Franco-Prussian War (1870) Glory & Defeat - Week by Week

The Weird And Only Naval Battle of The Franco-Prussian War | GLORY & DEFEAT Week 18

While the fighting on land continued during the Franco-Prussian War in November 1870, the bizarre and only naval battle of the war took place off the coast of Cuba when the German Meteor and the French Bouvet met in the port of Havana.



Battle of Havana (November 9th 1870)

The Battle of Havana on 9 November 1870 was an indecisive single ship action between the German gunboat Meteor and the French aviso Bouvet off the coast of Havana, Cuba during the Franco-Prussian War. The battle was the only naval engagement of the war, and showed the inability of either navy to gain a decisive advantage over the other.

Painting: The German gunboat SMS Meteor (launched 1865) in combat with the French Bouvet near Havana in 1870



During the war, most of the French fleet blockaded the German fleet in their harbours, although a few German ships managed to slip out and evade the French, proceeding to engage in commerce raiding against the French merchant marine or harass the French in other ways. The Meteor was one such ship who managed to elude the French blockade, sailing from Nassau to Havana. A French aviso, the Bouvet, noticed her and sailed outside the harbour of Havana. Havana was at the time ruled by Spain, a neutral country in the conflict, and the captain of the Bouvet issued a challenge, which the German captain accepted. The Meteor sailed out of the harbour on the ninth of November, and proceeded to engage the Bouvet. Despite both sides pouring fierce fire, neither side could inflict significant damage on the other ship, and after a German cannon shot temporarily disabled the engine of the Bouvet, the French were compelled to retire, safely withdrawing to neutral waters. Both captains were subsequently promoted for their bravery in the battle.

Painting: Attack of the Prussian corvette Augusta on French merchant ships in the Gironde in the Franco-Prussian War 1870/71

The Battles of Amiens and Beaune-La-Rolande 1870 | GLORY & DEFEAT Week 20

After a brief break in the fighting, the Franco-Prussian War continues in late November with the Battles of Amiens and Beaune-La-Rolande. Both sides are exhausted and the casualties are mounting. In the meantime Bismarck is trying to convince the German states of a new German Emperor.



Battle of Amiens (November 27th 1870)

Opening moves

Manteuffel′s army halted at Rheims on 9 November, but resumed its advance on 17 November, reaching Soissons on 19 November and Compiègne on 21 November. On 22 November 1870, Manteuffel sent a reconnaissance force forward which pushed as far as the Gentelles Wood near Amiens and reported that Bourbaki was present at Amiens. Bourbaki had, in fact, spent the previous day there before heading for Rouen. The Prussians had learned from the newspapers that Bourbaki had been relieved of his command of the Army of the North, but apparently believed that he would remain in command of it at least until the arrival of his successor, rather than turn over provisional command of the army to the relatively junior Farre. The Prussians supposed that, in his journey from Lille to Amiens and from Amiens to Rouen, Bourbaki had no other goal than to bring the left and right wings of his supposedly unified army together to concentrate around Amiens at the center of the line the Prussians thought he was maintaining in northern France. Leaving behind the 4th Brigade (under Generalmajor Karl von Zglinitzki) of the I Corps's 2nd Division to begin a siege of the French fortress at La Fère on 25 November, and without waiting for the rest of the 1st Army to concentrate its forces fully along the line of the Oise, Manteuffel decided to attack what he thought was Bourbaki′s concentration of the Army of the North at Amiens with a portion of the 1st Army totaling 40,000 men. It consisted of the Prussian VIII Corps, a portion of the Prussian I Corps, a cavalry division, and 180 artillery pieces.

After Manteuffel′s army left Compiègne, the French lost track of it until 24 November, when a large French force made up mostly of members of the Garde Mobile defeated a detachment forming Manteuffel′s advance guard in a sharp skirmish in the Santerre region in the eastern Somme. The same day, French forces reported Prussian scouts in the vicinity of Amiens. The skirmish and the arrival of Prussian scouts made it clear to Farre that Manteuffel was advancing on Amiens. Farre's Army of the North was still forming and by late November consisted of only the 22nd Corps, which in turn was made up of only three brigades — a total of only between 17,000 and 17,500 regular troops — and an additional 8,000 Garde Mobile troops and 12 guns from the Amiens garrison under the command of General Antoine Paulze d`Ivoy de la Poype and charged with the defense of the city. In additional to its numerical advantage, the Prussian 1st Army also had better equipment and better-trained and more experienced troops than the Army of the North. Nonetheless, to prevent the Prussians from occupying Amiens without a fight, Farre did not hesitate to place his army in front of the advancing Prussians.

