Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

city, notwithstanding its historic fame and its fifty occupying a line of about thirsty miles from Jargeau thousand inhabitants. to Beaugency, while his cavalry scoured the valley of the Loire for provisions.

The army of the Loire retired into comparative obscurity after its misfortunes at Orleans, and removed its headquarters to Bourges, which, as a great depot and foundry for artillery, possessed special advantages for strengthening the French in this most essential arm. Large reinforcements were also daily coming in, which General d'Aurelles des Paladines was energetically preparing for offensive operations. His first order of the day to his troops was in substance as follows:"Soldiers, what I ask of you, above all things, is discipline and firmness. I am, moreover, thoroughly determined to shoot any one who hesitates before the enemy; and should I myself fail to do my duty, I tell you to shoot me."

[ocr errors]

Between Châteaudun and the capital were the large forests of Rambouillet, Batonneau, Gazeleau, and Bienonvienne. Extending to the very neighbourhood of Versailles, these immense woods had been haunted from the first by franc-tireurs, who constantly harassed the German patrols, and from their leafy retreats had in the course of the last few weeks shot at and killed many a solitary vedette. Emboldened by impunity, these bands gradually attracted strong reinforcements from the south, until the whole district was infested by them. them. A small army was thus collected in the rear of the besiegers, not dangerous, indeed, but numerous and active enough to cause serious annoyance. General von Moltke had recently taken vigorous means to clear the country of them near Paris, in consequence of which they fell back from the neighbourhood of Versailles to the southern outskirts of the forest, where they partially fortified some of the towns, especially Chartres and Châteaudun. To prevent renewed annoyance to the besieging army of Paris, Von der Tann sent General Wittich from Orleans with 7000 infantry, a detachment of cavalry, and three batteries of artillery towards these towns, which had now become the headquarters of the franc-tireurs.

A short time after the investment of Paris was completed, the German commanders seemed disposed to abandon the system of "requisitions," which was better suited for an advancing army than for one needing regular supplies. The first steps in this direction, however, called forth proclamations forbidding the sale of food to the Germans upon any terms; and the prefect of the Eure announced that any one found disposing of corn, hay, or provisions to the enemy, would be liable to be tried by court-martial and sentenced to death. As the enemy, however, were not inclined to starve while there was anything to eat, they helped themselves to what they needed. The region north of Orleans, the so-called Beauce, was the most fertile district they had as yet entered. It supplied Paris with enormous quantities of excellent wheat, and abounded in steam and water mills. Of oats also, there was a large supply, a great acquisition for the German cavalry. The conquest of Orleans, therefore, served a very important double purpose for the Prussians. It not only relieved the army investing Paris on the south from any fear of being molested, but the rich provinces now occupied furnished such an abundance of provision as to materially relieve the railway from Germany, which the invader was now able to use more exclusively for bringing up to Paris additional troops, siege guns, and all kinds of war matériel.

[blocks in formation]

On the morning of the 18th of October the Prussians appeared before Châteaudun, which, though defended by only irregular troops, gave proof of the determined stuff of which these were made, and of what might have been done by them had they been combined under good leadership, instead of being scattered in petty bands over the whole country. About 4000 strong, they had blocked up every entrance to the town, and so skilfully posted themselves behind cover, that the Germans had to bombard the place for eight hours before they could venture on a more direct and effective attack. It was nine p.m. ere the thirty guns that had opened the work of destruction were ordered off to make way for the storming columns; but the progress of the assaulting parties was stopped by the most solid barricades yet encountered in this war of sieges. Behind a thick layer of fascines, a wall of earth was heaped up five feet high and three wide. The earth was backed by stones and felled trees, to give additional solidity to the whole, and to form a sort of breastwork

on the top. This formidable obstruction, lined with dense rows of Chassepots, proved impregnable to the infantry who advanced, drums beating, with levelled bayonets. After one or two vain attempts to get at the defenders, the artillery was set to work again, with like results; its shells bursting in the earthworks and doing comparatively little injury. Orders were then given by General Wittich to beat in the side walls of the houses, and thus penetrating from one dwelling to another, to take the barricades in the rear. But even this did not discourage the French, who disputed the possession of each house, and did tremendous execution among the engineers, as with pickaxe in hand they smashed in the walls. By this time nearly half the town was in flames, and the defenders fought with the fury of despair. At eleven o'clock the combat seems to have| ceased by mutual consent. The Prussians drew off their troops, and camped outside the town; the French, collecting their forces and the inhabitants, retreated unmolested and in good order, a fact which shows the deep impression which the desperate defence must have made upon the Prussians.

The loss of the French in killed and wounded was about 300; that of the Germans probably more, including Pastor Schwabe, chaplain to the 22nd Prussian division, who, while in attendance on the wounded, was killed in the streets of Châteaudun. The gallant defence was duly recognized by the Tours government, which declared in a decree of the 21st that Châteaudun deserved well of the country, and granted 100,000 francs in aid of the houseless inhabitants.

