The Franco-German War of 1870-71 Part 27

PARIS IN DECEMBER.

In Paris General Ducrot had been busily employed in making good the losses sustained in the battle of Villiers. A part of the greatly reduced Ist Corps had to be consigned to the reserve; the IInd Army was reorganized. A projected sortie by way of the peninsula of Gennevillers and the heights of Franconville had not been approved by the government.

There was the confident expectation of seeing the Army of Orleans appear within a short time before the capital, and steps were being taken to reach it the hand, when on the 6th December a letter from General von Moltke announced the defeat of General d'Aurelle and the occupation of Orleans. A sortie to the south would thenceforth be aimless, and after long deliberation it was at length decided to break through the enemy's lines in a northern direction by a sortie in great force.

It was true that the Moree brook afforded the besiegers some cover on that side, but only so long as the ice would not bear. And there were but three German corps of the gross strength of 81,200, extended over a front of about twenty-seven miles.[59]

By way of preparation earthworks were begun to be thrown up on the 13th, between Bondy and Courneuve, the forts of the north front were furnished with a heavier artillery equipment, and the plateau of Mont Avron was occupied by batteries. Ninety rounds of ammunition were served out to each man, with six days' rations; and four days' fodder for the horses.

Packs were not to be carried, but rolled tent-pieces were to be worn as breast-protection. December 19th was the day first set for the enterprise, but there was a postponement to the 21st.

Thus, during the larger half of December the investing army had remained almost wholly undisturbed by the defenders. Regular food, warm winter clothing, and abundant supplies of comforts which the exertions of the postal service afforded, had maintained the troops in a thoroughly satisfactory condition.

The preparations which the garrison was making for a new effort did not escape the notice of the besieging forces. Deserters brought in reports of an imminent sortie. On the 20th information came from the posts of observation that large ma.s.ses of troops were a.s.sembling about Merlan and Noisy le Sec; and early on the 21st the 2nd Guard Division, by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Meuse, stood in readiness at the pa.s.sages of the Moree. Part of the 1st Division remained in reserve at Gonesse; the other portion was to be relieved by the 7th Division, and made available for action. On the right wing the Guard Landwehr Division occupied the section from Chatou to Carrieres St. Denis; on the left a brigade of the Saxon Corps held Sevran. The 4th Infantry Division of the IInd Corps moved to Malnoue to support, in case of need, the Wurtembergers, to whom was allotted the task of holding resolutely the advanced position of Joinville opposite the French.

To divert the attention of the Germans from the true point of attack, a brisk fire was to be opened in early morning from Fort Valerien; strong bodies were to a.s.sail the right wing of the Guard Corps, General Vinoy was to lead the IIIrd Army against the Saxons, and Admiral de la Ronciere was to fall upon Le Bourget with his Army Corps. This latter post, projecting as it did so prominently, it was essential to seize first of all, and not till then was General Ducrot, with the IInd Paris Army, to cross the Moree near Blanc Mesnil and Aulnay.

(COMBAT OF LE BOURGET, 21ST DECEMBER.)--Le Bourget was held by only four companies of the Queen Elizabeth Regiment, and one Guard Rifle battalion. When the mist rose at a quarter to eight, there was rained on the garrison a heavy fire from the guns of the forts and many batteries, as well as from armour-clad railway trucks. Half an hour later closed hostile columns marched on the place from east and west. In the former direction its outskirts were successfully defended for some time against seven French battalions, and on the opposite side five more were brought to a halt by the quick fire of the defenders in front of the cemetery[60]; but a detachment of marine fusiliers penetrated unhindered into the village by its northern entrance. Pressed upon on all sides by overwhelming numbers, the defenders were compelled to fall back into the southern part of the village. The garrison of the cemetery also strove to force its way thither, but part of it fell into the enemy's hands.

The French advanced only step by step, suffering heavy loss in b.l.o.o.d.y street-fighting, but they did not succeed in obtaining possession of the buildings or gla.s.s-factory. Five fresh battalions of the French reserve marched up from St. Denis on the gas-works, and battered down the garden-wall with cannon-fire, but still could not crush there the steady resistance of the Germans.