Entrenchments existed just outside Amiens, but Farre deemed them too weak and too close to the city. He chose to make his stand east, southeast, and south of Amiens along a line about 25 kilometres (16 mi) in length. It ran south from the left bank of the Somme at Corbie and Villers-Bretonneux — about 12 miles (19 km) east of Amiens — and the Hangard Wood, a good defense position facing southeast in which Farre deployed a strong force. The French line then ran southwest to Boves (southeast of Amiens), and from there west to Hébécourt (south of Amiens) and then to Pont-de-Metz (southwest of Amiens). Along this line, the Army of the North constructed strong earthworks and artillery emplacements. On the evening of 26 November 1870, Farre completed the concentration of his troops along the line. On the French left wing, Colonel Joseph Arthur Dufaure du Bessol's 3rd Brigade held the bulk of its forces at Villers-Bretonneux (commanding the road southeast to Tergnier), with detachments at Gentelles and Cachy. In the center, Colonel Joseph Derroja's 2nd Brigade held a line extending from the Montdidier road to Saint-Fuscien, passing through and centered on Boves (which commanded the road south to Paris). Farre originally intended to deploy General Alphonse Lecointe’s 1st Brigade to defend the entrenchments on the French right south of Amiens, but instead deployed Lecointe’s brigade in a position to support Bessol's 3rd Brigade around Villers-Bretonneux. The French right, centered on Dury — which lay west of Boves, south of Amiens, and north of Hébécourt and commanded the road south to Breteuil — therefore was defended by a mixed force consisting of three battalions of Garde Mobiles deployed from Pont-de-Metz eastward to the main road from Amiens through Dury and Hébécourt; a battalion of the 43rd Regiment, the 19th Chasseur Battalion, and two Fusiliers Marins companies in the vicinity of the road; and four Garde Mobile battalions to the east of the road. Behind the troops on the French right, the National Guard from Amiens formed a reserve. A 12-gun artillery battery, which had barely disembarked after arriving from Arras, occupied a shoulder which cut the road north of Dury, soon reinforced by a battery of four guns from the National Guard.

Manteuffel established his headquarters at Thennes, near the middle of the French line. He planned to attack with a force of 30,000 troops on the morning of 27 November 1870. His plan called for his I Corps was to advance beyond the Luce, a tributary of the Avre and a subtributary of the Somme, screened by the 3rd Cavalry Division, while his VIII Corps, under the command of August Karl von Goeben, was to protect the Prussian left flank. During the battle, the swampy valley of the Avre would preclude mutual support between the Prussian left wing, facing the French center and right at Boves and Dury, and the Prussian right wing, facing the French left at Villers-Bretonneux.

The battle

The battle began on the morning of 27 November 1870 when the Prussian VIII Corps began an artillery bombardment of the French positions. Fighting quickly spread along the entire line.

On the Prussian left wing, the VIII Corps under Goeben advanced to attack the French center and right. In the center around Boves, the main body of the Prussian 15th Division under General Ferdinand von Kummer advanced between the Celle and the Noye, moving its advance guard forward directly from a line stretching from west of Ailly-sur-Noye to Dommartin to the line Fouencamps–Sains-en-Amiénois on the left bank of the Noye. The Prussians appeared around 1000 in three columns between Boves and Gentelles. The Prussian 9th Hussar Regiment charged a French artillery battery manned by marine volunteers. The Hussars cut the French defenders to pieces but themselves suffered heavy losses, including the death of Prince Hatzfeld. The Prussians cleared Gentelles and Cachy of French troops. Lecointe then regrouped part of his 1st Brigade for a counterattack, which retook first Cachy and then Gentelles and chased the Prussians back to the woods at Domart-sur-la-Luce, where the French stopped.

Map: The Prussians deploy to attack the French positions between Dury (identified as "Duruy" at left) and Villers-Bretonneux (at right)



