The Franco-German War of 1870-71

by Graf von Helmuth Moltke

Occurrences in the South-Eastern Seat of War up to 17th of January.

Siege of Belfort.—In the south-eastern theatre of war, the forces detailed to operate against Belfort had been only gradually brought together under cover of the XIVth Army Corps.

The town is surrounded by a bastioned enceinte. The citadel has a wide command, built as it is on lofty rocks, which, to increase the development of fire, are encircled by successive tiers of works in terrace-formation. On the left bank of the Savoureuse, newly constructed lines of defence protected the suburb and railway station. On the high adjacent ridge to the north-east the forts of La Miotte and La Justice, with the enclosing lines connecting them with the main fortress, formed a spacious intrenched camp. Hostile occupation of the lofty eminences of the two Perches (Hautes and Basses) would certainly endanger the whole defensive position, dominating as they did even the citadel from the south at a distance of only 1100 yards, and whence the works on the left bank of the river could be brought under fire. But two forts of masonry had been constructed on the Perches before the advent of the enemy, and further to strengthen the defence the nearest copses and villages, as for instance Pérouse and Danjoutin, had been intrenched.

The fortress was by no means deficient in bomb-proof accommodation. Its armament consisted of 341 heavy guns, and it was provisioned for five months.

When immediately after the opening of the campaign, the VIIth French Corps vacated Alsace, only about 5000 Gardes-Mobiles remained in Belfort, but its garrison, increased by calling in National Guards, now exceeded 17,000.

The vigilant Commandant, Colonel Denfert, laid great stress on the maintenance in force of the environs in his front. The advanced posts were every day assigned to fresh operations, which the artillery of the fortress had to cover at extreme ranges.

On the opposite side, General von Tresckow (commanding 1st Reserve Division) had available at the outset, a force of not more than twenty weak battalions of Landwehr, five squadrons and six field-batteries, in all barely 15,000 men. He had at first to confine himself to a mere investment. The troops, intrenched in the villages round a wide circumference, had to repel many sorties.

Orders were received from the supreme Headquarter to set about the regular siege of the place. General von Mertens was charged with the direction of the engineer operations, and Lieut.-Col. Scheliha with that of the artillery attack. The difficulties of the undertaking were obvious. The rocky nature of the soil could not but increase the labour of throwing up earthworks, and the cold season was approaching. The attack could be carried on successfully only from the south against the main work—the formidable citadel. Only fifty heavy guns were available for the time, and the infantry strength was not sufficient to efficiently invest the place on all sides.

In these circumstances, there devolved on General von Tresckow the task of attempting the reduction of Belfort by a mere bombardment. Towards this purpose the attack was chiefly directed from the west, in which quarter, after the enemy's garrison had been driven out of Valdoye, the infantry occupied Essert and Bavilliers, as well as the adjacent wooded heights. On December 2nd seven batteries were constructed on the plateau between these two villages by 3000 men, under cover of two battalions. The hard-frozen ground added to the difficulties of the work; yet, notwithstanding the moonlight night, the operations would appear to have escaped the attention of the besieged. When on the following morning the sun had dispersed the fog and made visible the objects, fire was opened.

The fortress replied at first but feebly, but afterwards with increasing vigour from the entire line of works, even from Forts La Miotte and La Justice at a range of 4700 yards, and the losses in the trenches were considerable.

Four more batteries in front of Bavilliers were armed, and on the fall of La Tuilerie the infantry pressed on to within 170 yards of the enemy's most advanced trenches. The artillery fire caused a conflagration in the town; but the ammunition was soon exhausted, whilst the lofty citadel maintained unchecked an effective fire, and repeated sorties on the part of the garrison had to be repelled. It was now clear, since no decisive result had followed the methods hitherto resorted to, that only by a regular attack could that be attained.

On the south Colonel von Ostrowski on December 13th had carried the French positions of Adelnans and the wooded heights of Le Bosmont and La Brosse. On the eastern point of the latter two batteries, and on its northern skirt four additional batteries had been thrown up, not without great difficulty arising from thaw having made the ground a swamp. On January 7th, fifty guns opened fire. The superiority of the artillery of the attack was soon manifest. Fort Bellevue suffered severely, and notably the fire from Basses Perches was entirely silenced.

