The Franco-German War of 1870-71 Part 8

The 93rd Regiment had carried the height to the north-east of Yoncq, and advanced in pursuit of the enemy as far as to the foot of Mont de Brune.

Four mitrailleuses and eight guns, some of them with their entire teams, fell thus into the hands of the Anhalters.

When, at half-past five, the artillery had come up into position, and at the same time the 27th Regiment was approaching, General Zychlinski (commanding 14th Brigade) advanced to the enveloping attack.

The French occupied in strength the summit of the entirely isolated hill; their batteries faced to eastward against the Bois de Givodeau, whence an a.s.sault threatened; but they swiftly changed front to the south and directed a heavy fire on the 93rd and the 2nd Battalion of the 27th, as they charged up on this face while the Fusilier battalion was at the same time pressing forward from the west. Regardless of their losses, the a.s.sailants eagerly scaled the ascent, the brigade and regimental commanders at their head. Six French guns were seized while in action, in spite of a brave resistance by the gunners and covering troops, and the enemy was pursued as far as the Roman road. Here four more guns, completely horsed, which had been abandoned by the artillerymen, fell into the hands of the conquerors.

The three battalions[19] hurried on towards Mouzon, without waiting for the support of the[20] 14th Brigade following in rear, but they suddenly found themselves threatened by a cavalry-charge.

Marshal MacMahon had recognized the fact that the only thing left him now to do was to effect as orderly an evacuation as possible of the left bank of the Meuse; the reinforcements sent across from the right had already been recalled. The 5th Cuira.s.sier Regiment alone still remained.

When, a little to the north of the Faubourg de Mouzon, it was reached by the fire of the advancing Prussians, the French regiment hurled itself upon the enemy with a n.o.ble contempt for death.

The shock struck the 10th Company of the 27th Regiment. The soldiers, without closing their ranks, waited for the word of command of their leader, Captain Helmuth, and then fired a volley at close range, which struck down eleven officers and 100 men, the brave commander of the band of hors.e.m.e.n falling fifteen paces in front of his men. The survivors rushed back towards the Meuse, and, as all the bridges had been removed, they strove to gain the other side by swimming.

Considerable ma.s.ses of the enemy were still in front of Mouzon, and upon these the batteries of the IVth Corps, as one after another they came into action, directed their fire. Two Bavarian batteries brought under their fire the bridge at Villers, lower down the river, and prevented it from being used. Then the suburb was carried after a fierce encounter, and here too the bridge across the Meuse was taken and held. The enemy, deprived of every way of retreat, received with a hot fire the 8th Division emerging from the valley of the Yoncq, but was gradually driven back towards the river. The French troops in front of the Bois de Givodeau were also in a hopeless plight; they were a.s.sailed by the 7th Division and XIIth Corps, and were dispersed after an obstinate struggle. By nightfall the French had ceased their resistance on the hither side of the Meuse. Many lagging stragglers were taken prisoners, others hid themselves in the copses and farmhouses, or tried to escape by swimming the river.

In this battle, as in the preceding ones, the attack suffered far heavier loss than the defence. The Army of the Meuse lost 3500 combatants, the preponderating loss falling on the IVth Corps. The French estimated their loss at 1800; but in the course of the day and on the following morning, 3000 prisoners, mostly unwounded, fell into the hands of the victors, with 51 guns, 33 ammunition and many other waggons, and a military chest containing 150,000 francs. And, what was of supreme importance, by the result of this battle the French army had been driven into an extremely unfavourable position.

While the IVth Corps had been chiefly sustaining the day's battle, the Saxon Cavalry had pushed forward on the right bank of the Meuse, and had reconnoitred towards Mouzon and Carignan. The Guard Corps reached Beaumont, and General von der Tann with the 1st Bavarian Corps was at Raucourt, having marched by way of La Besace with some slight skirmis.h.i.+ng on the way. The IInd Bavarian Corps was a.s.sembled at Sommauthe, the Vth Corps had reached Stonne, the XIth, La Besace. Thus seven Corps now stood in close concentration between the Meuse and the Bar.