On the French right, the French 2nd Chasseur Battalion conducted a reconnaissance in front of Dury around 0830, but the Prussians pushed them back. The Prussian 16th Division under General Albert von Barnekow reached the line Rumigny–Plachy-Buyon, then pushed northward along the road that ran through Hébécourt and Dury toward Amiens. At one point, the Prussian forces made the mistake of leaving the Montdidier–Roye road completely unprotected, although the French did not take advantage of the opportunity. After driving the French out of Hébécourt, the Prussians encountered French earthworks about 0.75 miles (1 km) south of Dury, including four pieces of heavy artillery placed on the road itself. About 300 yards (274 m) to the left of the road, two companies of the Prussian 70th Regiment pushed into a small cemetery surrounded by a hedge right under the French artillery battery and a string of French rifle pits on either side of it. The Prussians found little cover in the cemetery — only headstones provided any, and most of the graves were marked with iron crosses rather than headstones — but held out under heavy French fire for over two hours. Meanwhile, Prussian artillery supporting the attack moved up toward Dury and unlimbered at a range of only 1,200 yards (1,097 m) from the French defenses. Despite losing five officers and half their horses killed, the Prussian artillerymen held their position rather than pull back to a safer range of 2,000 yards (1,829 m), and it was the Prussian artillery fire than ultimately forced the French to abandon their earthworks and fall back on Dury.Prussian infantry including the 33rd Regiment pursued the retreating French troops and occupied Dury[6] and Saint-Fuscien without further resistance by the French. The 15th Division concentrated its 29th Brigade (under General Bock) in front of Moreuil, while the 16th Division′s 31st Brigade under Neidhardt von Gneisenau deployed near Ailly-sur-Noye, with its left wing concentrated near Essertaux.

The fall of Dury and Saint-Fuscien turned the flank of the French center at Boves. Colonel François Pittié led a French counterattack along the Avre and at Saint-Fuscien in attempt to restore the flank, but was pushed back on Boves, where he resisted Prussian assaults for a time. Later in the day, the Prussian 33rd Regiment moved into a ravine between Boves and Saint-Nicolas and launched a assault from it against French artillery positions and Boves itself, supported by a battery of Prussian artillery firing at a range of 2,000 yards (1,829 m) from a position about 0.25 miles (0.4 km) in front of the farm at Cambos. Although the French put up a determined defense, the Prussian artillery was stronger than that of the French and the 33rd Regiment captured both the artillery positions and Boves after about a half an hour of fighting, taking about 300 prisoners. Pittié then fell back on Longueau. The Prussian 30th Brigade on the right bank of the Avre in St. Nicolas and on the left bank at Boves continued to advance toward Longueau and, in cooperation with the 29th Brigade that followed it, was able to drive the French from the Ruinberg near Longueau, but a decisive final French charge led by a Major Zelé halted the Prussian advance at Longueau.

The main action of the day took place on the French left around Villers-Bretonneux. At 0900 on the Prussian right wing, parts of the Prussian I Corps′s 2nd Division under General Georg Ferdinand von Benthei began to advance from the line Le Quesnel–Bouchoir southeast of Villers-Bretonneux toward Amiens. Significant forces the French had deployed in the area of Domart-sur-la-Luce and the Hangard Wood blocked their way. Needing to push north of the Luce, the Prussian advance guard, formed by the 3rd Brigade under Generalmajor Albert von Memerty, occupied the crossings of the Luce at Démuin, Hangard, and Domart-sur-la-Luce. The Prussians quickly cleared the Domart Wood of French troops, and the Prussian infantry then turned against Gentelles, southwest of Villers-Bretonneux. To wait for his artillery to come up to support a further advance, General von Bentheim ordered his troops to stop, and the French withdrew from the developing firefight at Gentelles. In the meantime, the Prussian 44th Infantry Regiment penetrated the eastern part of the Hangard Wood and attacked the French position between Villers-Bretonneux and Marcelcave. Unnoticed by the French, Prussian dragoons secured the road to Domart-sur-la-Luce.

The Prussians advanced through the wood that stretched from Villers-Bretonneux to Boves. Emerging from it not long before noon, they opened fire with 18 artillery pieces on French forces massed on the plateau surrounding Villers-Bretonneux, and fighting began to intensify steadily in the area between Villers-Bretonneux and Cachy. At first the French seemed to waver, but then French reinforcements — mostly artillery — arrived from Amiens and stiffened the defense, and at around 1300, the French prepared a counterattack against the Prussian 3rd Brigade. The counterattack pushed the Prussian 4th Infantry Regiment out of the Hangard Wood and back against the heights of Démuin. Running out of ammunition, the Prussians also had to pull out of Gentelles and fall back to Domart-sur-la-Luce. The commander of the Prussian 30th Brigade, General Otto von Strubberg, intervened by driving four battalions of his 28th and 68th Infantry Regiments to the Luce, bringing the temporary Prussian crisis at Gentelles to an end.

Around 1430, two Prussian columns emerging from Marcelcave broke into the far left of the French line and captured the French entrenchments there. The French mounted a counterattack organized by Colonel du Bessol which retook the entrenchments and pushed the Prussians back some 3 kilometres (1.9 mi). The Prussians having withdrawn, the French assumed they had won the day and began to congratulate themselves and focus on reestablishing their positions rather than on continuing the battle at hand. When the Prussians renewed their attack, opening fire on the French from an unexpected direction, they took the French completely by surprise and broke the French line again. Du Bessol launched yet another counterattack, which this time failed, and Du Bessol was wounded. The French troops began to flee, falling back several miles by nightfall. Thirteen batteries of Prussian artillery silenced the French artillery near Villers-Bretonneux. In a determined advance, the Prussians pushed straight into Villers-Bretonneux, which fell to them at 1600. Their arrival caused a panic among the civilian population; tragically, a number of women and children were killed in the crossfire when they ran in between Prussian and French troops, and other women and children drowned in the surrounding marshes while trying to flee the town. The fall of Villers-Bretonneux and disintegration of the French left allowed the Prussians to outflank the French center and right.