But it was of grave importance that the village of Danjoutin, strongly garrisoned and intrenched by the enemy, stood in the way of a further advance. During the night of the 8th January seven companies attacked this position, and also from the northward at the same time took possession of the railway-embankment. With empty rifles the Landwehr hurled themselves against the enemy in the face of a hot fire, and charged along the village street up to the church. The supports hastening from the fortress were driven back at the railway-embankment, but the fight about the buildings in the southern quarter of the village lasted till towards noon. Of the defenders, twenty officers and 700 men were taken prisoners.

Typhus and small-pox had broken out in Belfort; and in the besieging force also the number of the sick reached a considerable figure, caused by arduous work in inclement weather. Most of the battalions could only muster 500 men, and this weakness led General von Tresckow to devote half his force to the lighter duty of protecting the investment from without, principally towards the south.

Trustworthy intelligence estimated the French strength at Besançon at 62,000. Although hitherto entirely inactive, this force now seemed in strong earnest to press on to the relief of the hard-pressed fortress by the line of the Doubs. On this line was the fortified château of Montbéliard, held by one German battalion, and armed with heavy guns. Between the Doubs and the Swiss frontier about Delle stood General Debschitz with eight battalions, two squadrons, and two batteries, and General von Werder concentrated the XIVth Corps at Noroy, Aillevans, and Athésans, to oppose with all his strength any interruption of the siege of Belfort.

From January 5th onwards there ensued a series of engagements in front of Vesoul, as the result of which the enemy advanced from the south and west to within four miles of that town. There could be no doubt that very considerable forces were engaged in this advance. East also of the Ognon, the enemy's posts were advanced beyond Rougemont, although in lesser force. In these actions 500 prisoners were made; and it was at once evident that besides the XVIIIth, the XXIVth and XXth Corps also formed part of Bourbaki's army; a circumstance which threw a sudden light upon a totally changed phase of the war.

Transfer of the French Army of the East to the South-Eastern Seat of War, end of December.—As had been expected by the supreme Headquarter at Versailles, about the beginning of January an attempt had been made to bring about combined action on the part of Generals Chanzy and Bourbaki. As we have already seen, the advance of the former had been thwarted by Prince Frederick Charles on the Loir, and Bourbaki had actually made preparations for an advance by Montargis to the relief of Paris. But he delayed its execution until the 19th December, when the IInd German Army had already returned to Orleans from its expedition to Le Mans. General Bourbaki had now to realize that the IInd Army would fall on the flank of his projected movement, and he thus the more readily concurred in another plan, devised by the Delegate de Freycinet, and approved of by the Dictator Gambetta.

This was for the XVth Corps to remain about Bourges and to cover that town in intrenched positions about Vierzon and Nevers; the XVIIIth and XXth were to proceed to Beaune by railway, and, when raised to a strength of 70,000 by an union with Garibaldi and Crémer, to occupy Dijon. The newly-formed XXIVth Corps was also to be moved by railway from Lyons to Besançon, where, with the forces already there, a strength of 50,000 would be attained. In co-operation with the "invincibles of Dijon," it then would be easy to raise the siege of Belfort "without even striking a blow." It was expected that the mere existence of this mass of considerably above 100,000 men would avert any attacks upon the Northern fortresses; in any case, there was the certainty of severing the enemy's various lines of communication, and the later prospect also of combined action with Faidherbe.

The railway transport of Bourbaki's army from the Loir to the Saône had already commenced by December 23rd. In the absence of all preparations, many interruptions and breaks-down in the traffic naturally occurred, and the troops suffered severely from the intense cold and from being insufficiently cared for. When Chagny and Châlons sur Saône had been reached, and it was ascertained that the Germans had already evacuated Dijon, it was decided to again entrain the troops so as to bring them nearer to Besançon; whence arose a fresh delay, and it was only in the beginning of the new year that the Army of the East stood in readiness between Dijon and Besançon. The XVth Corps was now also ordered thither, but fourteen days were required for its transportation.