Chartres, the capital of the department of the Eure and Loire, and having one of the largest corn markets in France, was invested on the morning of the 21st by the Prussian division which had attacked Châteaudun, and detachments arriving from Rambouillet, Etampes, Angerville, and Patay. On finding that the German artillery had been planted before the city, the curé of Morancy begged permission to enter it in order to persuade the authorities to capitulate. General Wittich consented to grant a respite till 1 p.m., but the investment of the place was meanwhile proceeded with. Happily, the authorities agreed to a capitulation, by which half the garrison were allowed to retire; only 2000 mobiles being disarmed. The terms, more favourable than those obtained by any other

place since the commencement of the war, showed that the Germans were not unwilling to avoid a repetition of the Châteaudun street fighting. The Prussian troops entered and enthusiastically cheered Prince Albrecht, before whom they defiled. It had been stipulated that all the shops should be kept open, and that the town should be exempt from requisitions. The streets were lighted up, and the inhabitants, who collected in considerable numbers, were perfectly quiet. On the following day the troops, whose demeanour was very becoming, mustered in the famous crypt of the cathedral, and by lamp-light inspected every part of that elaborate structure.

The principal military operations during October, other than those between Paris and Orleans, were connected with the eastern department of France. Along with another army, which entered French territory across the Upper Rhine about Freiburg, General von Werder, with the Prussian and Baden troops released from Strassburg, co-operated in occupying upper Alsace, and in besieging Belfort, Schlestadt, and Neu-Breisach. From an early period of the war a very considerable force, alternately known as the army of Lyons and the army of the Rhone, was said to be forming in the south and south-eastern departments. According to French reports this army now numbered 100,000 men, and was stationed between Belfort and Langres. To disperse such a force, if it really existed, the German operations in this quarter were pushed forward with considerable energy. On October 6 the Baden troops, under General von Degenfeld, fell in with a French army under General Dupré, in the Vosges mountains between Raon l'Etape and St. Diey, about thirty miles south-east of Luneville. An engagement ensued, which lasted from 9 a.m. till 4 p.m., when the French were defeated and driven back on Rambervillers. Their force consisted of a few regular troops and a large number of franc-tireurs, altogether about 14,000 men. The Germans were only about 7000 strong, but their superior morale and the cavalry and artillery in which they vastly excelled gave them immense advantages. General Dupré was wounded, and lost 1500 in killed and disabled, and 660 prisoners; the Germans lost about 450. The villages of St. Rémy and Nompatelize and the wood of Jumelles were carried at the point of the bayonet by the Baden troops, but their victory was by no means easy, as the

French fought gallantly and made three vigorous viewed by Cambriels as equivalent to superseding onslaughts.

The beaten army retreated to Epinal, the principal town of the department of the Vosges, but was driven out on the 12th; and the capture of Epinal cut off Lorraine from the rest of France. The franc-tireurs ran away, and the national guards made the best resistance they could after the mass of the army had abandoned the town. General von Werder then turned southward and gained Vesoul, from which he drove the French so rapidly as to cut them in two, sending part on to Besançon and Dijon, and part to Belfort, in the opposite direction. General Cambriels, recently appointed by the Tours government to the command of the French army of the east, now advanced with what miscellaneous forces he could obtain, as far as Belfort. Fearing, however, to be cut off, he fell back on Besançon, where he met with Garibaldi, who had been appointed to the command of the irregular troops of the east. Garibaldi shortly afterwards removed his headquarters to Dôle, where he issued a proclamation reminding those under his command, that "in the country occupied by the foreigner, every bush, every tree, should threaten him with a shot, so that his men may fear to leave their column or cantonments. Numerous guerillas would render very difficult, if not impossible, those requisitions which hitherto a simple enemy's corporal has presumed to make wherever he sets his foot." The Italian hero recalled, in conclusion, the defence of Monte Video for nine years against 28,000 men inured to war, although that town had then but 30,000 inhabit

ants.

"Monte Video sold its palaces, its temples, its customs rights, present and to come, unearthed the old cannon which served as boundaries in the streets, forged lances to supply the place of missing guns; while the women gave to the country their last jewel. A village of France has more resources than Monte Video had then. Can we doubt of the success of the national defence ?"

There was no combined action between Garibaldi and Cambriels, whose forces the German general still pursued with relentless activity. Indeed, so far from acting in concert, after his first interview with Garibaldi, General Cambriels tendered his resignation, which was declined by Gambetta; but the government now accepted it. The appointment of the Italian leader to a command so important and apparently rival, was

him, and he was certainly not alone in regarding Garibaldi with disfavour. The acceptance of his services by the government was looked upon by all good Catholics, especially those of Brittany, as the last bitter dregs of France's humiliation. It is clear that momentary impulse rather than love or admiration had prompted the shouts of" Vive Garibaldi!" for, from his first arrival in the east, all manner of obstacles were placed in his way by those who should have assisted him. French officers viewed him with extreme jealousy, and even his own Breton auxiliaries thwarted him on every opportunity. There was no doubt that General Cambriels stood his ground as well as was possible with the material at his command; but he doubtless thought that, had the forces of Garibaldi, which had done nothing at all, been with him, his position would have been better. He shared largely, moreover, in the peculiar feelings of the Catholics towards Garibaldi, whose appointment, indeed, was soon found to be far more hurtful than advantageous to the French

cause.

how

The successor of General Cambriels was, ever, a more congenial colleague to the great guerilla chief. General Michel, who was now appointed to the command of the French forces in the east, was in sentiment a republican and a freethinker, and was one of the superior officers who managed to evade the capitulation of Sedan, by cutting his way through the Prussian lines at the head of 2000 horsemen.

