The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-26 00:00:00

THE SIEGE OF STRASBURG.

The Staatsanzeiger publishes an official report of the
siege of Strasburg, in which it says—Strasburg was at
first only surrounded by the Baden division, from the 11th
to the 17th of August. After the arrival of the Ist
division of reserve, and the division of the Llandwehr of
the Prussian guard, as well as the siege parks of artillery,
the troops formed a corps d'armde under the command of
Gen. von Werder. The garrison of Strasburg only comprised
about 11,000 men of the line infantry and artillery, the Garde
Mobile and Garde Nationale. As regards the defence
Strasburg is one of the strongest places in France. The
fortress, constructed by Speke, and considerably strength-
ened by Vauban, is in good condition. The Rhine, the
Ille, and other waters, are employed for inundating the
fosses and environs of the town ; the place is abundantly
supplied with artillery and ammunition. But the modern
principles of the art of fortification have not been em-
ployed. The place wants, above all things, detached
forts, so that when the ramparts, which closely surround the
town, are attacked, the inhabitants are exposed to all the
danger. Considering the numerical weakness of the garrison,
and the fact that the large civic population had no certain
shelter, it was supposed that a serious threat of bombard-
ment would induce the inhabitants to insist upon the
.ommandant's capitulating. It was only in this manner that
it was possible to take the town in a few days, and without
too great sacrifice, while a regular siege, which could only
be begun after the arrival of the artillery, and the com-
pletion of the siege works, would, under the most
favourable conditions, demand much time and great
sacrifices. General Uhrich, the commandant of the
place, was, therefore, summoned on the 24th of August,
at several intervals, to capitulate, under threat of bom-
bardment, but the warnings had no effect. Fire was,
accordingly, opened on the town, being directed princip-
ally against the barracks, arsenals, and other public
buildings. On the 26th the fire was suspended from four
in the morning until midday, to await the effect of the
Bishop's intervention. This intervention, however,
proved fruitless, and the bombardment was resumed, and
continued until the 27th. As up to that time the
infatuated population had made no demonstra-
tion, and the commandant persisted in his re-
fusal, it was resolved to abandon the bombard-
ment, by which, owing to the extent of the
town, only a few private houses had been destroyed, and
to undertake a regular siege with the means of attack
which in the interval had been obtained in sufficient
quantities. The injuries which the cathedral, that ancient
and venerable monument of German art, received from
the bombardment, were happily insignificant. The
roofing which covers the arch of the edifice is burned, but
all the interior is intact, including the clock, with the
exception of a pane of glass which was broken. The
enemy had established an observatory with a telegraph on
the platform, which enabled him to see our works. To dis-
lodge him from the tower several bullets were fired, after
due warning. The bombardment of the town was due to
military considerations of great importance, but circum-
stances which General Werder rightly appreciated
induced him, notwithstanding the bombardment and de-
struction of Kehl, an open town, by the French, to
abandon this method of attack, which is not uncommon
in the history of sieges. While on this subject, we may
remark that the general commanding the besieging army
is . authorised by his instructions to take any
measure which seems advisable to him without
obtaining any other authority. The commandant
of Strasburg was told he might ask permission for the
women and children and invalids to pass out of the town.
General Uhrich refused this offer, saying he had no choice
among a population of eighty thousand. If the popula-
tion were not warned in time of the danger that
threatened them, they have only to thank their own arro-
gance and blind confidence in their victory, and the error
of the masses who saw in the troops marching on the town
only incendiaries and assassins, and caused the inhabitants of
the environs as far as Haguenau to take refuge in Stras-
burg with their families and their furniture. The com-
mandant of Strasburg allowed them to do so. In
the night of August 29 the first trench was
opened against the north-west front of the fortress
at 600 or 800 paces from the enemy's works, without any
loss on our side. On the night of the Ist September the
second parallel at 300 to 400 paces of the fortress, was
completed, and in the same night the establishment of
the batteries was worked at unceasingly. These works,
which were k o quickly accomplished, and especially the
work of the sappers, which was carried on under the
generally well directed fire of a numerous artillery, mus-
ketry, and guns from the ramparts, went on almost un-
interruptedly, notwithstanding some vigorous sorties
of the enemy. This is very rare in time
of siege. The most important sortie took place
on the morning of the 2nd September against
the two wings of our position. On the left wing the
enemy was vigorously repulsed by the 30th of the line,
and on the right by the 2nd Baden Grenadiers. Up to
September 9th our artillery had placed in battery at the
point of attack 98 rifled cannon and 40 mortars. The fire
of these batteries completely silenced that of the ramparts.
The Baden siege artillery at Kehl directed an effectual
fire from 32 rifled cannons and 8 mortars against the
citadel, which offered a last refuge to the enemy after the
capture of the town. In the nights from the 9th to the
11th of September the approaches of the third parallel,
and in the night of the 11th the third parallel
itself, were chiefly executed. Owing to the weakening
of the garrison the ordinary sap was used for these works.
We had no losses. The total of our losses up to Septem-
ber sth were 57 dead, 327 wounded, and 30 absent. We
must hope that this list of losses will be speedily closed
by a capitulation, and that the painful position of the in-
habitants will not be aggravated. Everything that is pos-
sible is being done with this object. Every day hundreds
of passes are being sent into the fortress. Thanks to the
assistance of some Swiss citizens, an emigration into
Switzerland of the most unfortunate families has been
arranged. But it is not only in the town that the distress
is great. The faubourgs of Koenigshofen, Robertson,
and Schiltigheim de not suffer less than the town
The rich villas of these localities have been fired by the
projectiles from the fortress, and no day passes without
the shells of the besieged making some victims among
these unhappy people. The oommandant of the siege
army has made generous exertions to assist the famished
population and the civil ambulances.

THE J3URNING OF BAZEILLES.
A. letter inthe Cologne Gazette defends the conduct of
the Germau troops at the great battle of Sedan. It says :
—Most exaggerated statements have been made respecting
wilful destruction caused by our men. With the excep-
tion of Bazeilles where hardly one stone remained upon
the other, the villages have only slightly suffered. The
destruction of Bazeilles arose, amongst other causes, from
the fact that the Bavarians had to withstand the com-
bined attack of a whole corps d'armee in the immediate
neighbourhood, and tney fought like lions. But

this was not the only cause of the destruc-
tion. of Bazeilles. The Franc tireurs took up a
strong position in the, village, and kept up a continual
Are upon our troops ; and as they could not drive them
from the village, and were much injured by the firing,
they opened a cannonade upon the village, and thus
destroyed it. Flames completed what our, cannon-balls