Examining attentively the reports which reached him from all points of the extensive curve upon which the cavalry were so active, and poring over the map, General von Moltke at length formed a definite judgment on the position as it appeared to him through this medium. He inferred that the Army of Chalons was marching in a north-west direction towards the Meuse; that its principal forces were then probably between Le Chesne and Beaumont, with strong rear guards to the south; and the practical result of his cogitations was that the German Armies should move upon the line Le Chesne-Beaumont in such a way as might enable them to attack the enemy before he reached the Meuse. Therefore, the Saxon Prince’s Army, except the Guard, which was to become the reserve, was to march early on Beaumont, two Corps of the Third Army were to support the Saxon onset, but the left of that Army was to march on Le Chesne. As a matter of fact, the French, in part at least, were nearer the Meuse than Von Moltke supposed, for the 12th Corps was on the right bank, and the 1st at Raucourt; while the 7th was at Oches, the 5th at Beaumont, and there were no troops at Le Chesne except stragglers. MacMahon took in the situation; he was resolved to pass the river “coûte que coûte”: and his chance of doing so, even then, depended on the rapidity with which his troops could march. The 5th Corps was struck and routed the next day, but the French Army did succeed in effecting a passage over the stream.
The Battle of Beaumont.
The German Armies had now fairly entered the Ardennes, formerly the northern district of the old province of Champagne. It is a land of vast woods which crowd one upon another between the Bar and the Meuse. Looking from some smooth hill-top, the landscape, in summer, wears the aspect of a boundless forest, the dark furrowed lines of shadow alone indicating the hollows, gullies, ravines, and defiles. Here and there may be seen a church or château, or a glimpse may be caught of a road bordered by tall trees. The woods are so dense that infantry, still less guns and horsemen, cannot work through them, or move at all, except upon the high roads, lanes and tracks, worn by the villagers and farm people. Marshy brooks lurk under the green covert, and rivulets burrow their way through steep banks. Yet there are open spaces in the maze of verdure, farmsteads and fields, and rounded heights whence the tourist may contemplate the extensive panorama. It is not a country which lends itself easily to military operations, but one more suitable to the sportsman than the soldier. The boar of the Ardennes is still famous and it is on record that a certain Herr von Bismarck, once upon a time, hunted the wolf through the snow in the very region where he was hunting the French in August, 1870.
It was amidst these thickets, dingles, and almost pathless wilds that the French had to retreat and the Germans to pursue. We have seen that General de Failly’s Corps was struggling all night to reach what they hoped would be a comparative haven of rest at Beaumont, a bourgade upon the high road from Le Chesne to Stenay, planted down in a hollow, surrounded by gardens, and having in its centre a fine church visible from afar. Here he pitched his tents, so that his tired soldiers might recover from the fatigues they had endured in useless marches; and he thought, in his simple way, that he might safely defer his march until the afternoon. Yet Marshal MacMahon had visited the camp early in the morning, and if he used language to De Failly, as he probably did, similar to that which he employed at Oches, it should have quickened the General’s movements and saved him from defeat. For, after visiting Beaumont, MacMahon, much concerned for the 7th as well as the 5th Corps, rode into the camp at Oches. The trains had entered the defile leading to Stonne, some hours earlier, preceded and escorted by the brigades of Conseil Dumesnil’s Division, and the 2nd Division was just about to start, leaving the 3rd as a rear-guard. “You will have 60,000 men upon your hands, this evening,” he said, “if you do not succeed in getting beyond the Meuse.” Urging Douay to get rid of his heavy convoy, and “coûte que coûte,” cross the river, he indicated Villers below Mouzon as the point of passage, and rode away. The misfortunes of the 7th Corps, also much tried, will be related later; but it may be said that they did not reach Mouzon, for their outlet from the toils proved to be the southern gate of Sedan!
The Surprise of the 5th Corps.
