The Franco-German War of 1870-71 Part 35

_January 17th._--On this morning eight battalions, two squadrons, and four batteries were a.s.sembled in Frahier. Three of the battalions advanced on the northern, three on the southern part of Chenebier; the others remained in reserve at the windmill, where also three 15 cm.

cannon were to be stationed.

At half-past four a.m. the first column, advancing in dead silence, surprised an outpost of the enemy's at Echevanne, but it was unavoidable that its rifle fire should make the French in Chenebier aware of the danger by which they were menaced. In the wood north of the village, the Germans met with serious resistance; and the danger that in the darkness and the dense undergrowth the troops might fall on each other obliged their withdrawal to the outer edge of the wood.

The other column, advancing in the valley of the Lisaine, had quickened its pace from Moulin Colin as soon as the first shots were heard. The 2nd battalion of the 4th Baden Regiment rushed with cheers into the southern part of Chenebier, where a great confusion ensued. But daybreak showed that the heights on the west of the village were strongly occupied, and that columns of all arms were approaching from Etobon. At 8.30 Colonel Payen had to resolve on retirement from the half-conquered village, carrying with him 400 prisoners, and on taking up a position at the Bois de Fery, to cover the road to Belfort through Chalonvillars.

At the same time the right column, strengthened by a battalion from the reserve, renewed the attack on the wood, and after a struggle which lasted for two hours with heavy losses on both sides, at last took possession of it. But the attempt to penetrate into the barricaded and strongly-defended village was vain. A destructive fire met every attack; a single round of mitrailleuse fire, for instance, struck down twenty-one men of the Baden a.s.sailants. At three o'clock in the afternoon General Keller therefore a.s.sembled his troops at Frahier, where they were supported by four batteries.

With such inferior strength, and after failing in this attempt, it was useless to think of driving back the enemy beyond Chenebier; the only course to pursue was to hinder his further advance on Belfort. And this object was fully accomplished; the French did not pursue. Instead of out-flanking the German right, they seemed chiefly concerned for their own left. They defended Chenebier stoutly, but gave up all further offensive movements.

While awaiting the expected success of the out-flanking movement, General Bourbaki's intention seems to have been merely to occupy the enemy along his front and to hold him fast where he stood. Even during the night the Germans were alarmed at Bethoncourt and before Hericourt, while they, on their part, disturbed the French at Bussurel and in the Bois de La Thure. The infantry fire went on for hours, and numerous detachments had to spend the bitter winter's night under arms. In the morning two Divisions of the XVIIIth French Corps advanced on Chagey and Luze, but their batteries, although supported by the artillery of the Army Reserve, they could not advance against those of the Germans, and repeated attacks on those villages were unsuccessful. After one o'clock a cannonade only was maintained here. In front of Hericourt also there was an exchange of sh.e.l.l fire, and Bussurel, held by the French, was set on fire.

To drive the French out of Montbeliard, the town was fired on from La Grange Dame and from the Chateau, but ceased when the inhabitants begged forbearance on the a.s.surance that the place was evacuated, which subsequently proved not quite true. Ten battalions of the French XVth Corps advanced from the woods in the forenoon, and tried to push on past Montbeliard, but suffered severely from the flanking fire of the heavy guns at La Grange Dame, and only a handful got into the valley of the Lisaine. The western exits from Montbeliard, and the heights immediately behind it, remained in French possession, but the offensive movements ceased at about two in the afternoon.

Further to the south, General von Debschitz's posts in front of Allaine had easily repulsed the French a.s.sailants.

On the German side there was now the conviction that no further attack would be attempted.

The condition of the French troops, not yet inured to war, was, in fact, very critical. They had been obliged to bivouac in the bitterly cold nights, sometimes under arms, and for the most part without food. Their losses were not inconsiderable, and the superior officers whom the commanding General a.s.sembled at three in the afternoon, in the neighbourhood of Chagey, expressed their objections to a yet more extensive outflanking attempt to the left, since supplies would be utterly impossible, and the risk would be entailed of the Germans seizing the line of the communications of the army through Montbeliard.

