The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-15 00:00:00

THE FIGHT IN THE VOSGES.

On the sixth, it will be remembered, a battle took place
in the Vosges Mountains between the Baden troops under
General von Degenfeld and a large force of French
regulars and Mobiles. The Carlsruhe Gazette says that
the German troops were composed of the Ist Regiment
of Grenadiers of the Guard, the 3rd and 6th Regiments

of Fusiliers, two squadrons of Dragoons of the Guard,
and two batteries of artillery. They left Strasburg
on the Ist instant, and commenced their march
through Mutzig and Schirmeck in the direction of
Epinal and Langres. "No serious resistance was,
offered them in passing through the Vosges. On the 4th
inst., however, they fell in with some Franc-tireurs, who
were soon scattered, only two of our men being wounded.
On the 6th instant, the 3rd Regiment, which acted as
an advanced guard, encountered at Menil, south-west
of Raon l'Etape, a body of the French of double
their number, and two regiments composed of
regulars and Mobiles, in all some 14,000 to 15,000 men.
The 3rd Regiment had for some considerable time to
sustain a violent attack which the French made on them,
until the Regiment of Grenadiers of the Guard made a
flank movement and attacked the French, who, after a
bloody fight, which lasted nearly six hours, were repulsed
and completely routed, retreating in haste upon Ram-
bervillers. The enemy sustained heavy losses, and left
six officers and 600 prisoners, most of them regulars, as
well as numerous rifles, &c., in the hands of our troops, who
behaved extremely well. Our losses are also considerable
20 officers and 410 men killed and wounded. The 3rd
Regiment and the 6th Regiment of Fusiliers suffered
severely. The colonel of the Ist, Colonel Muller, is
severely, if not mortally, wounded. Lieutenant von Niv-
plin, who distinguished himself before Strasburg by the
capture of three guns, for which he received the iron
cross, was also mortally wounded. In one battalion
nearly all the officers have been killed, but the day was
most glorious for the Baden arms."

A DAY WITH THE MOBILE.

A correspondent of the Times gives a graphic picture of
a day passed with the Parisian Mobiles in their camp at
St. Maur, prior to the catastrophe of Sedan. A chance
acquaintance in a cafe led him to pay them a visit, and he
was delighted with the cheerfulness, the courage, the
bonhommie, everywhere apparent. The Camp de St.
Maur is situate on high ground, being an immense forti-
fied square, whose lofty earthworks are surrounded by a
moat. The camp is described as a little white canvas
city with parks, and squares, and avenues, and streets,
looking like a city of ants rather than of
men, a city of long lines and squares of flattened
sugar loaves, among which the inhabitants looked
like a race of giants. Even before Sedan there were
ominous devices scrawled in charcoal on the canvas :
" A bas l'Empereur," " Vivo la Republique," " Vive
Trochu," and a sketch of a huge man with a big sabre and
great asses' ears, bearing the inscription, " Lebceuf avec
le sabre de son pere." Visitors to the camp are frequent,
but as the Moblots are grouped out into divisions, the
residents of the same quarters of Paris being stationed
near each other, some parts of the camp are gayer than
others. The plan of dividing the Moblots according to
their neighbourhoods has worked very well, as acquaint-
ances meet, and a feeling of camaraderie springs up through-
out. The battalions whose friends cannot afford the luxury of
visits, however, make up for their comparative isolation
by their high spirits and• various games. Everywhere
there was the same cheerfulness and confidence in the
future, though-the gay moblot had to put up with many
of the hardships of camp life. The young lieutenant
whom the narrator visited had left a profitable engage-
ment on the Western Railway when called out for
service, and almost all the Mobiles had been obliged to
relinquish some occupation or position. Their employers
in the majority of instances have undertaken to keep
their places open for them till the end of the war— but the
war has yet to end, and it is a question how many will
get through it. The young men of wealth and position
have come out very well in the trial. " There you see,"
said an old soldier in speaking of the Camp de St. Maur,
" the veritable enfants de Paris en masse—Dukes and
Counts and Barons, of the Faubourg St. Germain or the
Quartier des Champs Elysees, with all the petits creves to
boot, who were the sport of our satirical journals—wearing
the same uniform, eating of the samegamelle, and sleeping on
the same straw as the workmen of Belleville and LaVillette."
This same straw is the subject of many jokes. A sketch
in the camp represents a visitor apostrophising a Moblot.
"My dear Viscount, what can I bring you from Paris ?"
"My dear fellow," is the reply, you can bring me two
trusses of straw." These were in the days before Paris
was blockaded, and the Moblot visitors were seldom
empty handed. They did not fare badly, however,
The kitchen of the battalion visited is described as a
deepish furrow intrenched in the earth. and one of the
chief duties of the regimental cooks was to get the faggots
to burn in spite of wind and rain. The gamelle, as it is
called, supplied good soup and bouilli, which the soldiers
came and fetched for breakfast and dinner. Their day was
mapped out as follows :—They had first appel at five
in the morning; then setting tents in order, cleaning
of arms and equipments; then exercise ; then a dive
into the gamelle abaut 9 for breakfast, which was just the
same as for dinner, and no wine or beer allowed; then ex-
ercise again till 12, two hours of rest from 12 to 2, then
exercise again and ball practice ; after which another dive
into the gamelle for dinner; after which all, except
those on sentry duty, might spend their time as
they would. The kit of the Mobile, all his equip-
ments, and provisions were supplied by the
Government, who, after deducting from the Mobile's pay
the price of his daily ration, gave him magnificently seven
sous every five days. The Mobiles slept at night under
their little tents on straw ; three in a tent is the allow_
ance for privates, while the sous-officiers have large
tents and sleep five together. The visitor
dined at the officers' mess, . where he had a
good plain dinner and unbounded hospitality. In
the evening his hosts took him to the cafe chantant, where
they usually spent their leisure evenings, and where the
excellence of the amateur performances forcibly reminded
him of the large number of educated men in the ranks of
the Mobiles. There was the flower of the youth of
Paris, the rising poets and men of letters and art, the
rising members, indeed, of every profession, doing
the work of private soldiers, exposed to the
same chances and privations as the garcon epicier or
the young carpenter or stonemason. " The whole of the
young life and blood of Paris between the ages of 20 and
24 are there, engaged in the most fearful struggle which
their country has yet had to endure. We thought a little
mournfully of this as our kind Moblots escorted us to the
train to start on our way back to Paris. Nevertheless,
we were glad to have passed a day in the midst of these
frank, light, and true-hearted enfants de Paris."