At nine o'clock the latter were reinforced by one company, and at ten o'clock by seven more companies, which in a b.l.o.o.d.y hand-to-hand struggle, fought their way to the cemetery and gla.s.s-factory. By eleven the last bodies of a.s.sailants were driven out, and Le Bourget, in expectation of a renewed attack, was occupied by fifteen companies. Two batteries of field artillery, which had been in brisk action on the Moree, were brought up to the village.

General Ducrot had meanwhile waited in vain for the signal which was to have announced the capture of Le Bourget. He had pushed forward the heads of his columns beyond Bondy and Drancy, when he was warned by the disastrous issue of the struggle on his left to abandon his intended attack on the line of the Moree.

The antic.i.p.ated important enterprise lapsed into a mere cannonade, to which the German field-guns did their best to reply. In the afternoon the French retired from the field.

They had lost, by their own account, about 600 men. The troops of the Prussian Guard Corps lost 400, but 360 prisoners remained in their hands. In the evening the outposts resumed their previous positions.

The various feigned attacks of the Parisian garrison were without effect, and produced no alteration in the dispositions made on the German side. An advance from St. Denis against Stains was repulsed, and two gunboats on the Seine had to go about in consequence of the fire of four field batteries on Orgemont. The trivial sortie on Chatou was scarcely heeded. General Vinoy indeed led forward a large force along the right bank of the Marne, but that was not till the afternoon, when the fight at Le Bourget was over. The Saxon outposts retired into the fighting position near Le Chenay. One of the battalions ma.s.sed there drove the enemy out of Maison Blanche that same evening, another made a grasp at Ville Evrart, where fighting went on till midnight; it lost seventy men, but brought in 600 prisoners. Next morning the French abandoned Ville Evrart, under heavy fire from the German artillery on the heights on the opposite side of the river.

Paris had now been invested for three months. The always distasteful expedient of a bombardment of a place so extensive could not of itself bring about a decisive result; and on the German side there was the full conviction that only a regular siege could accomplish the wished-for end. But the operations of the engineers had to be delayed till the artillery should be in a position to co-operate with them.

It has already been shown that the siege-artillery had been first employed against those fortified places which interrupted the rearward communications of the army. There were indeed 235 heavy pieces standing ready at Villacoublay; but it had proved impossible as yet to bring up the necessary ammunition for the attack which, once begun, must on no account be interrupted.

By the end of November, railway communication had been restored up to Ch.e.l.les, but the greater part of the ammunition had meanwhile been deposited at Lagny, and from thence would now have to be carried forward by the country roads. The ordinary two-wheeled country carts proved totally unfit for the transport of sh.e.l.ls, and only 2000 four-wheeled waggons had been collected by requisitions made over a wide area. There were brought up from Metz 960 more with horses sent from Germany, and even the teams of the IIIrd Army were taken into the service, though they were almost indispensable just then to contribute towards the efficiency of the army fighting on the Loire. Finally, all the draught horses of the pontoon columns, of the field-bridge trains, and of the trench-tool columns were brought into the ammunition-transport service.

A new difficulty arose when the breaking-up of the ice necessitated the removal of the pontoon bridges over the Seine. The roads were so bad that it took the waggons nine days to get from Nanteuil to Villacoublay and back. Many broke down under their loads, and the drivers constantly took to flight. And moreover, at the instance of the Chief of the Staff there was now laid upon the artillery yet an additional task to be carried out forthwith.

