Franco Prussian War 1870-1871, Volume 2: After Sedan, The: Helmuth Von Moltke And The Defeat Of The Government Of National Defence

532 Pages·2011·12.93 MB·English

by  Quintin Barry

-
THE FRANCO PRUSSIAN
–
WAR 1870 71
VOLUME 2
After Sedan: Helmuth von Moltke and the
Defeat of the Government of National Defence
Quintin Barry
Inthesecondpartofthiscomprehensiveall-newtwo-volumemilitaryhistoryof
the Franco-Prussian War, the author continues his narrative from the fall of the
Second Empire until the ending of the war, and the founding of a unified
Germany.
The war against the Government of National Defence presented quite
differentproblemstovonMoltkeandhisstaff.AlthoughtheSiegeofParisloomed
largeduringthesecondphaseofthewar,theauthorfullyexploreseventsinother
parts of France, including the siege of Strasbourg, the activities of the Francs
Tireurs, the investment of Metz, and the battle against the French armies of the
Loire,theNorth,andtheEast.
TheauthorhasmadefulluseofanextensivenumberofGermanandFrench
languagesources.Hisdetailedtextisaccompaniedbyanumberofblackandwhite
illustrationsandbattlemaps.Extensiveordersofbattlearealsoprovided.
Quintin Barry is married and lives in Sussex. He is a solicitor, specializing in
employmentlaw.Hehasbeenchairmanofalocalradiostationandforthepastten
yearshasservedaschairmanofanNHSTrust.Throughouthisprofessionalcareer
hehasmaintainedhislifelonginterestinmilitaryandnavalhistory.Hehasmadea
specialstudyoftheperiodfrom1848to1871,withparticularreferencetotheWars
ofGermanUnification.
Helmuth von Moltke (Scheibert)
THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN
WAR 1870–71
VOLUME 2
After Sedan: Helmuth von Moltke and the Defeat of the
Government of National Defence
Quintin Barry
Helion & Company
ToSarah,JoandJohn
Helion&CompanyLimited
26WillowRoad
Solihull
WestMidlands
B911UE
England
Tel.[phone]
Fax[phone]
Email:[email protected]
Website:http://www.helion.co.uk
PublishedbyHelion&Company2007
Thispaperbackreprint2009
DesignedandtypesetbyHelion&CompanyLimited,Solihull,WestMidlands
CoverdesignedbyBookcraftLimited,Stroud,Gloucestershire
Printedby Henry Ling Ltd, Dorchester, Dorset
Text©Helion&CompanyLimited2006
ISBN978-1-906033-46-0
BritishLibraryCataloguing-in-PublicationData.
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedinaretrieval
system,ortransmitted,inanyform,orbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,
recordingorotherwise,withouttheexpresswrittenconsentofHelion&CompanyLimited.
Coverillustration:AnepisodefromtheBattleofStQuentin,January191871,paintingby
Amling.
FordetailsofothermilitaryhistorytitlespublishedbyHelion&CompanyLimitedcontact
theaboveaddress,orvisitourwebsite:http://www.helion.co.uk
Wealwayswelcomereceivingbookproposalsfromprospectiveauthors,especiallythoseof
nineteenthcenturyinterest.
Contents
THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WARC VOONLTUEMNET 2S
List of Illustrations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
List of Maps and Plans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
Chapters
1 The Road to Paris. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 Investment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3 Battle to the Last . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4 The Key of Our House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5 Chevilly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
6 The Fall of Orleans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
7 Metz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
8 Coulmiers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
9 The March of the Detachment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
10 Stosch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
11 Dead or Victorious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
12 Werder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
13 Beaune La Rolande . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
14 Loigny Poupry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
15 The Second Battle of Orleans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
16 Amiens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
17 Beaugency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
18 Dijon and Belfort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
19 The Battle on the Hallue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
20 Moltke at Versilles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
21 Le Bourget and Mont Avron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
22 The Le Mans Campaign. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
23 The Lisaine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
24 Bapaume and Péronne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
25 The Bombardment of Paris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
26 St Quentin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
27 Armistice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
28 Tragedy of an Army. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
29 Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404
v
vi THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR VOLUME 2
30 Moltke as Military Commander. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
Appendices
I Order of Battle of the 13th French Corps (mid September 1870) . . 445
II Order of Battle of the 14th French Corps (August 31st 1870). . . . 447
III Strength of the III Army and Army of the Meuse
(31st October 1870). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
IV Order of Battle of the 15th French Corps (12th October 1870). . . 451
V Order of Battle of the XIV Army Corps (beginning of
October 1870). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
VI Order of Battle of the 4th Reserve Division (beginning of
October 1870). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
VII Order of Battle of the 16th French Corps
(about the middle of November 1870) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
VIII Order of Battle of the Second Army (15th November 1870) . . . . 459
IX Order of Battle of the Detachment under the command of The
Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (15th November 1870). . . 464
X Order of Battle of the 17th French Corps (end of November
1870) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
XI Order of Battle of the 18th French Corps (early in December
1870) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
XII Order of Battle of the 20th French Corps (end of November