At 16:30, with the Army of the North almost out of ammunition and losing ground along its entire line, Farre ordered a general retreat. He ordered his artillery batteries to fall back to Corbie in order to protect the army's line of retreat to the north, instructing the rest of his troops to fall back on Amiens. After arriving at Amiens, Farre held a council of war with his subordinates which came to the conclusion that a further defense of Amiens was impractical given the army's weakness and its loss of Villers-Bretonneux, Boves, and Dury. Farre ordered the Army of the North to abandon Amiens and continue the retreat, withdrawing toward Arras and Doullens. Only at Cachy, where a rear guard fought to protect the Army of the North′s withdrawal, did the French resist until late evening. By the time the fighting ended, the French had suffered 1,383 French soldiers killed or wounded, and about 1,000 were declared missing. The Prussians lost 76 officers and 1,216 men.

Map: collapse of the French left at Villers-Bretonneux allowed the Prussians to outflank the French center at Boves and right at Dury (identified as "Duruy")



Under the misimpression that he was fighting a large army under Bourbaki′s command and that Farre′s surviving forces might outnumber his own, Manteuffel made no attempt to pursue the retreating French into Amiens, and when night fell on 27 November, the Prussians believed the French still held the city.

The fall of Amiens

Early on the morning of 28 November 1870, the Prussians noted that the French positions were strangely quiet and lacked sentries. Prussian patrols went forward and found the French earthworks empty except for abandoned cannons and the bodies of men killed the day before.[9] Goeben came forward and ordered his forces to advance into Amiens from the south via the road through Hébécourt and Dury. The Prussians passed numbers of dead French soldiers and horses as they advanced along the road through the abandoned French defenses and captured the artillery pieces the French had left behind.  After Goeben and his troops arrived in Amiens, three battalions of the Prussian 40th Regiment and two batteries of artillery paraded past him in review.

The garrison of the citadel of Amiens — 12 officers and 450 men of the city under the command of a retired French Army officer, Commandant Jean-François Vogel, and armed with rifles and between 22 and 30 pieces of artillery — refused to surrender to the Prussians,[9] even after 50 of the garrison′s men deserted. The mayor of Amiens approached Goeben and implored him to persuade Vogel to surrender to avoid damage to the city and deaths among the citadel′s garrison, but the citadel replied to the Prussian offer of surrender by opening fire. Two companies of the Prussian 40th Regiment took control of houses near the citadel and returned fire. The shooting continued into the evening of 28 November, when the Prussians decided to bombard the citadel with artillery.  At 0300 on 29 November, eight batteries of artillery marched out to take up positions from which to begin the bombardment at daybreak, but Vogel was killed during the predawn hours of 29 November, and when the sun rose on the morning of 29 November the Prussians saw a surrender flag flying from the citadel. The garrison of the citadel capitulated, having lost four killed and 13 wounded, and Amiens finally fell to the Prussians, who rendered full military honors to Vogel′s remains. Prussian troops who entered the citadel freed one officer and 12 men of the Prussian 4th Regiment, who the French had captured during the fighting on 27 November and imprisoned there.

Battle of Beaune-la-Rolande (November 28th 1870)

The Battle of Beaune-la-Rolande on 28 November 1870 was a battle of the Franco-Prussian War, won by Prussia. In an attempt to relieve the Siege of Paris, French General Crouzat's XX Corps launched an attack against three Prussian brigades resting in Beaune-la-Rolande. These brigades were from the Prussian X Corps which was detailed to guard the flanks and rear of the force besieging Paris and provide early warning of any French counter-attacks. The French committed a force of 60,000 men, largely conscripts of the Garde Mobile, and 140 guns against the Prussians' 9,000 men and 70 guns, mostly drawn from regular troops. Despite the overwhelming superiority of numbers the French attack failed to take the village and was ultimately forced to retreat by Prussian reinforcements.

