The Franco-German War of 1870-71 Part 26

THE XIVTH CORPS IN DECEMBER.

In the south-eastern theatre of war the French had at last decided on some definite action.

Garibaldi's Corps, a.s.sembled at Autun, advanced toward Dijon on the 24th (November); its detachments closed up by Sombernon and St. Seine, with various skirmishes, and subjected to night surprises. Cremer's Division advanced as far as Gevrey from the south. But as soon as reinforcements reached Dijon from Gray and Is sur Tille, the enemy was driven back, and now General von Werder on his part ordered the 1st Brigade of his Corps to march on Autun. General Keller (commanding 3rd Infantry Brigade, Baden Division), arrived in front of the town on December 1st, driving the hostile detachments before him. The preparations had been made to attack on the following day, when orders came for a rapid retreat. Fresh troops had become necessary at Chatillon, to replace the posts which had been stationed to protect the railway and which had been surprised at Gray, to cope with sorties by the garrison of Besancon and also to observe Langres.

The Prussian Brigade (26th) marched on Langres, along with two cavalry regiments and three batteries, and on the 16th it met the French in the vicinity of Longeau, in number about 2000. They were repulsed, losing 200 wounded, fifty prisoners, two guns, and two ammunition waggons.

General von der Goltz (commanding the Brigade) in the next few days surrounded Langres, drove the Gardes-Mobiles posted outside into the fortress, and occupied a position opposite the northern front for the protection of the railways.

In the country south of Dijon fresh a.s.semblages of French troops had also now been observed. To disperse these General von Werder advanced on the 18th with two Baden Brigades on Nuits. In Boncourt, close to the town on the east, the advanced guard met with lively opposition, but carried the place by noon. The French, aided by their batteries posted on the heights west of Nuits, offered an obstinate defence in the deep railway cutting and at the Meuzin brook. When the main body of the Brigade came up at two o'clock, General von Glumer (commanding Baden Division) ordered a general attack. With heavy losses, especially in superior officers, the infantry now rushed across the open plain at the double against the enemy, who was under cover, and who, after maintaining a fire at short range, was driven back on Nuits so late as four o'clock in the course of a hand-to-hand struggle. At five o'clock he abandoned the place before the on-coming battalions.

The Germans had had to do with Cremer's Division, 10,000 strong, which lost 1700 men, among them 650 unwounded prisoners. The Baden Division had lost 900 men. It encamped for the night on the market-place of the town and in the villages to the eastward. Next morning the French were found to have retreated still further, but the Germans were not strong enough for pursuit. The XIVth Corps had already been obliged to spare seven battalions for the investment of Belfort. General von Werder therefore returned to Dijon, where he a.s.sembled all the forces still left to him with those of General von der Goltz from Langres, and waited to see whether the enemy would again advance against him. But the month of December ended without any further disturbance.

THE IST ARMY IN DECEMBER.

While the IInd Army was fighting on the Loire, General von Manteuffel, after the victory of Amiens, marched on Rouen.

General Farre was indeed at Arras, in the rear of this movement, but the disorder in which his troops had retired after the battle made it probable that he would do nothing, at any rate for the present. The 3rd Brigade, too, was left in Amiens, with two cavalry regiments and three batteries, to occupy the place and protect the important line of railway to Laon.

The outlook to the west was more serious than to the north, for from thence at this juncture hostile forces threatened to interfere with the investment of Paris. General Briand was at Rouen with some 20,000 men, and had advanced his leading troops up to the Epte, where at Beauvais and Gisors he came in contact with the Guard Dragoon regiment and the Saxon Cavalry Division detached from the Army of the Meuse. The detachment of infantry which accompanied the latter had lost 150 men and a gun in a night surprise.

When the Ist Army reached the Epte on December 3rd, both bodies of cavalry joined its further march, and the French retired behind the Andelles. The VIIIth Corps reached the vicinity of Rouen after petty skirmishes by the way, and found an intrenched position abandoned at Isneauville; and on December 5th General von Goeben entered the chief city of Normandy. The 29th Brigade advanced on Pont Audemer, the Ist Corps crossed the Seine higher up at Les Andelys and Pont de l'Arche.

Vernon and Evreux were occupied, whence numbers of Gardes-Mobiles had retreated by railway to Liseux. On the northern bank the Guard Dragoon Regiment reconnoitred as far as Bolbec, and the Uhlan Brigade found no enemy in Dieppe.

