On the 7th of July, the Crown Prince reached Lüneville; but instead of proceeding to Nancy, according to its original destination, the Corps, on the 9th, took the road to Neufchâteau. The advance was in two Columns; the one upon Bayon, and the other upon Rembervillers. These two Columns moved respectively, the one, by Vaucouleurs, Joinville, Brienne le Château, Troyes, and Auxonne; and the other, by Neufchâteau, Chaumont, Bar sur Aube, Vendoeuvres, Bar sur Seine, and Chatillon: at which points (Auxonne and Chatillon) they halted on the 18th. On the 21st, the Corps entered into cantonments between Montbard and Tonnerre.
First and Second Corps—Count Colloredo and Prince von Hohenzollern.—Reserve Corps, Archduke Ferdinand.
The First and Second Austrian Corps d'Armée and the Reserve Corps, forming the Left Wing of the Army of the Upper Rhine, crossed this river at Rheinfelden and Basle in the night of the 25th of June. On the 26th, the First, under Count Colloredo, was directed upon Belfort and Montbelliard; and, on the same day, the Austrians invested the Fortress of Huningen. The Advanced Guard of the First Corps had an affair with a French Detachment of 3,000 men belonging to the Corps of General Lecourbe, and repulsed it as far as Donnemarie. On the 28th, the First Corps fell in with the Enemy near Chabannes, between Donnemarie and Belfort, when the French force, amounting to 8,000 Infantry and 500 Cavalry, was driven back upon Belfort. Major General von Scheither of the First Corps was detached against Montbelliard, a town fortified and defended by a citadel. After having maintained a most destructive fire against the place, the Austrian troops carried it by storm; with a loss, however, of 25 Officers and 1,000 men, killed and wounded.
With the exception of a few sorties of little consequence, General Rapp remained very quiet in the Fortress of Strasburg. The news of the capture of Paris by the British and Prussian troops led to a Suspension of Hostilities; which was concluded on the 24th of July, and extended to the Fortress of Strasburg, Landau, Lutzelstein, Huningen, Schlettstadt, Lichtenberg, Pfalzburg, Neuf Brisac, and Belfort.
The Russian Army.
The main body of the Russian Army, commanded by Field Marshal Count Barclay de Tolly, and amounting to 167,950 men, crossed the Rhine at Mannheim, on the 25th of June; and followed the Army of the Upper Rhine. The greater portion of it reached Paris and its vicinity by the middle of July.
Operations of the Army of Italy.
The Army of Italy, composed of Austrian and Sardinian troops, and amounting to 60,000 men, was under the command of General Baron Frimont. It was destined to act against the Army of the Alps, under Marshal Suchet, posted in the vicinity of Chambery and Grenoble. It is uncertain what was the amount of force under Suchet, it having been estimated from 13,000 to 20,000 men; but the Corps of Observation on the Var, in the vicinity of Antibes and Toulon, under Marshal Brune, amounted to 10,000, and was not occupied with any Enemy in its front.
Baron Frimont's Army was divided into two Corps: the one under Lieutenant Field Marshal Radivojevich, was to advance by the Valais towards Lyons; and the other, which was in Piedmont, under Lieutenant Field Marshal Count Bubna, was to penetrate into the south of France, through Savoy.