Then came the news that the heads of General von Manteuffel's Corps had already reached Fontaine-Francaise, and were also approaching Gray.

In these circ.u.mstances General Bourbaki considered he must resolve on a retreat. He telegraphed to the Government that by the advice of his generals, and to his deep regret, he had been compelled to take up a position further in the rear, and only hoped that the enemy might follow him. Hence this experienced general could have felt no doubt that his army, its attack on the Lisaine, once gone to wreck, could only escape from a very critical position by an immediate retreat.

_January 18th._--This morning the Germans were under arms in their positions of the previous day, the French still in full force before the whole front. It was significant that they were busy in the construction of earthworks. They had evacuated Montbeliard the evening before in disorderly retreat, and now held the country west of the place in strength and entrenched.

During this day nothing occurred but a cannonade and small skirmishes.

General Keller having been reinforced came up on the right, and as the enemy retired to Etobon he was able to re-occupy Chenebier in the afternoon. Further north, Colonel von Willisen again marched on Ronchamp. In the centre Coutenans was taken possession of, and the enemy driven out of Byans by artillery fire; but on the other hand the Germans could not yet penetrate the belt of forest. On the southern bank of the Allaine General von Debschitz's detachments drove the enemy back beyond the line Exincourt-Croix.

In the three days' fighting on the Lisaine the Germans lost 1200, the French from 4000 to 5000 men.

In spite of much necessary detaching, and of the threatening proximity of the enemy, the siege-works against Belfort were uninterruptedly carried on, and as soon as the complement of the investing forces was again made up, General von Werder followed the retiring French to Etobon, Saulnot and Arcey.

THE ARTILLERY ATTACK ON PARIS.

(January, 1871.)

In the place of the IInd Corps, which had been a.s.signed to the German Army of the South, there had come up into the Paris front the Ist Bavarian Corps, of which Gambetta had said, "The Bavarians no longer exist." It had made so good use of its time of rest in quarters south of Longjumeau that by the beginning of the New Year it was already restored to a strength of 17,500 men, with 108 guns. It was positioned on both banks of the Seine between the VIth Prussian Corps and the Wurtemberg Division. The Wurtembergers reached from Ormesson to the Marne, from which river the Saxons extended rightward to the Sausset brook, so as to narrow the front of the Guard Corps now that the Moree was frozen over and afforded no cover.

The duty of watching so vast a place of arms as Paris had made great demands on the endurance of the troops.

The French had gradually so extended their entrenchments outwards from Villejuif and Bruyeres, that they threatened to outflank the IInd Bavarian Corps. To thwart such a flank attack the VIth Corps was obliged to keep a strong force constantly in readiness at L'Hay.

It need not be said that the supporting troops on the south front could nowhere be safe from the fire of the heavy fortress guns, nor the foreposts from that of the Cha.s.sepots. The latter consequently often could not be relieved for several days, and the relief was usually effected at night. The less the success of the French arms in the open field, the more lavish were they in the expenditure of ammunition from their works. Mont Valerien hurled its giant sh.e.l.ls to a distance of from four to five miles, but this incessant cannonade, to the din of which the ear was soon accustomed, did little damage.

THE ARTILLERY ATTACK ON THE SOUTHERN FRONT.--Till Mont Avron was taken, the Germans had only been able to oppose field guns to French fortress artillery. But early in January their preparations were at last so far forward that seventeen batteries, long since completed, could be armed with heavy guns against the south front of Paris. A battery stood apart on the left flank in the park of St. Cloud to the north of Sevres; four were close together on the steep slope of the height west of the Chateau Meudon; five on the edge of the plateau of Moulin de la Tour, where the mill, serving to guide the aim of the enemy, had been blown up. Four more batteries occupied a lower position between Fontenay and Bagneux.