Prussian losses amounted to 817 soldiers and 37 officers with the French losing around 8,000 men and 100 taken prisoner. The French XX Corps changed its plan of attack, bypassing the village, but was unsuccessful at relieving the siege of Paris, which surrendered on 28 January 1871 and ended the war. The battle is notable for demonstrating the fragility of a conscript army when faced with seasoned, regular troops even when numerically superior, and for the involvement of impressionist painter Frédéric Bazille and electrical engineer Alexander Siemens.

Background

The Prussian army had begun its invasion of France in August and was already laying siege to Paris. The recently appointed General Aurelle and his Army of the Loire ordered the XX Corps under General Crouzat to the Orléans area to push aside the Prussian X Corps, led by Prince Friedrich Karl, which was posted to Beaune-la-Rolande to provide early warning of a French relief force for Paris. The three Prussian brigades at Beaune-la-Rolande were under the command of Konstantin Bernhard von Voigts-Rhetz and were resting after pursuing retreating French forces. The nearest reinforcements were ten miles away at Pithiviers under General Constantin von Alvensleben.

General Crouzat had a force of between 31,000 and 60,000 men and 140 artillery pieces against the Prussian 9,000 to 12,000 men and 70 guns. The French force were equipped with the Chassepot rifle which had almost double the effective range of the Prussian Dreyse[1] and also held the element of surprise. With this in mind an attack was launched at 11.30am against the village which was protected only by a small walled churchyard and a six-foot wall along its south side, the French committed two brigades (6000 men) to this charge.

Battle

First attack

Engraving: Prussian troops barricading the streets of Beaune-la-Rolande



The Prussians, coming under heavy French artillery fire, withdrew all bar 13 companies of infantry (1,200 men) from the village and awaited the assault. Opening fire at 200 paces, the French assaults were halted at the edge of the village, its roads now protected by barricades. The most successful attack was made by the 3rd Zouave Regiment which left 700 dead and wounded men on the field before breaking. Every one of General Crouzat's staff officers were killed or wounded whilst encouraging the attack.

Second attack

engraving: An engraving depicting French troops at the battle



A second attack was sent at 1.30pm with the Prussians running low on ammunition. The defenders held their fire until the French were almost upon them, unleashing a volley which was followed by half an hour of frenzied close combat before the French were repulsed once more. The remaining Prussian forces, including all of the artillery which had pulled back from the village, were reformed at nearby Romainville where they joined with reinforcements from Alvenleben's unit under Wolf Louis Anton Ferdinand von Stülpnagel and attacked the French on the eastern side of the village, finally driving the attackers off.

Third attack

Crouzat, determined to take the village, ordered one more attack after dark. This attack was delivered straight along the road into the village and came close to breaching the outer defences but was again driven back by the concentrated volleys of Prussian fire. The French had lost heart for the battle and the majority of the men refused their officers' orders to close with the enemy, discharged their rifles at the enemy and ran away.

Battle of Varize (November 29th 1870)

The Battle of Varize was a battle in the Franco-Prussian War,[1] that happened on November 29, 1870, in Varize, on the river Conie. In this battle, the First Bavarian Corps under the command of Lieutenant General Infantry Ludwig von der Tann attacked a guerrilla army franc-tireurs of the French Republic under the command of Colonel Joseph Lipowski, and made them scatter. Despite this, the defense at Varize enabled General Antoine Chanzy, commander of the French Army of Loire, to establish a defensive formation against the Prussian army under the direction of Friedrich Franz II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. With their victory at the Battle of Varize, Bavarian forces captured a number of well-equipped French guerrillas.

Battle

The Bavarian I Corps under General Von der Tann, was on its way from Châteaudun to Orgires, as it approached Civry, they attacked several French franc-tireur guerilla detachments led by Colonel Lipowski at Varize. After the German midfield batteries fired several rounds, the French were driven out of their defensive positions. Subsequently, two German battalions invaded and captured the post-war Varize which was left for prisoners of war. French resistance at Varize failed. Although German casualties numbered 450, when the cavalry scouts on the right found that the vicinity was empty of French troops, the Bavarian I Corps resumed its march and reached Orgferes at 11 o'clock. The battle cost the French 147 men, of whom 10 were killed, 37 wounded, while 100 were captured.

The Frozen Battlefields of France - Battle of Beaugency 1870 | GLORY & DEFEAT Week 22

On the frozen battlefields of France, the exhausted German and French armies are still fighting. The Battle of Beaugency sees a desperate struggle in which soldiers on both sides suffer from broken uniform and the harsh winter conditions. Meanwhile, the Siege of Paris continues to starve the population of the French capital.



Battle of Beaugency (December 8th to December 10th 1870)

The Battle of Beaugency was a battle of the Franco-Prussian War contested between the army group of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, and the French Armée de la Loire, won by the Prussians. It lasted from 8 to 10 December 1870 and occurred on the left bank of the river Loire to the northwest of the town of Beaugency. Due to the large area over which it was fought, it is also known as the Battle of Beaugency-Cravant or the Battle of Villorceau-Josnes.

