The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-01 00:00:00

THE MILIT.LNY CONI

aOIP OLMV'TZ.

Ousarrz;-Sept. 161—This has-bees 1 another field-
day—sham war on t lie grand scale ,---the siege of
the citadel of Olmiltz, including the' application o
electricity on the most recently approved principles
to ignition and communication, and constituting
the most important ivanceuvres of which Olmfitz
is the centre.

In order that your readers may understand my
description, it is requisite to remember that, as
Bohemia is the basin of the Tipper,' Elbe flowing
northwards, Moravia is the basin of the Morava, or
March, flowing southwards, to join the Danube be-
tween Vienna and Presburg. On the western bank
of the main Morava, in the middle of the basin,
is Olmiitz, situated on an eminence. Down in the
flat below are the extensive outworks, the fosses
being the branches of the Morava itself, so as to
form an island. To the east of this town is the
line of the branch railway from Prague to Vienna,
and beyond it the camp of the plain. Westwards
no troops are encamped, but here the land rises to
the plateau called Tafelberg (Table MOuntain),
which is a strong fortress that commandSi
and is considered the key of Moravia.
In order not to do any damage to the actual
works, long lines of defence were constructed at
some distance outside the fort of Tafelberg, and
approaches were created exactly as if they had been
carried forward in actual war, and the besiegers in
the middle of their operations. After this preli-
minary topographical explanation, I now proceed
historically with the events of the day.
The weather was stormy, the rain fell in torrents
as the two Emperors went all over the works, both
for attack and defence. Both were on foot, as well
as all their staff, and I had an opportunity of seeing
them more closely than yesterday. The Emperor
of Austria is full of activity, and the heavy, re-
pulsive features of his family, which were not so
perceptible some years ago, have now come out in
their full ill-favour. Instead of the brilliant uni-
form of yesterday, he wore the grey fatigue great-
coat, and was not recognisable in dress from
any subaltern officer. The Emperor Nicholas is
certainly a wonderful man; although considerably
past the middle age, he positively looks rather
under 40 than above it. He also wore undress,
with the white cuirassier topcoat hanging over his
shoulders. Prince Paskiewitsch, who is a short
thickset man, with very polite manners, also wore
the fatigue Austrian uniform.
The visit to the works was interesting, every-
thing showing as nearly as possibly how the ground
would be cut up when half-way through a siege ;
the men working in the trenches, the sandbags
standing, and baskets being filled. Field-Marshal
Lieutenant Cabogu, a distinguished engineer officer,
gave explanations of everything to the Emperor of
Russia, having become known to his Imperial
Majesty by a mission to St. Petersburg some years
ago.
When the inspection was concluded, the two
large visible,
rfors proceeded in the heavy rain some dis-
tance to the tribune, from which the siege was
etatnedrs,wh,vir
i,chwitstssigunnifiitcir
it,lyaninsc:d
tiriiebed,i
opera-
tions of the siege then commenced with a long roll
of grey smoke rising from the red mud trenches,
and presently the thunder of cannon, rapidly an-
swered by both the cannon and musketry of the
fort. All of a sudden, a long column of ;men was
visible in the midst of the smoke, making a sortie,
when up sprung the Rifles and nfantry, crouched
down in front of us, behind the trenches, and, with
loud hurrahs, drove them back.
Mines and countermines had been carried under
the works, the first of whidh sprung was a mine
from the fortress carried under the advanced bat-
tery (the men had been all drawn back to prevent
accidents), and in a moment, with a prodigious
noise, up flew the heavy battering artillery in the
air, and immediately after there followed the spring-
ing of a mine of the besiegers, under the works of
the temporary fortress, the grand* thing I ever
saw of this nature, the earth rising en masse several
hundred feet in the air, intersected for an instant
with long fan disposed columns of fire, which even
in broad daylight must have been visible for miles ;
and after the explosion there fell all around the
tribune a thick shower of lumps of hard mud, some
of a hundredweight, so that the building was
shaken to its foundations ; but nothing penetrated
it, as a thick layer of branches of trees had, in
case of accidents, been placed above the solid beams.
I regret to say, that a soldier outside was killed on
the spot, and several others wounded.
The Imperial party then proceeded to see the re-
sults of the explosions, the Emperors clambering
over the earth where a cannon, thrown up in the
air, lay on the flat of its back with the carriage
broken ; the huge crater, still reeking with burnt
gunpowder and wood, lay open.
This inspection lasted a good hour, and then a
series of works followed at an angle of 45 degrees
from the fortress against the besiegers ; but, to
prevent accidents, they were made into very weak
charges. Last of all was seen a line of electric
wire carried a thousand fathoms (a mile and a quar-
ter) to the north-east, and the Emperors, descend-
ing to the electric battery, examined it ialmutely.
The Emperor of Austria afterwards gave file signal
through his trumpeter, and the apparently simul-
taneous rise of smoke at the conclusion of the series
of wires, followed after an interval by a detonation,
showed that the ignition of a mine had been instan-
taneously performed.
In conclusion, this day (barring the accidents)
has been highly interesting, and has given great
satisfaction to the foreign military men present. I
can only regret that, after so many hours on the
ground, the post hour permits only a brief outline
of the proceedings.—Tines Correspondent.