Two, between Chevilly and La Rue, served as protection against a flank movement from Villejuif, with the field artillery of the IInd Bavarian and VIth Corps. Dressing-stations were prepared, and intermediate depots were supplied with reserve ammunition from the great magazines at Villacoublay.

Under Generals von Kameke[78] and Prince Hohenlohe[79] Colonels von Rieff and von Ramm conducted the artillery attack, General Schulz commanded the engineer attack. The men served twenty-four hours in the batteries, and then had two days' rest. The officers had but one day's rest.

The heavy guns were brought up on January 3rd, by day, into the batteries which lay covered, without any interference; into all the others during the night, after the enemy's outposts had been driven in.

Thus on the morning of the 4th 98 guns were ready to open fire: of these 28 were directed on Issy, 28 on Vanves, and 18 on Montrouge, 10 against the emplacements between the first two forts. But a thick fog hid every object, and it was not till January 5th at 8.30 in the morning, that the signal shot was given for opening fire.

_January 5th._--The enemy promptly replied. There were in Fort Valerien 106 guns, in Issy 90, in Vanves 84, and in Montrouge 52; there were about 70 in the sectors of the enceinte concerned and at Villejuif, 16-cm. guns for the most part; so the attack at first was heavily taxed.

But when at about noon all its batteries came into action, the situation gradually improved and the greater accuracy of the German fire told.

Fort Issy had almost entirely ceased firing by two o'clock, nine guns were dismounted in Vanves, and its garrison had lost thirty men; only Montrouge still replied with vigour. The fire was now taken up by the guns of the enceinte, but the forts never again gained the upper hand of the attack. Some gunboats appearing about Point du Jour very soon had to retire. The field artillery of the IInd Bavarian and VIth Corps also co-operated so energetically that no attack was attempted from the works at Villejuif, nor was a single shot fired on the batteries at Bagneux. A number of wall-pieces and long-range Cha.s.sepots taken from the enemy did such good service that the French abandoned more and more of their rayon. The German outposts took possession of the trenches of Clamart, and in the course of the night reversed them against the defence.

Only a couple of 15-cm. sh.e.l.ls were thrown into the city itself as a serious warning; the first thing to be done was to batter down the outworks, and for some few days the firing was exclusively directed on these. A stubborn return fire came from Montrouge and from a mortar-battery in a very advantageous position behind the high railway embankment to the east of Issy; and especially from the south front of the enceinte, nearly four and a half miles long in a straight line.

Foggy weather on some days necessitated the suspension or entire cessation of firing. But meanwhile the foreposts had advanced to within 815 and 490 yards of Forts Issy and Vanves respectively. New batteries were constructed further forward, and armed with thirty-six guns from those evacuated in rear.

_January 10th._--The French garrison meanwhile was again displaying great activity. On January 10th it succeeded in the dark hours in surprising the weakly-held post of Clamart. Three battalions were now posted in the place, and a shelter-trench some 1300 yards long was dug connecting Clamart with Chatillon.[80]

_January 13th._--The IInd Army of Paris was still outside the city on the east and north fronts from Nogent to Aubervillers. After some small alarms, on the evening of the 13th strong bodies advanced from Courneuve and Drancy against Le Bourget under cover of a heavy fire from the forts. But the troops in occupation there were on the alert, and being soon reinforced by several companies, repulsed the attempts of the French to storm it, repeated as they were until two o'clock in the morning.

_January 14th._--On this day the French made a renewed sortie on Clamart with 500 marine infantry and several battalions of National Guards.

These last a.s.sembled at the adjacent railway-station with a great deal of noise, and their approach was reported about midnight. The fight lasted a full hour, and ended with the retreat, or rather flight, of the a.s.sailants. Patrols followed them close up to the trenches of Issy.

