On the night of the 22nd battery-emplacements for the siege artillery were constructed by the infantry; three on Mont St. Michel, seven on the heights on the left bank of the Moselle, and one on the right bank. Next morning sixty-two guns opened fire, and at half-past three in the afternoon the white flag was hoisted on the Cathedral.
The handing over of the place followed the same day (23rd), on the conditions as had been granted at Sedan. A hundred and nine officers were released on parole, 2240 rank and file were taken prisoners. Six companies took possession the same evening of the city, which on the whole had suffered little.
Twenty-one heavy guns, about 3000 stand of arms, and large stores of provisions and forage were the prizes of success.
Reduction of Strasburg.
(September 28th.)
Immediately after the victory of Wörth, the reduction of Strasburg became a primary object. This strong fortified position, bridge-head as it was commanding the Rhine, was a standing menace to Southern Germany.
When Marshal MacMahon evacuated Alsace, only three battalions of the line were left with the commandant of Strasburg. But with stragglers from the various regiments engaged at Wörth, with sundry fourth battalions and reserve detachments, and finally with Mobiles and National Guards, the strength of the garrison had increased to 23,000 men. There was a complete absence of engineer troops, but 130 marines formed an excellent nucleus; the armament of the fortress was also ample.
So early as on the 11th August the Baden Division had been detailed to observe Strasburg. Notwithstanding the smallness of its force the Division had advanced unchecked by the enemy on the Ruprechtsau as far as the Rhine-and-Ill Canal; had occupied the village of Schiltigheim, almost within rifle-shot of the fortifications: and, having promptly prepared it for defence, pushed forward into the suburb of Königshofen.
In the course of eight days there arrived, under the command of General von Werder, the Guard Landwehr and 1st Reserve Divisions, and one cavalry brigade, in all 46 battalions, 24 squadrons, and 18 field-batteries; as well as a siege-train of 200 rifled cannon and 88 mortars, with 6000 foot artillerymen and ten companies of fortress-pioneers; a total strength of 40,000 men.