The King rode back to Buzancy after the battle, as all the villages in the vicinity of the battle-field were crowded with the wounded. Here, as previously at Clermont, was felt the great inconvenience of inadequate lodging for hundreds of ill.u.s.trious guests and their suites, when, for once in a way for military reasons, head-quarters were established in a small village, instead of in a large town. Shelter for those officers whose duty it was to prepare the necessary orders for the morrow was only found late at night, and with considerable difficulty.

These orders instructed that on the 31st two Corps of the Army of the Meuse should cross over to the right bank of the river, to prevent the possibility of further progress of the French to Metz by way of Montmedy. Two Corps of the army besieging Metz were besides already posted in that direction about Etain and Briey. The IIIrd Army was to continue its movement in the northward direction.

As the situation had now developed itself, it already seemed within sight that the Army of Chalons might be compelled to cross over into neutral territory, and the Belgian Government was therefore asked through diplomatic channels to concern itself with its disarmament in that event. The German troops had orders at once to cross the Belgian frontier, should the enemy not lay down his arms there.

While the Vth French Corps was still fighting about Beaumont, and when the rest of the army had crossed the Meuse, General MacMahon had ordered the concentration of his army on Sedan. He did not intend to offer battle there, but it was indispensable to give his troops a short rest, and provide them with food and ammunition. He then meant to continue the retreat by way of Mezieres, which General Vinoy was just then approaching with the newly-formed XIIIth Corps. The Ist Corps, which had arrived at Carignan early in the afternoon, detached two of its divisions to Douzy in the evening to check any further advance of the Germans.

Though any pursuit immediately after the battle of Beaumont was prevented by the intervening river, the retreat of the French soon a.s.sumed the ominous character of a rout. The troops were utterly worn out by their exertions by day and night, in continuous rain and with but scanty supplies of food. The marching to and fro, to no visible purpose, had undermined their confidence in their leaders, and a series of luckless fights had shaken their self-reliance. Thousands of fugitives, crying for bread, crowded round the waggons as they struggled forward to reach the little fortress which had so unexpectedly become the central rallying point of a great army.

The Emperor Napoleon arrived at Sedan from Carignan late in the evening of the 30th; the VIIth Corps reached Floing during the night, but the XIIth Corps did not arrive at Bazeilles until the following morning. The Vth Corps mustered at the eastern suburb of Sedan in a fearfully shattered state, followed in the afternoon of the 31st by the Ist, which, after many rear-guard actions with the German cavalry, took up a position behind the Givonne valley. To pursue the march to Mezieres on that day was not to be thought of. The XIIth Corps had that same evening to show a front at Bazeilles, where the thunder of their cannon already heralded the arrival of the Germans. The destruction of the bridges there and at Donchery was ordered, but the order remained unexecuted, owing to the worn-out condition of the men.

_August 31st._--Of the army of the Meuse the Guard and 12th Cavalry Divisions had crossed the Meuse at Pouilly, and by a pontoon bridge at Letanne, and swept the country between the Meuse and the Chiers.

Following close upon the rear of the French and hara.s.sing them in skirmishes till they reached their new position, they brought in as prisoners numbers of stragglers. The Guard Corps then crossed the Chiers at Carignan and halted at Sachy; the XIIth pushed on to about Douzy on the Meuse,[21] while its advanced guard thrust ahead on the further side (of the Chiers) as far as Francheval. The IVth Corps remained at Mouzon.

The 4th Cavalry Division of the IIIrd Army reconnoitred in the direction of Sedan, drove back the French outposts from Wadelincourt and Frenois, and, moving from the latter place, seized the railroad under the fire of hostile artillery. The 6th Cavalry Division on the left flank proceeded on the way to Mezieres as far as Poix.

When the Ist Bavarian Corps reached Remilly before noon, it came under heavy fire from the opposite side of the river, and at once brought up its batteries in position on the hither slope of the valley of the Meuse. A sharp cannonade ensued, by the end of which sixty Bavarian guns were engaged. It was only now that the French attempted to blow up the railway bridge south of Bazeilles, but the vigorous fire of the 4th Jager Battalion drove off the enemy with his engineers, the Jagers threw the powder-barrels into the river, and at midday crossed the bridge. The battalion entered Bazeilles in the face of a storm of bullets, and occupied the northern fringe of the straggling place. Thus the XIIth French Corps was forced to move up into a position between Balan and Moncelle, where, having been reinforced by batteries belonging to the Ist Corps, it had to encounter, and that with considerable waste of power, the daring little band of Germans.

