The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-08-20 00:00:00

THE BATTLE FIELD OF FORBACH.

The Special Correspondent of The Times gives the
following sketch of the battle of Forbach

SAARBRUCKEN, August g.

_
" Arriving at Saarburg I saw the first idols of war on
Prussian territory at the railway station, where a train full of
wounded soldiers had lately come in from Saarhs iicken. As
enterrd the station the train went out, followed by the
sorrowful gore of a long line of women, many of whom
were weeping because they had seen some friend lying
among the wounded, while others may have been weeping
because, looku g for a friend, they had not, even among the
wounded, been able to find film.
•

I was obliged to piss the night at Saarburg, which was in
a stale of great excitement, or at least of great elation for
the Prussians keep their enthusiasm within bounds) at the
news just I ecetved of a great victory gained between Saar-
brucken and Forbach. Although there was now no possi-
bility of the French attacking Ssarlouts, full preparations
had been wade for defending the place, the ditches
had been filled, and the country around Inundated.
Saarlonis, however, seems scarcely to deserve the
reputation for strength which belongs to It for, in
the first place, it is c.,mmanded by a range of hills distant
not more than two wiles from the outer fortifi,ations. At
Saarlouis, a fellow-passenger, an ex-cavalry oflioer, who
speaks a little English, get. out, cf the train to see to a friend
who has been wounded and is waiting to get on to Treves.
'• My Mend was thcoted in the leg," says the tx-cavalty
dli.er when he returns, "but he has killed many men, and
when his wound is repaired he begins again."

SaintlittCßEN, August 9.
At eight o'clock this morning I was juit remarking that
though masses of troops had parsed through the town, we
had heard neither drum nor Ingle nor any sort of musica•
Instrument, when the a.seetible,e resounded from 01 e end of
Saarbi llck,di to toe other. lathe homes opposite the Motel
Gepraette, where General Al vansleber, (c.mmanding the 3rd
Corps d'Arrneeof the Northern Army, under the supreme 00(0.
mood of General Ste impel.) was eta) Inc, soldiers a ere hurry.
big on their uniforms; others, already dressed, rushed down
the streets, and were in many caaes stopped by officers
when they seemed to be hastening too fast. In front
of my post of oliser vaticn several companies of infantry were
soon collected, and in less than 20 minutes the principal
thor ughtares were lined with troops of at arms ready to
inai ch to Forbear, to continue the invasion of France.
Hussars in light blue and red, dragoons of all colours, cut
masters with steel glistening over tunics of white cloth, lancers
with banners furled in token, not of having struck, but clan
intention to strike, cavalry of all kinds, pasted from the main
streets up the strrets at right angles to It, gained
the heights on and between which the recent battles
were fought, and by two principal roads reached
the main road which leads to Foi bitch. The infantry,
marching strongty and steadiy forward in long snake-like
columns, to died far better than any one would imagine who
knows the Prussian private from his demeanour as an indi-
vidual, stud in time of peace alone. A Prussian soldier, walk.
lug with an awkward gait, covered with a helmet evi-
dently not made to measure, looks something like a R ,man
in a burlesque. Rot when Prussian infantry regiments
are seen In 'vim; lu masses, or, better still drawn up
in triple lines for battle, then the res triplax of their
helmets has an irresistible eff, ct, and is oymlatlical of their
atiitmle in presence of the enemy. Artillery, I mmunition
waggons, provisions carried in carte, null live sell-transport-
leg provision in the shape of oxen came next; then more
troops; then, after the oestruetive columns, the tannery
e. Outten!, and, finally, what may be called the spiritual
Infmtry to perforate the ,oe, artillery to smash hirn, cavalry
to lacerate him, and, at the soot, time, Knights Hospitaller',
henries the red and white cross of neutradty, to drag him
from the field of death, Sisters of Mercy to tend him, doctors
to cure him. or if it he too late for that priests to save his
soul. Everything is organised here. There is even a corps
of gravediggers--dead butlers, "todten.grdier" they are
called—who are under con.mand, and have to do their dill
like every one rice. Front the general to the gravedigger,
there has been work for every one to-day ; and, but for the
activity of the latter lunc:ion aries, the Sdieheren heights and
the plains oeside them would lie poisonous with miasma, and
the dead would be killing the living.
PRIESTS, PASTORS, AND SISTERS ON TUE BATTLE FIELD !
The sanitary and spiritual columns give almost a religious
aspect to the warlike procession, which, as it moves away
over the Mile, looks here and there, when the red creases of
the Kraelr,ett ad, and the black and a Lite dresses of the Barn,
iterrigen. Schlrestern strike the eye, more like a procession of
plignms approaching a holy shrine than of soldiers Invading,
hostile country. (lithe ratikr, n4l aj,r, some are men of the
Landwehr, wearing uniform, others are students from the
hospitals or Universities, to plain clothes. All exhibit the
red cross worked or stamped on a white cloth, which
is tied round the lett arm. Besides the Sisters in black
• and white there is a c op. of Sisters who wear dark
, slate-coloured droves and waste hoods, with butterfly wings,
and, like the Krankentotger, display round the left arm the
red cross on a wrote ground. These admirable women have
, already done excellent service They were on the field of
battle on the night of the tith, Mare the fhiug had ceased,
and this morning, as the clock struck live, I saw a party of
them walking through the streets on their way to-
WAILIS Forhsch, beyond which town there will soon be
more work for them to do. All the Sisters march on
foot, each little c imoney preceded by a priest or a
pastor. Stoat cf the Krunkentreroar go also on feet; but a
few of them ride in waggons in charge of the litters and
medical stores. The litters are of two kinds, some portable
—pieces of canvas, nix or seven feet I y two, stretched over
a couple of slender poles—others on large, light wheels, and
furnished with a hood like a Bath chair, with cushions for
the head and shoulders, and holm for the heels. These
elongated Bath chairs are so light that they may be lifted
with ease over ditches, or carried by two men, one before,
one behind, over heavy ground. It is satisfactory to see
that the art of solacing the wounded in some measurei
keeps pace with that of maiming the soon I.