Part of the Baden corps which had driven the French before them at St. Rémy on the 6th, next proceeded to invest Schlestadt, which was then subjected to a regular siege. After it had been vigorously bombarded several times, preparations were made for taking it by assault. For this purpose the south-west side was selected, as the water from the Ill could be diverted from the fosses, the ditches laid dry, and the town more effectively cannonaded. On the night of the 22nd the first parallels were easily raised at a distance of only 500 to 700 paces from the fortress, and the guns brought into position. But when the commandant saw the number of guns constantly increasing, new troops coming up, and no chance of relief, the avoiding of useless sacrifices became the subject of imperative consideration. Like his colleague at Strassburg, he had no engineer detachment, the

artillerymen only sufficed for the manning of the guns; and he therefore capitulated on Monday afternoon, October 24, surrendering 2400 prisoners and 120 guns, with abundance of provisions and

war material.

The siege of Neu-Breisach was commenced carly in the month; but as there was some apprehension that all the disposable German force might be needed in the field by General von Werder, operations were not pushed forward against the little fortress with much vigour.

The chief interest of the war in the north centered round the two towns of Soissons and St. Quentin. Soissons occupies a strategic position of the first importance, and its value, in a military point of view, as commanding a passage over the Aisne, is shown by its fortunes in the campaign of 1814, when it was besieged three times. On the 13th of February, the Prussian General Chernicheff took it by a coup de main, when General Rusca, its governor, was killed by a cannon-shot on its antiquated ramparts. But on the same day the French retook it, and Chernicheff was compelled to withdraw. Napoleon, who attached the greatest importance to the possession of it, urged its garrison to hold out to the last; and if the French governor had been an Uhrich, Marshal Blucher and the army of Silesia, pursued by Napoleon across the Marne, would probably have been annihilated. But the governor capitulated, Blucher escaped, all the emperor's plans were overthrown, and the surrender decided his fall. Owing to what it has suffered by wars, Soissons has a modern look, although it is one of the oldest towns in France. It was here that Clovis established the throne of the Franks, and his successors were called kings of Soissons. The town and fortress were dominated by heights which formerly would have given no advantage to an assailant, but from which an enemy with rifled cannon could now destroy the whole place. When Toul fell, a number of the heavy guns which had been employed there were sent to Soissons; but though invested, it was not seriously bombarded until the 12th of October. The garrison made a stout resistance, sacrificing everything to the defence of the city. As one of the suburbs, the Faubourg of Rheims, covered the position of the Prussians, it was resolved to burn it, an operation which was effected on two successive evenings. The guns of the place protected the march of the incendiaries,

who suddenly invested the high street of the faubourg. Amid a shower of bullets, the houses occupied by the Prussians were set on fire, and the French, in order to dislodge the enemy, were obliged to break open the doors with the butt-ends of their muskets. At length an enormous column of smoke shot up, and in less than an hour were destroyed more than 200 dwelling-houses, a large sugar refinery, a foundry, a mill, and the houses of the Sisters of Mercy, besides many fashionable villas. Several of the inhabitants lost their lives. On October 12 the heavy guns of the Germans opened in full force on the unfortunate city, and for four days and nights poured an incessant and furious stream of deadly missiles into it. The havoc done to the people and their houses was greater than to the fortifications, in which not more than one hundred men were killed during the bombardment. On the 16th the fortress capitulated, as two breaches opened on the previous day, and the threat of an assault by the Prussians, accompanied with the offer of honourable terms, gave resistless force to the entreaties of the population for immediate surrender. By its fall, 4700 prisoners, 130 guns, 70,000 rounds of ammunition, and a considerable sum in the military chest, passed into the hands of the Germans. A still more important acquisition by the surrender was the opening of a second line of railway from Châlons to Paris, as the direct line along the valley of the Marne was interrupted beyond Meaux by the destruction of the tunnels. and bridges. Of the 22,000 Germans under the duke of Mecklenburg, which formed the besieging force, the greater number marched at once to Paris.

To St. Quentin, a town of some 40,000 inhabitants on the line between Paris and Lille, within ten miles of the fortress of Ham, in which the ex-emperor of the French had been a prisoner for six years, the Prussians sent a considerable party to obtain provisions. On Saturday, October 8, they were announced to be at a few kilomètres' distance from the town, on the road to La Fère. The drums beat to arms. The national guards hastened to their posts. The prefect, M. Anatole de la Forge, wearing a plain uniform of the national guard, appeared in the chief square of the town with a broadsword in one hand and a revolver in the other, and urged the population to fight. Four formidable barricades had been constructed during the previous fortnight in the Rue d'Isle—one on the banks of the canal; two at 200 mètres' distance

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
« PreviousContinue »