Sharing the Army of the Loire at Orléans

The Army of the Loire had been split subsequent to the retreat of General Aurelle after the Battle of Loigny. French political leader Gambetta 'retired' Aurelle and appointed two generals to lead the now split armies. General Antoine Chanzy commanded the two corps north of the Loire (XVI and XVII) while General Bourbaki commanded south of the river (XV, XVIII and XX corps).

Beaugency until 8 December

From his headquarters at Chateau de Talcy Chazny grouped three divisions in defensive positions at Beaugency to make a stand with the Loire river on his right flank and his left in the forest of Marchenoir. Continual rain and snow coupled with flagging morale and disorganization he could do little else.

Course

During the 8th and 9th fierce fighting occurred between the Germans and French. Both sides fought for the key positions of the walled villages of Cravant and Beumont. The French had superiority of numbers (~100,000) and effective artillery fire forced the Germans (Mecklenburg) to break contact. Cold, exhaustion and deprivations plagued the Germans as well as the French during this time.

Moltke ordered Mecklenburg reinforced by Prince Freiderich Karl to destroy the French forces under Chanzy. Chanzy's only hope was assistance from Bourbaki's 150,000 troops south of the Loire. Bourbaki attempted to order his dispirited troops into action, but they refused his order. After visiting Bourbaki Gambetta stated that it "was the saddest sight he had ever seen," the army was "in veritable dissolution."

10 December

Chazny had to break contact and retreat from the Loire toward Le Mans once German reinforcements arrived.

Fighting at Fréteval (December 14th to December 15th 1870)

The Fighting in Fréteval was a battle in the Franco-Prussian War,[9] it occurred in December 14 — 15, 1870, near the village of Fréteval of France.[3] In this fierce engagement, a corps of the Prussian army under the command of Friedrich Franz II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin contested Fréteval with a force of the French army 's Loire Corps under General Antoine Chanzy, but neither side was able to seize the advantage. The battle demonstrated the effective combat capabilities of Chanzy's forces, with a huge numerical superiority over Mecklenburg's forces. From the 15th of December, however, Mecklenburg's army was reinforced on the left, and in light of that situation Chanzy finally made a retreat to Le Mans.

Background

On December 11, 1870, with a dramatic failure for several days with the Prussian Army by Grand Duke Origin Mecklenburg in the Battle of Beaugency, Chanzy began conducting a deplete. On the 12th of December, upon learning that Chanzy was beginning to withdraw to the northwest, the Germans launched a pursuit. But, Chanzy deceived the Germans: they thought he would run to Tours, but in fact he pulled his troops to a position stronger than the one he had left, on the direct route to Tours and Paris. There, he can receive reinforcements from the west. Chanzy's troops withdrew under difficult circumstances, and suffered heavy losses in their rearguards. However, due to the caution of the German cavalry, the French reached their new defensive positions on the Loir, both from the Vendôme, on the 13th of December 1870. And, on December 14: Mecklenburg's army approached the French, who were stationed at an important position on the outskirts of the small town of Fréteval. This location is located on the west bank of the River Loir. The was Forest near Fréteval to the back and left, the Forest of Marchenoir to the right, and the River Loir to the background. The French also set up artillery batteries in favorable positions, and deployed many snipers in the forest. German and French troops seized the hills from either side, and fired at each other across the valley.

The Battle

Fighting broke out shortly after six o'clock in the afternoon on December 14, 1870, when a German major, who had been informed by some prisoners that the area had been abandoned, led a detachment of dragon cavalry into Fréteval was suddenly bombarded and forced to withdraw. Shortly after, the scale of the battle was expanded. In that day, with two great team, the Germans invaded Fréteval after a skirmish with bayonets, but could not keep the village due to unfavorable positioning. Nightfall ended the fighting, and neither side gained absolute superiority. The next day on December 15, the Germans and French continued to wage war, but were unable to achieve a decisive victory. Mecklenburg found it difficult to drive the Army of the Loire further from Paris, and the situation showed that the French position at Fréteval was too strong to be captured. But, fortunately for the Imperial German army, they didn't have to. After the fall of Blois on December 13, the X Army of the Second Army of the Kingdom of Prussia, commanded by Prince Friedrich Karl, attacked Vendôme and won in the Battle of Vendôme on December 16. The German III Corps also arrived on the left flank of the French and began to pressure them on December 15. The defeat at Vendôme forced the French to withdraw from their defensive positions. With the retreat of the French, the German army has set up a battle line extending from Cloyes and Morée in the north, through the Vendôme, to Blois southeast. Meanwhile, the French army made a retreat to Le Mans, giving up all hope of supporting Tours.