The comprehensive plan of M. Freycinet, and his sanguine expectations, were essentially favoured by the circumstance that the transfer of those great bodies of troops to a remote section of the field of war had remained concealed for a fortnight from the IInd Army, as well as from the XIVth Corps, and consequently from the chief Head-quarter. Rumours and newspaper articles had no doubt given somewhat earlier hints, but General von Werder's telegram of January 5th was the first really authentic announcement by which it was known beyond doubt that the Germans now stood face to face with an entirely altered aspect of the military situation. In Versailles the appropriate dispositions and arrangements were promptly made, and steps taken for the formation of a new Army of the South.

There was available for this purpose the IInd Corps at Montargis, and half of the VIIth under General von Zastrow at Auxerre, which during this period of uncertainty had been constantly moving to and fro between the Saône and Yonne, according as the one or the other quarter appeared to be threatened. The chief command of these two Corps, to which was afterwards added that of the XIVth, was entrusted to General von Manteuffel. General von Werder could not be immediately reinforced, and for a time the XIVth Corps was thrown upon its own resources.

Notwithstanding their superiority of strength, the French did more manœuvring than fighting. General Bourbaki aimed at outflanking the left wing of the XIVth Corps, and thus entirely cutting it off from Belfort. On January 5th the XVIIIth Corps advanced by Grandvelle, and the XXth by Echenoz le Sec, on Vesoul; but, as we have seen, they there met with opposition, and as the XXIVth Corps sent to the right to Esprels learned that Villersexel was occupied by the Germans, Bourbaki determined upon a still more easterly and circuitous route. On the 8th the two Corps of the left wing marched off to the right, the XVIIIth to Montbozon, the XXth to Rougemont; the XXIVth went back to Cuse. At the same time General Crémer received orders to move from Dijon on Vesoul. On the 9th the XXIVth and XXth Corps were at Vellechevreux and Villargent on the Arcey-Villersexel road, while the head of the XVIIIth Corps reached Villersexel and Esprels.

General von Werder had no alternative but to follow this sideward movement in all haste. He ordered the Baden Division to Athésans, the 4th Reserve Division to Aillevans, and Von der Goltz's Brigade to Noroy le Bourg. The trains were put in march to Lure.

Action of Villersexel, January 9th.—Accordingly at seven in the morning the Reserve Division was sent on from Noroy to Aillevans, and began bridging the Ognon to admit of the continuation of the march. A flanking detachment of the 25th Regiment sent to the right, was fired on near Villersexel, and the attempt to carry the stone bridge at that place failed shortly after. The French with two and a half battalions occupied the town, situated on a height on the further bank of the river. Shortly afterwards reinforcements came up on the German side. Two batteries opened fire upon the place and upon the still advancing bodies of the enemy. The 25th Regiment crossed the river by the suspension bridge and broke into the walled park and into the château. At one o'clock the French were driven out of the town with the loss of many prisoners, and a pause in the fighting ensued.

The Prussian force during the fighting had been seriously threatened on its flank by the advance from Esprels of the 1st Division of the French XVIIIth Corps, with the artillery-reserve. General von der Goltz, however, opposed it by occupying the village of Moimay. He also sent to Villersexel nine companies of the 30th Regiment, to relieve the 25th Regiment there, so as to allow the latter to rejoin its own Division in the further march. His combined brigade was eventually to form the rear-guard of the whole movement.

General von Werder, who observed the considerable force in which the French were advancing on Villersexel from the south, concluded that there was less to be gained by forcing his own passage across the Ognon than by opposing that of the French, since the river covered his line of approach to Belfort. He therefore recalled the infantry already issuing to the southward from the town, and withdrew the batteries to the northern side of the river. Here the main body of the 4th Reserve Division took up a defensive position, and the Baden Division was called in on its march at Arpenans and Lure, as a much-needed reinforcement to the former.

