The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-13 00:00:00

THE TRUTH. ABOUT STRASBURO.

The correspondent of the Standard, writing from Bale
on the Bth inst., furnishes that paper with what he con-
siders a truthful account concerning Strasburg. He
says :—" With regard to the number of prisoners taken at
the surrender of the town, these are, I see, fixed by
the Berlin official telegrams at something over 17,000. If
you will divide that number by just one half, you will arrive
as nearly as possible at the true amount. Here are the
figures. Before the commencement of the siege, when
the first French reverses gave reason to apprehend that
the town might be attacked, something very like a panic
spread among the inhabitants at the report
that they had been left absolutely without
defenders. The garrison of Strasburg in time
of peace, consisted of two regiments of artillery, two
of infantry of the line, and one of Chasseurs
b. Pied, the elite of the infantry service. The total formed
an effective force of from 7,000 to 8,000 men. But the whole
of these had been withdrawn for MacMahon's army, one
regiment of the line (the 97th) alone remaining, and even
this being, not only under marching orders, but actually at
the railway station in readiness to depart. In point of fact
though I give this only as rumour, well supported no
doubt, but without absolute authority, there seems very
little reason now to doubt but that all idea of the defence
of Strasburg had been given up by the central authorities
at the commencement, it being plainly held by the French
Government that this force was not sufficient for the
simultaneous defence of that place and of Metz,
and that the latter being strategically of
more importance, must, of course, have the
preference. General Ulrich, however, was of a
different opinion, and when the panic began to spread
set himself energetically to calm it by a proclama-
tion, denying that the condition of the town was in any
way so defenceless as had been too hastily supposed, and
placing the number of the garrison, with a slight touch of
exaggeration pardonable under the circumstances, at.
11,000. The real Sgures were as follow:-
97th Regiment of the line 2500
Depots of the 10th and 13th Chasseurs a Pied, con-
sisting chiefly of the tradesmen, &c., of the
A company of 96th Regiment of the line 200
Artillery ... ... ... ... ... ... 100
Pontoon train ... ... 400

Marines, intended for service in the Rhine gunboats,

not forthcoming ... ..• w ... 60

Mobiles • Oil ... GOO ... ... ... 9.0 0.• ... ... 4000
Dousaiiers ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 500

Total 'ill 11.• CHI ...

... ... ... 8260

Of these only 3,760, or considerably less than half, it
will be observed, were soldiers at the commencement of
the siege in any sense of the word. Of the remainder no
less than 4,000 were simply raw lads, caught up
from the ploughtail, and still in their sabots and their
blouses. Before, however, the actual commencement
of the siege, these numbers were swelled by the
accession of fugitives from the battle of Froeschwiller, to
very nearly the amount just named by General Uhrich.
These men came dropping in by twos and threes, the off-
scourings of almost every regiment in MacMahon's army,
until they reached finally to the number of nearly
two thousand. What was likely to be the value of such
an accession of men, whose very presence in garrison
was only due to their having run away from the
field of battle, may be very readily imagined. And
in truth for a sortie, or any purpose of hand-to-
hand fighting, they proved in the end almost use-
less. It is only just, however, to say that behind
the ramparts they still did their duty manfully,
and though in some respects their presence in
their then disorganised and demoralised condition
was rather a disadvantage than otherwise, they were still
by no means without their value, and must at all events
be reckoned as swelling the number of prisoners which
ultimately fell into German hands. Add to the numbers
thus obtained a company of Frano-tireurs formed during
the siege, about 200 strong, and wo have a total of
10,460, tepresenting the entire number of the garrison
of Strasburg at the time of its highest efficiency. Of
these 1,800 were killed during the bombardment, the
pontonniers, for instance, being swept away almost to a
man, and their places at the guns being supplied during the
latter portion of the siege by cavalry soldiers and Mobiles.
We have thus of all arms a total of 8,660 men, instead of up-
wards of 17,000, as claimed in the official dispatch. The
next false statement is one I most sincerely regret
having it in my power to contradict. " The collection of
MSS." we are told in. the Government dispatch from
Berlin, "is very rich." Now, it is just pos-
sible that this statement may be intended to
refer not to what has been saved, but to what
has been destroyed, and in that case I have not a word
to say against it, except that time and place are somewhat
singularly chosen for the gratuitous recalling of a fact
over which the " uncivilised " world has mourned for
some weeks past, If it be intended to imply that out
of a collection almost unequalled, one solitary scrap
of paper has escaped the deliberate fire of the German
batteries, it is a falsehood, pure and simple.
I say the "deliberate " fire, and am thus brought to
A third point on which the world has been somewhat
grievously misled. I forget exactly how many
weeks it is, but it is a good many, since we were
solemnly assured that the King of Prussia had
forbidden any further firing upon the town, and ordered
that the attack should be confined to the fortification. If
that order was given - which Ido not believe--it was
simply disregarded by General Werder and the army
under his command.