How Soldiers and Civilians Celebrated Christmas During the Franco-Prussian War 1870 | GLORY & DEFEAT Week 24

Christmas 1870 reminded the German and French alike that the Franco-Prussian War was going on for far too long. Soldiers and civilians on both sides tried to make the best of the situation but the grim nature of the last weeks of fighting and the ongoing Siege of Paris made this a memorable Christmas for all the wrong reason.



Battle of Hallue (December 23rd to December 24th 1870)

The Battle of Hallue was a battle of the Franco-Prussian War on 23 and 24 December 1870.

The battle was fought between 40,000 French under General Louis Faidherbe and 22,500 Prussian troops under Edwin Freiherr von Manteuffel. The French lost heavily in the village lying in front of their position. However, the Prussians were unable to carry the entrenchments on the heights. After the attack was repulsed, the French assumed the offensive, but with no decisive result. One thousand French soldiers were killed, and 1,300 were imprisoned. About 927 German troops were killed and wounded.

French Ragtag Army's Desperate Winter Battles 1871 | GLORY & DEFEAT Week 26

One of the last bastions of French resistance in the new year 1871 is Belfort. A ragtag army called "Army of the East" rushes to free the city near the Swiss border. Meanwhile the Germans prepare to announce their Empire in Versailles.



Battle of Villersexel (January 9th 1871)

In the turmoil and confusion following major reverses and capitulations at Sedan, Paris, and Metz, the remaining French armies faced major supply difficulties which restricted their movements. The Armée de l'Est was tasked with reaching and assisting Belfort, where Colonel Denfert-Rochereau still held out.

Werder's Prussians caught up to Bourbaki in the evening of 9 January at Villersexel, where a French detachment had taken positions the evening before. Prussian troops, filing through an unguarded pass, rapidly overwhelmed the positions surrounding the bridge over the Ognon. By 13:00h the château fell to the Prussians. However, the French lines at Esprels, Autrey-le-Vay, and, to the east, Villers-la-Ville, successfully checked the Prussian attack.

A French counterattack organized by Bourbaki pressed steadily forth in the afternoon and recaptured the château after confused street fighting. Fighting continued into the night until the retreat of the Prussians at 3:00am. Bourbaki continued his march on 13 January, while Werder fell back some 20 kilometers north along the Lisaine.

Painting: La bataille de Villersexel



Battle of Le Mans (January 10th to January 12th 1871)

After capturing the armies of the French Empire at Sedan and Metz in the fall of 1870, the German armies under the command of Helmuth von Moltke besieged Paris in September 1870. The newly-formed French Third Republic rejected a German peace offer and decided to continue the war and raise fresh armies to defeat the Germans.

The first French attempt to relieve Paris was defeated by the Germans at Orléans from 2 to 4 December by Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia's Second Army. After a second defeat at Beaugency on 10 December, General Antoine Chanzy's poorly supplied Armée de la Loire retreated undisturbed west to Le Mans on 15 December. Friedrich Karl's army was at the limits of its lines of communications and subject to franc-tireur attacks. His cavalry could not pursue along the icy roads. The war was also taking its toll on the Germans, with much of the Prince's infantry by now being composed of inexperienced recruits unaccustomed to long marches. Two days later Moltke confirmed the order to not pursue.

The retreat to Le Mans through the muddy and hilly terrain proved disastrous for the French army. Thousands of soldiers deserted, clogging the roads or hiding in the forests. Lack of paved roads resulted in entire convoys getting immobilized along the way. The force that arrived in Le Mans was exhausted from the poor march organization and constant defeats.

Le Mans had rail lines to Nantes, Brest and Paris and thus provided the French with lines of retreat. Chanzy began to prepare the city for the defensive. The city had no significant geographical or fortified defenses and Chanzy's maintenance of his position was dependent on German supply difficulties south of Paris. The German General Staff was able to overcome these deficiencies and prepare Friedrick Karl's army for an offensive to destroy the Armée de la Loire.

German situation

Moltke observed the French attempts to reform their defeated armies and decided to finish them off before they could do so.[6] With the benefit of the improved supply situation, on 1 January 1871 he ordered Friedrich Karl to advance west between Vendôme and Chartres and destroy Chanzy's forces.

Painting: The 17th (4th Westphalian) Infantry Regiment at Le Mans



French situation

Chanzy submitted plans to the Government of National Defense for another attack on the German siege army at Paris.[6] The government persuaded him to wait until the second week of January, when two new army corps would have been raised at Cherbourg and Vierzon. The French plan was to inflict as much attrition as possible on the Germans to soften their peace terms.