It was already evening when large columns of the French advanced on Villersexel and shelled the town.

Favoured by the darkness, they penetrated into the park and château, from which the German garrison had already been withdrawn; and as the general condition of things did not seem to necessitate the occupation of Villersexel, the responsible officers ordered the evacuation of the town. Though hard pressed by the enemy, this movement had been nearly completed, when orders arrived from General von Werder to hold the town.

At once four battalions from the Reserve Division advanced to the renewed attack. The 25th Regiment turned about at the bridge over the Ognon and joined them. The Landwehr rushed into the ground floor of the straggling château, but the French defended themselves in the upper floors and the cellars. On the staircase and in the passages of the already burning buildings there ensued a hot and changeful combat, and the fight was maintained in the streets. Not till the General in command took the matter in hand, and himself ordered it to be broken off, were dispositions made at one o'clock in the morning for a gradual retirement, which was completed by three. The Reserve Division then recrossed the bridge at Aillevans, and occupied St. Sulpice on the right.

General von der Goltz had held Moimay until evening.

Of the XIVth Corps only 15,000 had been engaged, of whom 26 officers and 553 men had fallen. The French losses amounted to 27 officers and 627 men; and they also left behind in the hands of the Germans 700 unwounded prisoners. The French troops which chiefly took part in the operations were the XVIIIth and XXth Corps; the XXIVth Corps, on account of the fighting in its rear, had suspended its march to Arcey through Sevenans. Detachments of the gradually incoming XVth Corps advanced from southward in the direction of Belfort.

On the morning of January 10th, General von Werder massed his Corps in the vicinity of Aillevans, ready to engage the enemy should the latter attempt an advance through Villersexel. But no attack was made, and so the march could be resumed that same morning. As a matter of fact, the French with three Corps were as near to Belfort as the Germans were with three Divisions. To cover the departure the Reserve Division took up a position at Athésans, and on the following day all the forces reached and occupied the line of the Lisaine. On the right wing about Frahier and Chalonvillars stood the Baden Division; in the centre, the Reserve Brigade between Chagey and Couthenans; on the left, the Reserve Division at Héricourt and Tavey. On the south, General von Debschitz stood in observation at Delle, and Colonel von Bredow at Arcey; towards the west Colonel von Willisen was at Lure with the detachment of eight companies, thirteen squadrons, two batteries, which had come up from Vesoul.

General von Werder had in fact, succeeded in interposing his force between the enemy and Belfort.

The French commander, under the intoxicating impression of a victory, had resigned himself to inactivity. "General Billot," he reported to the Government at Bordeaux, "has occupied Esprels and maintains himself there." We know that he was never attacked there at all, and that he did not succeed in driving away General von der Goltz from the vicinity of Moimay. "General Clinchant has carried Villersexel with extraordinary dash;" but the fight of the 9th was, as regards the Germans, maintained with only a portion of the XIVth Corps, to cover the right flank of the main body on its march. Whilst, then, this movement of the latter was prosecuted with the utmost energy, the French army remained passive for two days, ready for action and in the confident expectation that the enemy described as beaten, would come on again to fight for the supremacy. Not until the 13th did the XXIVth Corps advance on Arcey, the XXth on Saulnot, and the XVIIIth follow to Sevenans. The XVth was to support an attack on Arcey by way of Ste. Marie.

General von Werder had utilized this interval, while the troops were hastening forward, in ascertaining the eligibility of the Lisaine position and in a consultation with General von Tresckow in rear of it.

A detailed inspection showed that at Frahier the Lisaine, there but an unimportant streamlet, flows through a broad grassy hollow, and thence to Chagey through steep wooded slopes. About Héricourt the valley opens out into a wide plain, which is however commanded by the rocky heights of Mont Vaudois. Lower down the wooded heights line the river as far as Montbéliard, which with the Allaine brook forms a strong point of support and the extremity of the line.

The wooded character of the plain west of the Lisaine would necessarily increase the assailants' difficulties in the deployment of large infantry masses and a strong artillery line. It is true that during the prevailing severe cold the river was everywhere frozen over; but only two high-roads led through the forest into the valley from the direction by which the French army was advancing, one to Montbéliard, the other to Héricourt. The other accesses were narrow, hollow roads rendered difficult of use by frost.