The ranges were so great that hitherto the fire from the enceinte was not yet subdued. Battery No. 1, lying isolated in the Park of St. Cloud, suffered most, being fired upon from two bastions of the enceinte, from Point du Jour, and from Mont Valerien. The steep cliff behind the battery facilitated the aim of the enemy. Its parapet was repeatedly shattered, and it was only the most zealous devotion which enabled the struggle to be continued at this point. The enemy also concentrated a heavy fire on batteries Nos. 19 and 21, pushed forward into a position specially threatening to Fort Vanves. The long-range fire from the enceinte dropped from a high angle close behind the parapet, breaking through the platforms, and inflicting serious injuries on a great many gunners. The powder-magazines blew up in two of the batteries, and both the battery commanders and several other superior officers were wounded.

On the east front of Paris, the fifty-eight German guns remaining there after the reduction of Mont Avron were opposed by 151 of the enemy. The former nevertheless soon proved their superiority; the forts only occasionally came into action; the French withdrew their outposts up to the works, and altogether vacated the peninsula of St. Maur. By degrees the heavy siege-guns could be removed from their previous positions to the Moree brook.

The forts on the south front had meanwhile suffered severely. The ruin in Issy was visible to the naked eye; fires broke out there repeatedly, and the powder-magazine had to be cleared out at great risk in the night of January 16th. Fort Vanves had lost seventy men; it opened fire usually every morning, but soon became silent. Montrouge, on the contrary, on some days still fired over 500 rounds from eighteen guns.

But here, too, the casemates no longer afforded any shelter, and one of the bastions lay a heap of ruins.

In spite of the steady fire from the enceinte, a part of Paris itself was disturbed by the 15-cm. sh.e.l.ls. An elevation of 30 degrees, obtained by a special contrivance, sent the projectiles into the heart of the city. From 300 to 400 sh.e.l.ls were fired daily.

Under the pressure of "public opinion" the Government, after repeated deliberations, decided once more on a new enterprise in force, to be directed this time against the German batteries about Chatillon. The collective superior commanders agreed, indeed, that sorties could promise no success without the co-operation of a relieving army from the outside; but, on the 8th, Gambetta had announced the "victory" of the Army of the North at Bapaume, and further had promised that both the Armies of the Loire should advance. Hereupon General Trochu advised that at least the moment should be awaited when the investing army before Paris should be weakened by having to detach anew part of its strength; but he was opposed by the other members of the Government, especially by Monsieur Jules Favre. That gentleman declared that the Maires of Paris were indignant at the bombardment, that the representatives of the city must be allowed some insight into the military situation, and, above all, that negotiations ought long since to have been entered into.

Finally, on January 15th, it was determined that the German lines should be broken through at Montretout, Garches, and Buzanval.

While confusion and dissensions thus prevailed in Paris, the unity of the German nation, under the Emperor William, was solemnly proclaimed at Versailles.

FOOTNOTES:

[78] Previously commanding the XIVth Infantry Division.

[79] Previously commanding the artillery of the Guard Corps, the well-known military author, best known in England as "Prince Kraft." The slight ambiguity in the text may be removed by the more specific statement that General von Kameke was Chief Director of the Engineer attack, Prince Kraft Chief Director of the Artillery attack on Paris as a whole. On the south front Colonel von Rieff commanded the siege artillery, Major-General Schulz was Engineer-in-chief. On the north and east fronts within the Army of the Meuse Colonels Bartsch and Oppermann had the corresponding commands. Colonel von Ramm is nowhere mentioned in the official distribution of the respective staffs.

[80] A casual reader might perhaps infer from these curt sentences, that the French, having possessed themselves by surprise of the weak German post of Clamart, placed in it a garrison of three battalions. The facts were, that the French battalion was scarcely in possession of Clamart when it abandoned village and redoubt; whereupon, to guard against any future attempt on the place on the part of the French, the Germans occupied the village with three battalions and the redoubt with two companies; and further to ensure the security of the position, since it was one of some importance, connected it with Chatillon in the manner described.

BATTLE OF MONT VALeRIEN.