The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-29 00:00:00

THE BATTLE OF THE SIXTEENTH.

About two miles from the town. of Gorze a sort of
undulating plateau extends to the villages of Rez-
onville and Gravelotte, close to which passes the
high road from Metz to Verdun. This plateau was
the scene of the fearful carnage of the 16th, and
on the outskirts in the direction of Metz the drop-
ping fire of the outposts still tells that the morrow's
sun may rise upon another bloody field. The
intention of the French, it would appear, was to
force their way to Chalons, and in this movement
they were checked by the rapid advance of the 3d Corps
d'Arrnee, under Prince Frederick Charles. As the French
troops marched across the plateau of Rezonville their ad-
vanced guard gave them intelligence of the vicinity of the
Prussian army. The 11th Regiment (Prussian) deployed
in front of the wood, having marched up the read from
Gorze to Metz; whilst the 35th .Regiment, the "fighting.
40th," and the 72nd advauced through the wood to the
left. The French batterie* iratnediatoly opened with
allele, and in a few moments the woods which covered
-the advance of the Prussian troops seemed to be
in a perfect hurricaine of bursting shells, inflicting fearful
loss upon the advancing Prussians. No sooner did the
right battalion of the 11th emerge and deploy than the
French opened fire at 100 yards, and fearfully effective
was the discharge—so much so that they lost their colonel
and five officers, besides a considerable number of men.
They then retired into the wood until the whole line could
advance together, the French shells meanwhile inflicting
fearful loss upon the troops advancing, although under a
screen of foliage. Whenever the Prussian advance appeared
the French troops opened a fearful fire, the assailants falling
literally in heaps ; but Immer vorwlirts ! was the cry, and
under a storm of shot and shell, the gallant 3rd Division,
led by the troops I have above mentioned, advanced to
meet the foe. For full an hour they fired at one
another from a distance of fifty paces; the French, who
had not until now suffered much, losing many men.
The first line of the French troops then gra-
dually retired, and three regiments of the Garde
Imp6riale stood the brunt' of the Prussian advance
almost, for the moment, alone in their glory. Here the
Prussian line was strengthened, and at twenty to thirty
paces the fire was something fearful ; but the Guard
had to give way, and fell back to the village of Rezon-
ville. . The action had now lasted some six hours ; the
dead,, the dying, and the wounded encumbered the field
in every direction, while the blazing rays of a hot
autumnal sun fell with fearful force upon the unpro-
tected wounded. The Prussians now disentangled some
batteries of artillery, and plied the retreating but
still stubborn French forces , with shells, inflicting
the most frightful wounds. Up to nine at night the
French guns still sullenly rolled forth their fearful music,
until darkness wrapt the scene of carnage in obscurity.
Then rose the moon, and the plain awakened to the awful
cries of the wounded—so piteous, especially to the soldier.
The Prussian.loss and that of the French is something too
awful to contemplate in so small a space, for in an area o:
one and a half Bg-tare miles quite 10,000 men have beet.
put hors de combat. At night I returned to Gorze. Whai
a scene ! Every house a hospital, the streets lined witl
wounded, the gutters positively running with blood.—
Correspondent of Telegraph with Steinmetz's Army.