Though the besieged had not hitherto succeeded in forcing their way through the enemy's lines, they now set about widening their elbow room, with intent that by their counter-approaches the ring of investment should be further and yet further pushed back, until at last it should reach the breaking point. On the south side the French entrenchments already extended beyond Vitry and Villejuif to the Seine; and on the north, between Drancy and Fort de l'Est, there was an extensive system of trenches and batteries reaching to within 1100 yards of Le Bourget, which in part might in a manner be dignified with the t.i.tle of a regular engineer-attack. The hard frost had indeed hindered the further progress of these works, but they were armed with artillery and occupied by the IInd Army. And further, a singularly favourable point of support for a sortie to the east as well as to the north, was afforded to the French in the commanding eminence of Mont Avron, which, armed with seventy heavy guns, projected into the Marne valley like a wedge between the northern and southern investing lines.

(BOMBARDMENT OF MONT AVRON, DECEMBER 27TH.)--In order to expel the French from this position fifty heavy guns from Germany, and twenty-six from before La Fere were brought up under the command of Colonel Bartsch. By the exertions of a whole battalion as a working party, two groups of battery emplacements were erected in spite of the severe frost on the western slope of the heights behind Raincy and Gagny, and on the left upland of the Marne Valley near Noisy le Grand, thus encompa.s.sing Mont Avron on two sides at a distance of from 2160 to 3250 feet.

At half-past eight on the morning of 27th December those seventy-six guns opened fire. A heavy snowstorm interfered with accurate aim, and prevented any observation of the execution done. Mont Avron and Forts Nogent and Rosny replied rapidly and heavily.

The German batteries lost two officers and twenty-five gunners, several gun-carriages broke down under their own fire, and everything pointed to the prospect that no definite result would be obtained on that day.

But the batteries had fired more effectually than had been supposed. The clear weather of the 28th allowed of greater precision; the Prussian fire proved most telling, making fearful havoc in the numerous and exposed French infantry garrison. Mont Avron was silenced, and only the forts kept up a feeble fire. General Trochu, who was present in person, ordered the abandonment of the position, which was so effectually accomplished in the night by the energetic commander, Colonel Stoffel, that only one disabled gun was left behind.

On the 29th the French fire was silent, and the hill was found deserted.

The Germans had no intention of continuing to occupy the position. Their batteries now turned their fire on the forts, which suffered severely, and on the earthworks near Bondy.

By the end of the year the besiegers had succeeded in collecting the most indispensable ammunition in Villacoublay. The engineer operations were entrusted to General Kameke; the artillery was under the command of General Prince Hohenlohe.[61] The battery emplacements had long been finished, and with the dawn of the new year 100 guns of the largest calibres stood ready to open fire on the south front of Paris.

FOOTNOTES:

[59] Viz., the section of the investment line on the northern side, from the Marne above, to the Seine below Paris, held by the Army of the Meuse, consisting of the IVth, the Guard, and XIIth (Saxon) Corps.

[60] "Kirchhof" seems to stand in German not only for our "churchyard,"

but also for our "graveyard," in which latter there need be no church.

In the case of Le Bourget the church stands in the village street--the reader will remember de Neuville's striking picture--and the graveyard lies outside the shabby village, and has the aspect of the modern "cemetery." That term has therefore been used.

[61] Details as to the personnel of the artillery and engineer commands of the siege operations will be found on a later page.

THE ARMY OF THE EAST UNDER GENERAL BOURBAKI.

While the French forces were engaged in constant fighting, in the north on the Seine and the Somme, in the south on the Loire and the Saone, General Bourbaki's army had nowhere made itself prominent. Since the 8th of December, when the 6th Cavalry Division had reported its presence at Vierzon, all trace of it had been lost. It was of course of the greatest importance to the supreme Command that it should know the whereabouts of so large an army; only the IInd German Army could acquire this information, and on the 22nd it received instructions to obtain the required enlightenment by means of reconnaissances.

On this errand General von Rantzau (commanding 25th Cavalry Brigade) set out from Montargis by the right bank of the Loire towards Briare, where he found that the French had abandoned their position on the 25th; in the course of the next few days he met them, and was defeated.

The Hessian detachment was reinforced to a strength of three battalions, four squadrons and six guns, but was nevertheless driven back to Gien on the 1st of January. The French had displayed a force of several thousand Gardes-Mobiles, twelve guns, and a body of marine infantry. A noticeable fact was that some of the prisoners brought in belonged to the XVIIIth French Corps, which formed part of the Ist Army of the Loire.