The French had retired to Havre, and a considerable force had been conveyed in s.h.i.+ps that were in readiness, to Honfleur on the other bank of the Seine. The 16th Division continued its march on Havre, reaching Bolbec and Lillebonne on the 11th.

The already-mentioned directions from Versailles had been communicated in advance by the Chief of the General Staff, and in accordance with them General Manteuffel now decided on leaving only the Ist Corps on the Lower Seine, and returning with the VIIIth to the Somme, where the French in Arras were now becoming active.

Besides making this evident by various small encounters, on December 9th they had attacked a company detailed to protect the reconstruction of the railway at Ham, surprising it at night, and taking most of the men prisoners; while on the 11th several French battalions advanced as far as La Fere.

To check their further progress, the Army of the Meuse had meantime sent detachments to Soissons and Compiegne. General Count von der Groeben[56]

(commanding 3rd Cavalry Division) took up a position at Roye with part of the garrison of Amiens, and on the 16th met the 15th Division at Montdidier, which immediately moved up to the Somme.

Only the citadel of Amiens now remained in German occupation; but General von Manteuffel, who had not approved of the evacuation of the city, ordered its immediate reoccupation. The inhabitants had, however, remained peaceable, and on the 20th the 16th Division, which had given up the attack on Havre, arrived by way of Dieppe.

A reconnoissance fight near Querrieux made it certain that great numbers of French were drawn up on the Hallue, and General von Manteuffel now drew in the whole (VIIIth) Corps on Amiens. Reinforcements were shortly to be expected, for the 3rd Reserve Division was on the march, and had already reached St. Quentin. The Ist Corps was also ordered to send a brigade from Rouen to Amiens by railway, and the Commanding General determined to take the offensive at once with 22,600 men, all his available force at the moment.

General Faidherbe had a.s.sembled two Corps, the XXIInd and XXIIIrd. His advance on Ham and La Fere, intended to divert the Prussians from attacking Havre, had succeeded. He next turned toward Amiens, advanced to within nine miles of the city, and now stood, with 43,000 men and eighty-two guns, fronting to the west behind the Hallue. Two Divisions held the left bank of this stream for about seven miles, from its confluence at Daours up to Contay, two standing further back, at Corbie and Fravillers. The Somme secured the left flank.

On December 23rd General von Manteuffel, with the VIIIth Corps, advanced on the road to Albert. The 3rd Brigade of the Ist Corps formed his reserve. His design was to keep the French engaged by the 15th Division on their front and left wing, and with the 16th Division to outflank their right. The unexpected extension of the French right wing prevented this, and it became a frontal battle along the whole line. The greater height of the eastern bank afforded the French a commanding artillery position, and the villages lying at the foot had in every instance to be stormed.

The French had drawn in their advanced posts to this line when at eleven o'clock the head of the 15th Division reached the grove of Querrieux, and brought up a battery. Two battalions of the 29th Brigade took the village at mid-day at the first onslaught, crossed the stream, and drove the French on the further bank out of Noyelles; but they now found themselves overwhelmed by an artillery and infantry fire from all sides.

The East Prussians[57] stormed the acclivity at about four o'clock, and took two guns which were in action, but were forced to fall back into the village before the advancing French ma.s.ses.

Soon after mid-day Fechencourt was won on the left, and Bussy on the right; and the enemy after a feeble resistance was driven back across the stream. On the other hand, the German Artillery could at first do nothing against the strong and well-posted batteries of the enemy.

Vecquemont, however, was stormed, though stoutly defended, and a bitter street-fight lasted till the afternoon.

The 15th Division, against the intention of General Manteuffel, had become involved in fighting before the 16th, engaged further to the left, could afford it any a.s.sistance. Not till four o'clock did the 31st Brigade arrive in front of Behencourt, when, crossing the river by flying bridges, it threw the enemy back into the village, where he maintained a stout resistance, but had ultimately to give way. The 32nd Brigade, on the extreme left, crossed the Hallue and entered Bavelincourt.

