[24] See for the numbers of the enemy's batteries, [Fig. 72].
CHAPTER XVII.
Notwithstanding its bastioned enclosure and great outwork which was still existing in 1870, exactly as Vauban had planned it, the town of La Roche-Pont could not have held out forty-eight hours before the German artillery. A few batteries to the north, on the plateau, and on the west and east on the sides of the hills placed at nearly two miles distant would have overwhelmed the place with projectiles without a possibility of replying; for in September 1870 the small arsenal of La Roche-Pont contained only six cast iron guns, and four bronze pieces with smooth bore, two thousand pounds of powder and two or three hundred solid balls.
It was not attacked, though bodies of the enemy showed themselves not far from its walls.
Its garrison consisted then of a guard of the engineers and a brigade of gendarmes.
The inhabitants of La Roche-Pont are, however, patriotic, and mention with pride the numerous sieges they have experienced.
They had organized their national guard as early as August, including an artillery corps. It is true they had not been able to supply these National Guards with more than a hundred flint guns which were lying in the citadel, and about thirty muzzle-loading guns. These brave people were not less determined to defend themselves, and began to cast bullets and make cartridges. They had not the pain of seeing the Germans there.
In 1871, a French captain of engineers, having been in General Bourbaki's army, had entered Switzerland with the débris of the corps.