Inspired by the hope of closing with the enemy, the German Armies were astir at dawn, and soon long columns of men and guns were tramping steadily northward; but, for the present the narrative is concerned only with the Saxon 12th, the Prussian 4th, and Von der Tann’s Bavarians. These troops advanced through the forests, the Saxons near the Meuse, the 4th in the centre by Nouart and Belval, and the Bavarians, from their distant bivouac at Sommerance, upon and beyond Sommauthe. Now it was originally designed that the two Corps, on the right and centre, should attack simultaneously, and to insure this, each column, on arriving at the skirts of the forest, was directed to halt under cover until it had ascertained that the others on each flank had also gained the edge of the woods. But it turned out that the Saxons, from the start, were delayed by various obstacles which impeded not only the artillery, but the infantry. The leading division of the 4th Corps met with fewer obstructions on its route through Belval, and thus arrived first on the scene of action. On the line of march in the forest, intelligence was picked up which quickened its motions, and a squadron sent forward confirmed the statement that the French about Beaumont reposed in thoughtless security. The Corps Commander, Von Alvensleben I.,—for there were two who bore the name in this Army,—an officer ever ready to go forward, was present with the advance-guard of the division, and not likely to hold it back. So the soldiers advanced in silence. On approaching the open country, the Hussars in the front glided out of sight, and a company of Jägers crept towards the selvage of the wood, and, from a hillock near a farm, they saw, only six hundred paces distant, a French camp, and beyond other camps. The cavalry horses were picketed, the artillery teams had not returned from seeking water, the soldiers were either resting or employed on the routine work of a camp. What should be done? Here was an absolutely unguarded Army Corps, ignorant that an enemy was within short musket range. The divisional commander had orders to await the arrival of lateral columns, but he felt that the Frenchmen might discover his unwelcome presence at any moment. He had only a brigade on the ground, yet the temptation to seize an opportunity so unexpected, was almost irresistible. He, therefore, decided to attack as soon as his brigade could deploy, and his batteries plant themselves in a favourable place. Suddenly the men in the French camp were all in motion. General von Alvensleben inferred that the proximity of his troops had been perceived, whereas the activity displayed, as we learn from De Failly, was caused by an order to fall in before starting for Mouzon. Without waiting, however, until the battalions in rear could reach the ground, Alvensleben opened fire, and the shells bursting in their camp, gave the first warning to the French that their redoubtable adversaries were upon them. General de Failly says that the grand-guards had not had time to signal the enemy’s presence, and that his own information led him to believe that the Germans had marched upon Stenay. The verdict of Marshal MacMahon upon his subordinate is that “General de Failly was surprised in his bivouac by the troops of the Saxon Crown Prince.”
The French soon recovered from their disorder, swarms of skirmishers rushed out towards the assailants, some batteries went rapidly into action; and the combined fire of shells and bullets wrought havoc among the Prussian gunners and the infantry, hitting even those on the line of march. They did not yield to the pressure; and when the French delivered a determined attack it was repelled by volleys and independent firing. Then the French got several batteries into position on the hill side north of Beaumont; the Germans were reinforced by the arrival of guns and foot, for the other division of the Corps came up and at once deployed on the right of its comrades. At this time, a little after one o’clock, the Saxons on the right, next the Meuse, and the Bavarians on the left, who had been marching since five o’clock in the morning, had also begun to take part in the fight. King William and his vast Staff, posted on a hill off the road from Buzancy, and his son, on a similar elevation near Oches, were closely watching the battle, discernible thence in its general smoky features, at least by the King.
General de Failly had no desire to fight a regular engagement. His aim was to put his troops in order and offer as much resistance as might be required to cover his retreat upon Mouzon, distant only six miles. He, therefore, relied on his line of guns above the village, and they were effective, for some time; but he showed great apprehension lest his left, or Meuse flank, should be turned. Seeing the German lines develop and grow stronger, in men and guns, feeling the new power brought to bear by the Saxons, who, cramped for want of room, were pressed close to the river, and, hearing the Bavarian guns on his right, he made one more vigorous effort to arrest the 4th Corps. Thick lines of skirmishers, followed by supports in close order, dashed forward with such valour and impetuosity that they drove in the covering infantry and charged to within fifty paces of the guns. The danger was great, but the Germans rapidly flung everything near into the contest, gained the mastery, compelled the gallant Frenchmen to wheel about, followed them promptly, captured the southern camp, and then poured into Beaumont itself upon all sides. But the chassepot had told, and the Germans paid heavily, as they always did and were ready to do, for their persistent courage and well-tempered audacity. With the town fell the other camps; and then, for a time, the infantry combat ceased. But the artillery advanced, as usual, and engaged in a long duel with the powerful line of batteries established by the French to facilitate the retreat of their infantry and arrest pursuit. Although not able to stand up against 150 guns, they did not retire until their infantry had got into another position between the Yoncq brook and the Meuse. Then the batteries cleverly withdrew in succession, and before the 4th Corps could advance, De Failly’s troops disappeared in the woods, and were seen no more until they were reached beyond the hills and thrust headlong into Mouzon.
While the 4th Corps was pulling itself together after the onset, De Failly had been compelled by the impenetrable wood of Givodeau to divide his forces, the left and the reserve artillery following the main route to Mouzon took post above Villemontrey, close to the Meuse, and derived support from guns and infantry which Lebrun had put into position on the high land in an elbow of the river on the right bank. The right wing hurried round the western side of the Givodeau thickets, and found a post upon a plateau beyond. In the meantime, General Lebrun had ordered two brigades of infantry, commanded by Cambriels and Villeneuve, and a cavalry division, to cross the river at Mouzon, but Marshal MacMahon, riding up, ordered back Cambriels, and all the horse except two regiments of cuirassiers. Those we shall presently meet again. The German right wing vainly endeavoured to drive De Failly from Villemontrey, and, after repeated attempts and much loss, desisted from the enterprise; but kept a strong force at hand and a large number of guns in action.