MARKETING AT SAARBRECKEN.

It took just ta o hours for all the troops who had passed
the bight of the tiM in Saarintleken to get out of the town
this morning. At halt-past ten the streets were empty, de.
surfed ; the villagers had come to market as usual, and
Tuesday being market day, the mark, t, a. usual, Sae held.
Waiters in the hotels auggisted breakfaat, which, until then,
they hod declared themselves utterly unable to serve , busi-
ness went on as usual, and the town, which hail be, pir-
tiolly iv.mbardot a week In-fore, and which three days before
bad been agitated by the n usketry and artillery accompani-
ment of a battle as bloody as that of Inkermatin, was as
quiet as Reuling or Guildford. What is still more extra-
ordinary is that come 15,00 e troops, with a most abundant
train, had scarcely yet quttted the town, from which they
n;oved without music, without drums, almost without a
word of command beirg heard. No shouting, no hurry.ng,
no cobfusion of any kind. All was rapidity and regularity—a
few necessary, not unforeseen, stoppages,-but no blocks.

" LIKE THE SCENE OF A RECENT PICNIC!"

When the troops had fairly left the place I followed them
to the hills and watched them joined by other troops frotn
neighbouring encampments, as, in an unbroken line, the
moth body made lis way towards Forbach. Parties of
cavalry kept the heights on the loft and patrolled the forest
on the right ; the tirank,ntrajer went across the hells,
where numbers of the dead were still lying, and whence the
last ef the wounded had oily that morning been re-
moved ; but the army, as a whole, learner encampments
and masses of baggage waggons on each side, marched
on steadily towards Forbach and Me. Avoid, not, as
the soldiers belmved, to stop on Its triumth int pro-
gress until It come withm sight of Metz. The heights
commanding the town, while the French lia,l occupied
for some days after the affair of the 21,1, looked now
like the scene of a r,cent picnic. Here &bottle, there apiece
of paper which might have enveloped sandwiches or the
butt..r.brod of the country; there the remains of a wood fire ;
there the ilet' alto pot. Theo more remains of wood fires,
more Mb: of tin pots, and broken bottles innumerable. The
sort of debris that one sees on a racecourse the day after the
race—no idea which is again suggested by • number of sticks
still remaining lathe ground at a distance of 50 or 6.) yards
ahead on the way to the Spichern heights. These are not
sticks, however, they are needle guns ; and approaching
them, I, pass from folio indmations of peace to true
hulk:idiot is of war. Where these five needle-guns
are planted in the earth with bayonets for rout-)
five Prussian !soldiers have fallen. The men are hurled; but
their arms, for this dy at least, are to be left here A few
yards ahead there are three more of these needle plants;
then nine, then a dozen ; then close to a ridge, where the
Prussian assailants had thought they won:El find cover, but
failed to do so, 27. Passing this ridge, and climbing, not
without difficulty, up the steep ascent, I find knapsacks lying
torn open on the ground, broken atm ,utrements, battered
helmets, blood-stained cl,thes, and bodies rinbi itt the con.
vulaions of death. Prussians alone are to he seen here, and
looking down into the plain I oMerve three di ff,ren t paths cf
lucent marked, alit to show how difficult they were, with
nettle-guns stuck in the turf. Every man who owned one of
these roeskets either died close to where his weapon stands
as a sign, or, at least, tell unable any longer to use it. The
military geology of the Spicheren heights can be clearly
understood. Alter the fir.t needle.gun region, the re. ion of
NUMMI knapsacks and accoutrements; then the region of
the Pruasign dead whom the "dead butlers,' under the
direction. of the "sick tender," live not yet been able
to remove; then the first line of French dead, lying thick
behind the natural and artificial t trenchnienta which, to
the lest moment, proteAeri them as they shot down, or
drove back, regiment after regiment of the l.ll,llC-
lug, surprising Prussians ; then Prussians and French
lying mingled together on the summit of the mount ; then
more Fceneh than Prussians, the French alone lying across
a ridge in the wood crowning the heights, whose shelter a
portion at least must have sought arid often sough-, in vain;
then, on the left side of the battle-field, looking from Saar-
lortiAen, nothing but graves. " Hier ruhen in Gott," says
one inscription, "28 Preussen, 69 Franz ,sen. Grab No. 0'
"
"Here rest friends and fore together," says another inecrip-
Hon, "6 Prussians and 11 Frenchmen." I observe] that the
words "and fees" had by some chart able or philonophical
person been marked out.

THE BATTLE-FIELD STREWED WITH LET'TEILS.
The French, even on their own Spicheren height., were as
if in a foreign land; and the ground where they lay was
strewed with letters addressed to such a one, ramp of
elisions, orr uch another at Metz, 'to he forwarded d In suite
it son rOilltent " I reed eizieral of the e letters, writ h sere
natural and therekre, miller the circumataiicen, thuching
AU repreached the French solder, IE4O apparently thinks
less of his relations than his relations think of him, with not
answering letters; and all were fall of assurances of ad ec UOO.
dome itotttled the enclosure of money, einl there was not one