Chanzy sent a division-sized column under General Alphonse Jouffroy to harass the German Second Army, while the rest of his 100,000-strong army dug in. Jouffroy ambushed two German battalions on 27 December at Troo but the Germans fought their way out. The French column then attacked the German position in the town of Vendôme on 31 December but was defeated. Jouffroy prepared for another attack on 5 January that ran headlong onto Friedrich Karl's offensive.

Painting: General Chanzy at the battle of Mans



Prelude

Friedrich Karl arranged his army on a broad arc to encircle the French at Le Mans and began the offensive on 6 January. The Württembergian XIII Corps under the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg advanced on the right flank along the river Huisne. X Corps under General Konstantin Bernhard von Voigts-Rhetz covered the left flank by advancing down the Loir. In the center, III Corps and IX Corps followed each other down the main road to Le Mans.

The Germans defeated Jouffroy's attack and pursued his retreating men west, using the same routes as Chanzy's army had done weeks before. French delaying tactics and the difficult terrain did not prevent the Germans from advancing 50 miles in six days. Chanzy was angered by the speed of the German offensive and on 8 January gave his most trusted lieutenant, Admiral Bernard Jauréguiberry, command over the forward columns to shore up their retreat. The advance of the German X Corps was halted for the day. The two German corps in the center continued to push forward with little opposition and on 9 January Chanzy sent a division to check them at Ardenay. The French held their positions in the snow until nightfall. These delaying actions could not stop the Germans and on 10 January Chanzy launched a general counter-attack to buy time for his defensive preparations in Le Mans.

The battle

The French army was greatly demoralized and ill-equipped. Much of the French ammunition had been soaked in the rain giving the Prussians a major advantage against the obsolete French gunnery. But Chanzy still ordered his forces into trenches prepared before Le Mans. The Germans hit the French left flank guarded by the river Huisne. The flank was turned and nearly routed until artillery and a counterattack halted the German attack. A bold German attack was launched and overwhelmed the French right flank. Jauréguiberry attempted to rally the broken troops to mount a counterattack but failed to do so. The French defense dissolved, the stragglers falling back into Le Mans.

Painting: battle of Mans



Battle of the Lisaine (January 15th to January 17th 1871)

The Battle of the Lisaine, also known as the Battle of Héricourt, was fought from 15 January to 17 January 1871 between German and French forces. The French were led by Charles Denis Bourbaki, and were attempting to relieve the Siege of Belfort. The Germans prepared XIV Corps and several other divisions, some 40,000–45,000 men, to halt the French advance of about 110,000 men.[1] The Germans had their outer posts overran quite swiftly but the Prussians forced back and counterattacked the French forces, breaking the morale of French troops and leaving them to either die or retreat. In the end their efforts failed, and they were forced to flee into Switzerland where they were all interned soon after.

Painting: Battle of the Lisaine

Why Wilhelm I Didn't Want To Be German Emperor | GLORY & DEFEAT Week 28

The proclamation of the German Empire on 18 January 1871 is usually portraited as a glorious ceremony. Most people associated it with the famous paintings from Anton von Werner. But the ceremony itself was far from well organized and the soon-to-be Emperor Wilhlem I himself was not to thrilled about the whole affair.



Proclamation on 18 January 1871

On 18 January 1871, German troops paraded behind military bands around the Palace of Versailles. The delegations of the German field-regiments were crowded in this great room. They raised their battle-torn banners in a "colourful forest".[7] In the middle of the hall stood an altar, where participants celebrated a worship service, at the end of which all those present were singing the song Nun danket alle Gott (Now thank we all our God). At the end of the gallery was an elevated podium, on which Wilhelm I and the various princes stood. Otto von Bismarck read out the proclamation. Thereupon, Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden; Wilhelm I's only son-in-law shouted "His Majesty, Kaiser Wilhelm", and the other attendants repeated three times. The ceremony ended, although the hurrahs continued outside from the deployed troops. The expression "Kaiser Wilhelm" avoided the precise, constitutional title "German Emperor", which Wilhelm would not accept.

The Grand Duchy of Hesse, the Duchy of Brunswick and the Principalities of Reuss (Younger and Older Line), Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen, Waldeck, and Lippe were not represented at the imperial proclamation in Versailles.

Photo: The third version of the proclamation of Prussian king Wilhelm I as German Emperor at Versailles, by Anton von Werner. The first two versions were destroyed in the Second World War. This version was commissioned by the Prussian royal family for chancellor Bismarck's 70th birthday. Note that the subjects are portrayed as the age they were when the work was painted in 1885, not the age they were at when the event occurred in 1871