January 22nd.—On this day the advanced guard of the 13th Division marched from Audeux to St. Vit, and after breaking up the railway and plundering a number of loaded waggons, down the riverside to Dampierre. On the way four bridges over the Doubs were found uninjured and were taken possession of. The advanced guard of the 14th Division moved from Emagny to observe Besançon. The IInd Corps closed on Dôle and pushed reconnoitring parties across the river.
January 23rd.—The concentric movement of all the bodies of the German army was continued.
General Debschitz, approaching from the north, in passing Roches found only the abandoned camping ground of the French XXIVth Corps. The 4th Reserve Division occupied L'Isle without opposition, and met no resistance till it reached Clerval and Baume.
On the Ognon the Baden Division drove the French out of Montbozon.
In the centre of the army the VIIth Corps pushed the advanced guard of the 14th Division forward on Dannemarie, near Besançon. A fight ensued there in the form only of a cannonade which lasted till night. The 13th Division, again, which had crossed the Doubs at Dampierre, advanced on Quingey.
For want of rolling stock it had been possible to forward only one French brigade by railway, and the last trains were received at the Byans station with Prussian shells. These troops were in so bad case that they were unable even to place outposts. They abandoned Quingey almost without a struggle, and their hurried retreat on Besançon and beyond the Loue, stopped the advance of reinforcements already on the way. Thus 800 prisoners and a train of 400 convalescents fell into the hands of the Prussian advanced guard, who at once broke up the railway at Abbans-dessous.
On the right wing, the head of the IInd Corps advanced by the valley of the Loue on the southern bank. Several cuttings on this road had been prepared for defence, but were found undefended. It was at Villers Farlay that it first encountered a strong body of the enemy.
On the evening of this day, of the French forces the XXth Corps was on the north and the XVIIIth on the west of Besançon, at the distance of about four miles. Cavalry, artillery and the train were passing through the town or encamped on the glacis of the fortress. The XXIVth Corps was on the march thither, and the 2nd and 3rd Divisions of the XVth were in possession of the southern bank of the Doubs about Baume and Larnod; but the 1st Division had not succeeded in holding Quingey. Thus the most direct and important line of communications of the French army was cut, and its position, by this fresh mischance, seriously compromised. Impracticable projects and counsels from Bordeaux poured in freely, but did not mend matters; and on the 24th General Bourbaki summoned the superior officers to a council of war.
January 24th.—The Generals declared that they had scarcely more than half their men under arms, and these were more inclined to fly than to fight. General Pallu alone thought he might answer for the men of the army reserve. The Intendant-General reported that, without trenching on the magazines of the place, the supplies in hand would last for four days at most. General Billot was in favour of attempting to fight a way through to Auxonne, but he declined to take the command in chief which was offered him. The exhaustion of the troops and their evidently increasing insubordination gave little hope of the success of offensive operations. So there was no alternative but to retire on Pontarlier, as the Commander-in-Chief had proposed.
This recourse, even, was seriously threatened. To relieve himself from pressure on the north, General Bourbaki ordered the XXIVth Corps to advance once more and hold the Lomont passes. On the south the XVth was to defend the deep mountain-ravine of the Loue, and General Crémer was more especially to cover the retreat of the army on the right flank, which was most seriously threatened. For this difficult task, in addition to his own Division, a Division of the XXth Corps and the army reserve as the most trustworthy troops were placed under his command. The XVIIIth and the remainder of the XXth were to await marching-orders at Besançon.