A regiment of the 6th Cavalry Division sent out to reconnoitre into the Sologne, returned with the report that strong hostile columns were marching on Aubigny Ville. On the other hand, two waggon-drivers who had been taken prisoners declared that the French troops had been already moved from Bourges by rail, and the newspaper reports also pointed to the same conclusion; still, too much weight could not be attached to mere rumour as against circ.u.mstantial intelligence. It was therefore a.s.sumed at Versailles that the Ist Army of the Loire was still about Bourges, and that General Bourbaki, when again in a condition to fight, would act in concert with General Chanzy.

The two armies might attack the Germans at Orleans from opposite sides, or one might engage and detain them there, while the other marched to relieve the capital.

This, in fact, was what General Chanzy had in view. Since the 21st of December he had been resting in quarters in and about Le Mans, where railways from four directions facilitated the bringing up of new levies.

His troops had no doubt great hards.h.i.+ps to contend with there. In lack of shelter for such great ma.s.ses part had to camp out under canvas in the snow, and suffered severely from the intense cold. The hospitals were crammed with wounded and small-pox patients. On the other hand, this close concentration was favourable to the reorganization of the details and the restoration of discipline; and the news from Paris urged the General to renewed action.

General Trochu had sent word that Paris unaided could not accomplish her freedom. Even if a sortie should prove successful, the necessary supplies for the maintenance of an army could not be carried with it, and therefore nothing but the simultaneous appearance of an army from without could meet the case. Now General Chanzy was quite ready to march on Paris, but it was indispensable that he should first know exactly what Generals Bourbaki and Faidherbe were doing.

It was clearly evident that concerted action on the part of three great Army Corps could only be devised and controlled by the chief power. The General therefore sent an officer of his Staff on the 23rd of December to Gambetta at Lyons, to express his conviction that only a combined and prompt advance could avert the fall of the capital. But the Minister believed that he knew better. The first news of a quite different disposition of Bourbaki's army only reached General Chanzy on the 29th, when it was already entered upon. Nor in other respects did Gambetta's reply convey either distinct orders or sufficient information. "You have decimated the Mecklenburgers," wrote Gambetta, "the Bavarians no longer exist, the rest of the German Army is a prey to disquietude and exhaustion. Let us persevere, and we shall drive these hordes from our soil with empty hands." The plan of the Provisional Government was to be the one "which would most demoralize the German army."[62]

Under instructions so obscure from the chief authority General Chanzy, relying on his own strength, determined to make his way to Paris without other a.s.sistance; but he soon found himself in serious difficulties.

On the German side there was no time to be lost in utilizing their position between the two hostile armies, advantageous as it was so long as those armies were not too near. The simultaneous attacks on the 31st December at Vendome on the Loir, and at Briare on the Loire, seemed to indicate that the two were already acting on a concerted plan.

On New Year's day Prince Frederick Charles received telegraphic instructions to re-cross the Loir without delay, and strike at General Chanzy, as being the nearest and most imminently dangerous enemy. With this object the IInd Army was strengthened by the addition of the XIIIth Corps of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg (17th and 22nd Divisions) and the 2nd and 4th Divisions of Cavalry. And in addition the 5th Cavalry Division was detailed to the duty of covering the right flank of the advance.

Only the 25th (Hessian) Division was to be left in Orleans as a possible check on General Bourbaki, and to maintain observation on Gien. But as a further provision, in case of need against a possible advance of the IInd Army of the Loire, General von Zastrow was ordered to the Armancon with the VIIth Corps;[63] and further the IInd Corps from the besieging lines was set in march to Montargis.

Prince Frederick Charles' arrangement was to have his three corps a.s.sembled on the line Vendome--Moree by 6th January, and to order the XIIIth from Chartres on Brou.

FOOTNOTES:

[62] "Qui demoralisera le plus l'armee Allemande."