[22] Meaning the surgeon. French army surgeons are commonly designated by their military rank, without reference to their medical qualifications.—Trans.
[23] In point of fact the Royal Prussian head quarters were at Bar-le-Duc on August 25, and it was there that the Crown Prince heard that MacMahon had made at first for Rheims, and then had struck off in a northerly direction. Count Moltke immediately decided that the army of the Crown Prince of Saxony, which on August 22 had started on its westward march from before Metz by Verdun and St. Menehould, should advance to meet MacMahon, and hold him in the Argonne; whilst the Crown Prince of Prussia's forces hastened northward by forced marches in view of sweeping round the right flank of the French, and hemming them in against the Belgian frontier. On August 26 the Saxons were marching for Stenay on the Meuse and the Prussians to Clermont-en-Argonne and Grand-Pré.—Trans.
[24] In the engagements fought this day (August 30) between the Germans and De Failly's corps and other portions of MacMahon's army, 7,000 of the French were taken prisoners, and a quantity of their camp equipage and twenty guns were captured.—Trans.
[25] Equivalent to our Charlie.
[26] Napoleon III. had very short legs, and on foot he looked comparatively insignificant. But the length of his trunk gave him a commanding presence when he was on horseback, and he then appeared taller than the majority of his officers.—Trans.
[27] In order that the reader may form some idea of Bazeilles, it may be mentioned that in 1870 it was a large village of over 2,000 inhabitants. The great majority of these were weavers. There were a few cloth manufactories and fulleries there, together with some ironworks with furnaces, plate-rolling mills, etc. Balan, between Bazeilles and Sedan, had a population of 1,500; whilst Sedan itself counted over 13,000 inhabitants, but nearly half of these had fled to Belgium prior to the battle.—Trans.
[28] This incident will not surprise those who remember how, during the bombardment of Paris, the urchins used to lie about waiting for the shells, and, after each explosion, pounce upon the splinters with the view of selling them as 'souvenirs of the siege.'—Trans.
[29] The sergeants of the French Artillery are usually styled quartermasters. This was Honoré's rank. We have quartermaster sergeants in our own service.—Trans.
[30] For enlightenment on this point and many others we must wait for the publication of Marshal MacMahon's memoirs, the portion of which dealing with the Franco-German war was written some years ago, three copies of it being then printed for private use.—Trans.
[31] A celebrated French surgeon of the first half of the present century.—Trans.