1870) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
XIII Order of Battle of the Third Army (30th November 1870) . . . . . 475
XIV Order of Battle of the Army of the Meuse (30th November 1870) . 482
XV Order of Battle of the 2nd Paris Army (8th November 1870) . . . . 488
XVI Order of Battle of the First Army (15th November 1870). . . . . . 492
XVII Order of Battle of the 21st French Corps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
XVIII Order of Battle of the French Army of the North
(23rd December 1870) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
XIX Order of Battle of the 25th French Corps (end of January 1871) . . 503
XX Order of Battle of the 19th French Corps (end of January 1871) . . 505
XXI Order of Battle of the French Eastern Army (commencement
of January 1871). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 507
XXII Staff of the Artillery and Engineer attack on Paris . . . . . . . . . . 514
XXIII Order of Battle of the South Army . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
CONTENTS vii
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 519
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
List of Illustrations
THE FRANCO-PRLIUSSTS IOAFN I LWLAURS TVROALTUIMONE S2
1 Moltke (Scheibert) (frontispiece) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2 King William of Prussia, painting by von Angeli (Rousset/Histoire) . . . 15
3 Moltke in Reims, painting by Braun (Rousset/Histoire) . . . . . . . . . 17
4 Prussians on the march towards Paris, by Speyer (Bork) . . . . . . . . . 18
5 Bismarck, painting by Lenbach (Rousset/Histoire) . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
6 A view of Châtillon, Meudon, St Cloud and Mont Valérien (Pflugk-
Harttung) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
7 Preparations for the defence of Paris, by Pallandre (Rousset/Combattants) 31
8 General Trochu, President of the Government of National Defence
(Rousset/Histoire) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
9 The generals of the Government of National Defence, fragment of a
panorama by Stevens and Gervex. They include, from left to right:
Charette, Gougeard, de Sonis, Jauréguiberry, Chanzy, Crémieux, de
Freycinet, d’Aurelle de Paladines, Gambetta, Carrey de Bellemare,
Clinchant and Faidherbe (Rousset/Histoire) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
10 A French outpost sights German troops approaching the outskirts of Paris,
painting by Dujardin-Beaumetz (Rousset/Histoire) . . . . . . . . . . . 39
11 French officials view dispatches delivered by pigeon post, painting by
Guiaud and Didier (Rousset/Histoire) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
12 German Siege Battery Föhrenbach (southern battery) at Kehl, during the
Siege of Strasbourg, engraving after a contemporary photograph(Pflugk-
Harttung) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
13 Lunette 52, Strasbourg (Pflugk-Harttung). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
14 A French artillery battery during the siege of Strasbourg, by Röchling
(Lindner) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
15 The return of the corpse of General Guilhem, killed at Chevilly, by
Pallandre (Rousset/Combattants). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
16 Scene from the fierce fighting for possession of Bagneux, during the Battle
of Chevilly, by Pallandre (Rousset/Combattants). . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
17 Leon Gambetta (Scheibert) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
18 General von der Tann, commander of the Bavarian I Corps (Scheibert) . 73
19 A general view of Orleans (Rousset/Combattants) . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
20 Bavarian infantry during the Battle for Orleans, 11 October 1870, after a
painting by Becker (Lindner) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
viii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ix
21 Prince Frederick Charles, commander of the German Second Army
(Rousset/Histoire) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
22 The French Army of the Rhine surrenders at Metz, by Speyer (Bork) . . 89
23 The surrender of Metz, painting by Freyberg (Scheibert). . . . . . . . . 91
24 French infantry assault the park at Coulmiers, by Knötel
(Pflugk Harttung) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
25 The château at Coulmiers (Rousset/Histoire) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
26 The Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Scheibert) . . . . . . . . 112
27 General von Blumenthal, Chief of Staff of the German Third Army
(Rousset/Histoire). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
28 Crown Prince Frederick William, commander of the German Third
Army (Rousset/Histoire) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
29 General von Wittich (Pflugk-Harttung) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
30 General von Stosch (author’s collection) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
31 Charles-Louis de Freycinet (Rousset/Histoire) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
32 General Ducrot, commander of the Second Army of Paris (Rousset/
Histoire) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
33 Garde Mobiles from (l to r) Seine-et-Oise, Brittany, Montpellier and
Normandy, by Knötel (Pflugk-Harttung). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
34 The defence of the plaster works at Champigny, by Pallandre (Rousset/
Combattants) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
35 A scene from the Battle of Champigny, by Pallandre (Rousset
Combattants) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
36 A view of Dijon (Pflugk-Harttung). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
37 General von Werder, commander of the German XIV Corps
(Scheibert) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
38 General von Voigts-Rhetz, commander of the German X Corps
(Rousset/Histoire). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
39 Alfred von Waldersee (author’s collection) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
40 A scene from the Battle of Beaune La Rolande, by Pallandre (Rousset/
Combattants) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
41 French infantry on the assault during Beaune La Rolande, by Pallandre
(Rousset/Combattants) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
42 General von Stiehle, Chief of Staff of the German Second Army
(Rousset/Histoire). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170