoners.

Behind the Mayenne, whither now Curten's Division had arrived, the remnants of the IInd Army of the Loire re-a.s.sembled. Reduced to half its original strength, and its morale gravely shaken, it could but be unfit for service for a long time to come, and the object of the German advance on Le Mans was fully attained.

To the north of Paris, however, the French were meanwhile threatening a renewed offensive. It was necessary to draw in on the Somme the portions of the Ist Army which were still on the Lower Seine; and orders came from the supreme Head-quarter that the XIIIth Corps of the IInd Army should march on Rouen.