Thus all the hamlets on the river were in German possession; but the short December day was closing in, and further progress had to be postponed till the morrow. Even in the dark the French made several attempts to recover the positions they had lost, especially about Contay, where they outflanked the German position. But their attacks were repulsed both there and at Noyelles. They succeeded, indeed, in getting into Vecquemont, but were driven out again, and were lost to the Prussians now following across the stream, who even seized Daours, so that ultimately the Germans held dominion over every pa.s.sage of the Hallue.

The battle was over by six o'clock. The troops moved into alarm-quarters in the captured villages, their foreposts standing close in front of the outlets.

The attack had cost the Germans 900 men; the defence had cost the French about 1000, besides 1000 unwounded prisoners who were taken into Amiens.

At daybreak on the 24th the French opened fire on General Manteuffel's position in the angle bounded by the Hallue and the Somme.

It having been ascertained that the enemy's strength was almost double that of the Germans, it was decided this day on the latter side to remain on the defensive, pending the arrival of reinforcements, and to strengthen the defence of the positions gained. The Army-Reserve was pushed forward to Corbie to threaten the left flank of the French.

But at two o'clock in the afternoon General Faidherbe took up his retreat. His insufficiently-equipped troops had suffered fearfully through the bitter winter night, and were much shaken by the unfavourable issue of the fighting of the previous day. He therefore drew them back within the area of the covering fortresses. When on the 25th the two Prussian Divisions and the cavalry pursued beyond Albert, and then close up to Arras and as far as Cambrai, they found no formed bodies at all in front of those places, and only captured some hundreds of stragglers.

When General Manteuffel had thus disposed of the enemy, he sent General von Mirus (commanding 6th Cavalry Brigade) to invest Peronne, while he himself returned to Rouen.

Since it had detached to Amiens six battalions as a reinforcement, the Ist Army Corps (at Rouen) now remained only two brigades strong. The French had 10,000 men on the right bank, and 12,000 on the left bank of the lower Seine. And these forces had come very close to Rouen; particularly on the south side within nine miles. Meanwhile, however, the Commanding-General had ordered back the 2nd Brigade from Amiens, and on its arrival the hostile bodies were once more driven back.

FOOTNOTES:

[56] Lieut.-General, not to be confounded with Major-General of same name commanding 14th Cavalry Brigade.

[57] Men of the 2nd battalion 33rd Regiment (East Prussian Fusiliers), belonging to the VIIIth Corps, whose territory is the Rhine Provinces.

It would be interesting to know how an East Prussian Regiment came to be incorporated into the Rhineland Corps. The Ist is the East Prussian Corps, and it was also under General v. Manteuffel, who had been the Corps Commander until the beginning of December, when its command pa.s.sed to General v. Bentheim.

THE REDUCTION OF MeZIeRES.

(1st January, 1871.)

In the northern section of hostilities, before the end of the year, the siege of Mezieres was brought to an end. After the battle of Sedan the Commandant had contributed supplies from the magazines of the fortress for the maintenance of the great ma.s.s of prisoners, and it had remained, therefore, for the time exempt from attack. Later the place precluded the use of the railroad; still it was only kept under provisional observation till the 19th of December, when, after the fall of Montmedy, the 14th Division moved up before Mezieres.

The garrison numbered only 2000 men, but it was effectively a.s.sisted by bands of volunteers outside, who displayed extraordinary activity in this broken and wooded country. The place was not completely invested till the 25th.

Mezieres stands on a mountain-spur which is surrounded on three sides by the Moselle,[58] but it is hemmed by a ring of heights. The character of the defences, which had been strengthened by Vauban, with their numerous salient angles, was not calculated to resist modern long-range artillery. The place exposed an isolated rampart of masonry in a circ.u.mference of from 2160 to 3250 yards, and although the long delay had been utilized in repairing the weak points by throwing up earthworks, a bombardment could not fail to be destructive to the defenders.

When Verdun had surrendered, heavy siege guns were brought by rail from Clermont to a position close in front of the southern face of the fortress. The only hindrance to the erection of the batteries was the state of the soil, frozen to a depth of twenty inches; and at a quarter past eight on the morning of the 31st of December 68 siege guns and 8 field-pieces opened fire. At first the fortress replied vigorously, but by the afternoon its artillery was utterly silenced, and the white flag was hoisted next day. The garrison were taken prisoners; considerable stores and 132 guns fell into the hands of the besiegers. But the chief advantage gained was the opening of a new line of railway to Paris.

FOOTNOTE:

[58] Slip of pen for "Meuse."