General von der Tann[22] did not however hold it advisable to commit himself on that day to a serious conflict on the further side of the Meuse with a closely compacted enemy, while his own Corps was still unconcentrated; and, since the weak detachment in Bazeilles had no hope of being reinforced, it withdrew therefrom at about half-past three without being pursued.

Meanwhile two pontoon bridges had been laid at Allicourt, without molestation from the French. These and the railway bridge were barricaded for the night, while eighty-four guns further secured them from being crossed. The Ist Bavarian Corps went into bivouac at Angecourt, the IInd at Hancourt.

To the left of the Bavarians the XIth Corps marched towards Donchery, followed by the Vth. The advanced guard found the place unoccupied, and extended itself on the further side of the river. By three o'clock two other bridges were completed close below Donchery, whilst the railway bridge above the place, also found unguarded, was destroyed.

On the extreme left the Wurtemberg and the 6th Cavalry Divisions came in contact with the XIIIth French Corps, which had just arrived at Mezieres.

The King removed his head-quarters to Vendresse.

In spite of a succession of occasionally very severe marches in bad weather, and of being in regard to supplies chiefly beholden to requisitioning, the Army of the Meuse advancing on the east, and the IIIrd Army on the south, were now directly in face of the concentrated French Army. Marshal MacMahon could scarcely have realized that the only chance of safety for his army, or even for part of it, lay in the immediate prosecution of his retreat on the 1st of September. It is true that the Crown Prince of Prussia, in possession as he was of every pa.s.sage over the Meuse, would have promptly taken that movement in flank in the narrow s.p.a.ce, little more than four miles wide, which was bounded on the north by the frontier. That nevertheless the attempt was not risked was only to be explained by the actual condition of the exhausted troops; for on this day the French Army was not yet capable of undertaking a disciplined march involving fighting; it could only fight where it stood.

On the German side it was still expected that the Marshal would strike for Mezieres. The Army of the Meuse was ordered to attack the enemy's positions with the object of detaining him in them; the IIIrd Army, leaving only one Corps on the left bank, was to press forward on the right side of the river.

The French position about Sedan was covered to rearward by the fortress.

The Meuse and the valleys of the Givonne and the Floing brooks offered formidable obstructions, but it was imperative that those outmost lines should be obstinately held. The Calvary height of Illy was a very important point, strengthened as it was by the Bois de Garenne in its rear, whence a high ridge stretching to Bazeilles afforded much cover in its numerous dips and shoulders. In the event of a retreat into neutral territory in the last extremity, the road thereto lay through Illy.

Bazeilles, on the other hand, locally a very strong point of support to the Givonne front, const.i.tuted an acute salient, which, after the loss of the bridges across the Meuse, was open to attack on two sides.

FOOTNOTES:

[19] Of 27th and 93rd Regiments.

[20] Read in "rest of the."

[21] Douzy is on the north bank of the Chiers.

[22] Commanding Ist Bavarian Corps.

BATTLE OF SEDAN.

(September 1st.)

In order, in co-operation with the Army of the Meuse, to hold fast the enemy in his position, General von der Tann sent his Ist Brigade over the pontoon-bridges against Bazeilles so early as four o'clock in a thick morning mist. The troops attacked the place, but now found the streets barricaded, and were fired on from every house. The leading company pressed on as far as to the northern egress, suffering great losses, but the others, while engaged in arduous street-fighting, were driven out of the western part of Bazeilles by the arrival of the 2nd Brigade of the French XIIth Corps. They however kept possession of the buildings at the southern end, and from thence issued to repeated a.s.saults. As fresh troops were constantly coming up on both sides, the French being reinforced to the extent even of a brigade of the Ist and one of the Vth Corps, the murderous combat long swayed to and fro; in particular the struggle for the possession of the Villa Beurmann, situated in front of the exit, and commanding the main street throughout its whole length, lasted for a stricken hour. The inhabitants took an active part in the fighting, and so they inevitably drew fire upon themselves.

