The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-12 00:00:00

THE BATTLE OF WOERTIT.

The Times correspondent with the German army has a
letter dated Soultz les Forets, Sunday. It furnishes some
important inforniation of a battle of which little is
known :—Everything confirms the impression that the
great battle of Woerth was an accident, and the
belief gains ground that MacMahon, like Douay,
had no idea of the force to which he was opposed
when he attacked it. At the Prussian headquarters it
was .a surprise, and the outpost firing, which extended
along the ridge over the WOerth rivulet (a few yards broad
and a yard deep) was not considered serious fill the French
displayed a great line of artillery on the ridges and opened
a furious cannonade. Had the corps on the Prussian
left kept more in front, and had the Bavarians coming
from Weissenbourg pressed on more rapidly and
come on the French left, their escape would have
been almost impossible. As it was, when the heavy
cavalry repulsed in their charge round through the
battalions in the rear, masses of men threw down their
arms. Their fighting at Nechwiller was grand. The
Prussian generals say they never witnessed anything
more brilliant. But the Prussians were not to be denied.
With tenacity as great, and a fierce resolution, they
pressed on over the rivulet, up heights where the vineyards
dripped with blood, and checked again and again, still
pressed on with a furious intrepidity which the enemy
could not withstand in that desperate fight of
eix long hours, during which the battle raged
in full vehemence. It lasted, indeed, for thirteen
hours, and at one time the French gained ground
and got down on to the ridge on the left ; but the main
stress of the day was on a narrow front of some two and
a half miles along the stream at each side of Woerth,
and the final stand was made by Reichshotfen and Nech-
willer, from which the French retreated by several roads
through a very difficult country, by Neiderbronn, &c., on
Bitsche. The victory of Goeben at Sarrebrucken opens the
road to Metz ; but Bitche, with a strong citadel, still
intervenes between his left and the army which ought to
complete his communication—viz., that of Prince
Frederick Charles. The belief that the Emperor was at
Worth with MacMahon gains ground, as several French
officers agree in the statements. His Royal Highness seems
to think it was probable.

A little later this writer says :—" I have been the acci-
dental and unseen witness of a little scene just now which
is worth recording. A country cart was rumbling down
the street with two wounded officers—young men—on
their way to the station. An officer on foot beckoned
to the driver to stop, and went up to the cart, the occu-
pants of which tried to salute him, but he made a
gesture, and leaning over entered into conversation with
them for ten minutes, evidently asking after their wounds.
On parting he shook each by the hand and continued his
way up the street accompanied by two other officers. He
halted at my quarters and inquired if there were any
wounded inside—they had been removed, some to their
last resting-place—then went on, and meeting a cart
full of wounded soldiers, talked to them each in
turn, and so went on visiting the hospitals and the
wounded in the most unostentatious manner. It was the
Crown Prince. No wonder his men are fond of him.
Many did not know him till he bad passed on.
He told how the soldiers, one and all, seem to re-
joice in their wounds, and make light of them for the
sake of the cause, and there was an honest exultation
in his tone at the honour of commanding such troops.
It is now four o'clock, and a report is going about that
MacMahon had only two divisions with him. If so, they
have been sacrificed, causing an immense loss to the Prus-
sians, it is true, but gaining no material benefit.• They must
have lost all their guns. The story is very improbable, al-
though it is quite true, that the French were in far inferior
numbers. Could MacMahon, too, have been surprised
and involved in a battle so that ho could not withdraw
his men ? He handled his troops beautifully, and a change
of front under fire, when he retired his left and took up a
new line for his guns, is spoken of with admiration by his
enemies. Bibeche, or Bitch; on whioh his routed corps
fell back, defends the pass of the Vosges in conjunction
with Phalsbourg, Petite Pierre, and Liehtenbuig, but,
as M. Lavall6e points out, the Vosges may be turned by
Mayence and Saarlouis.