General von Tresckow had already armed the most important points with siege guns, the castle of Montbéliard with six, and the neighbouring height of La Grange Dame with five heavy cannon. Seven were placed on Mont Vaudois and near Héricourt; besides these, twenty-one others commanded the valley of the Allaine southward as far as Delle.

All the troops that could be spared from the investing force were also withdrawn from before Belfort. Still there remained the important consideration that the available forces might not suffice to entirely cover the whole of the Lisaine line. The right wing was the locally weakest portion of the whole position, but here there was the least to be apprehended, the enemy's main attack, since the many needs of the numerous but inadequately equipped French army made the nearest possible vicinity of one of the railroads a necessity. The Vesoul line by way of Lure was broken in many places, and the Besançon line led towards the strong left wing. The country north of Chagey might therefore more weakly be held, and a reserve was formed of the largest part of the Baden Division, which was distributed in rear of the centre and left about Mandrevillars, Brévilliers and Charmont.

The respite accorded by the enemy was turned to account with the utmost zeal in the construction of rifle-pits and of battery emplacements, the establishment of telegraph and relay lines, the improvement of roads and the replenishment of supplies and ammunition.

January 13th.—On the morning of the 13th the advanced posts of the 3rd Reserve Division were now attacked at Arcey, Ste. Marie and Gonvillars. They were instructed to withdraw before a superior force, but to hold their own long enough to compel the deployment of the hostile columns. The combat with French artillery coming up at wide intervals was therefore prolonged for a considerable time; then, after a three hours' resistance, a new position was taken up behind the Rupt brook, and the retirement on Tavey delayed until four in the afternoon. The advanced guard of General von der Goltz, after a whole brigade had deployed against it, also took up a position at Chavanni on a parallel front with that at Couthenans.

Before the Allaine front the French did not succeed in driving General von Debschitz's advanced posts out of Dasle and Croix.

January 14th.—On the 14th General von Willisen with fifty dismounted Dragoons drove back the enemy advancing on Lure, and then retired with his detachment on Ronchamp.

The French army did not yet on this day undertake a serious attack. It stood with the XVth, XXIVth, and XXth Corps, closely concentrated opposite the German left and centre at a distance of scarcely four-and-a-half miles. The German right was supposed by General Bourbaki to rest upon Mont Vaudois. His plan was to cross the Lisaine in force above this point of support, and by thus turning the hostile flank to facilitate a frontal attack. The XVIIIth Army Corps and the Division Crémer were assigned to this service. A drawback to this judicious arrangement was, that the two above-mentioned bodies designed by the officer in supreme command to open the fight on the 14th, would have the longest distance to march to their task. On this day the leading troops of the XVIIIth Army Corps barely succeeded in reaching the vicinity of Lomont through difficult hill and woodland region, and Crémer's Brigade[76] had only then begun to advance from Vesoul. A postponement to the 15th was thereupon determined.

On the German side, a general attack by the greatly superior enemy was hourly expected, and General von Werder felt himself bound to send by telegraph to Versailles a representation of the extreme seriousness of his position. The rivers, being frozen over, were passable, and the duty of covering Belfort deprived him of freedom of movement and endangered the existence of his corps. He earnestly prayed that the question should be weighed, whether the investment of Belfort should continue to be maintained.

In the supreme Head-quarter it was considered that any further retirement of the XVth[77] Army Corps would have the immediate effect of raising the siege of Belfort, and causing the loss of the considerable material which had been provided therefor; that it was impossible to foresee where such further retirement would end; and that it could but delay the co-operation of the army advancing by forced marches under General von Manteuffel. At three o'clock on the afternoon of 15th January a positive order was despatched to General von Werder to accept battle in front of Belfort. He was, as was only fair, relieved of the moral responsibility of the consequences of a possibly disastrous issue. But before this order reached him, the General had already come to the same resolution.