The fire of the strong array of guns drawn up on the left slope of the valley of the Meuse naturally could not be directed on the surging strife in Bazeilles, which was now blazing in several places, but at eight o'clock, on the arrival of the 8th Prussian Division at Remilly, General von der Tann threw his last brigades into the fight. The walled park of the chateau of Monvillers was stormed and an entrance won into the Villa Beurmann. The artillery crossed the bridges at about nine o'clock, and the 8th Division was requested to support the combat in which the right wing of the Bavarians was also engaged southward of Bazeilles about Moncelle.[23]

In this direction Prince George of Saxony[24] had so early as five o'clock despatched an advanced guard of seven battalions from Douzy.

They drove the French from Moncelle, pressed ahead to Platinerie and the bridge there, and, in spite of the enemy's heavy fire, took possession of the houses bordering the further side of the Givonne brook, which they immediately occupied for defensive purposes. Communication with the Bavarians was now established, and the battery of the advanced guard moved up quickly into action on the eastern slope; but a further infantry support could not at first be afforded to this bold advance.

Marshal MacMahon had been struck by a splinter from a sh.e.l.l near Moncelle at 6 a.m. He had named General Ducrot as his successor in the chief command, pa.s.sing over two senior Corps commanders. Apprized of this promotion at seven o'clock, that General issued the necessary orders for the prompt a.s.semblage of the army at Illy, in preparation for an immediate retreat on Mezieres. He had already despatched Lartigue's Division of his own Corps to safeguard the crossing of the Givonne ravine at Daigny; the Divisions of Lacretelle and Ba.s.soigne were ordered to take the offensive against the Saxons and Bavarians, to gain time for the withdrawal of the rest of the troops. The divisions forming the second line were to start immediately in a northerly direction.

But the Minister of War had appointed General de Wimpffen, recently returned from Algiers, to the command of the Vth Corps in room of General de Failly, and had at the same time given him a commission empowering him to a.s.sume the command of the Army in case of the disability of the Marshal.

General de Wimpffen knew the army of the Crown Prince to be in the neighbourhood of Donchery. He regarded the retreat to Mezieres as utterly impracticable, and was bent on the diametrically opposite course of breaking out to Carignan, not doubting that he could drive aside the Bavarians and Saxons, and so succeed in effecting a junction with Marshal Bazaine. When he heard of the orders just issued by General Ducrot, and at the same time observed that an a.s.sault on Moncelle seemed to be taking an auspicious course, he produced--to his ruin--the authoritative commission which had been bestowed on him.

General Ducrot submitted without any remonstrance; he might probably not have been averse to be relieved of so heavy a responsibility. The Divisions of the second line which were in the act of starting immediately were recalled; and the further advance of the weak Bavarian and Saxon detachments was soon hard pressed by the impact of the first stroke of the enemy rus.h.i.+ng on to the attack.

By seven in the morning, while one regiment of the Saxon advanced guard had gone in upon Moncelle, the other on its right had to concern itself with the threatening advance of Lartigue's Division. With that body it soon became engaged in a heavy fire-fight. The regiment had laid down its packs on the march, and had omitted to take out the cartridges carried in them. Thus it soon ran short of ammunition, and the repeated and violent onslaughts of the Zouaves, directed princ.i.p.ally against its unprotected right flank, had to be repulsed with the bayonet.

On the left in this quarter a strong artillery line had gradually been formed, which by half-past eight o'clock amounted to twelve batteries.

But Lacretelle's Division was now approaching by the Givonne bottom, and dense swarms of tirailleurs forced the German batteries to retire at about nine o'clock. The guns, withdrawn into a position at a somewhat greater distance, drove back with their fire the enemy in the hollow, and presently returned to the position previously occupied.

The 4th Bavarian Brigade had meanwhile pushed forward into Moncelle, and the 46th Saxon Brigade also came up, so that it was possible to check the trifling progress made by Ba.s.soigne's Division.

On the right flank of the Saxons, which had been hard pressed, much-needed supports now arrived from the 24th Division, and at once took the offensive. The French were driven back upon Daigny, with the loss of five guns. Then in conjunction with the Bavarians, who were pus.h.i.+ng on through the valley to the northward, the village of Daigny, the bridge and the farmstead of La Rapaille were carried after a bitter fight.