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

THE FORTIFICATIONS OF PARIS.

A German army arriving before Paris would, in the
first instance, have to deal with the detached casemated
forts which stand out in front of the bastioned wall which
forms the continuous enclosure of the city. It is the
business of the engineer to ascertain what are the weakest

parts of the defence, and to direct the attack upon them
The German staff officers are said to have made the forti.
fications of Paris a study for many years ; still enough
has been done within these. three weeks to make a fresh
reconnaissance necessary. At Paris it is expected that
the attack will be made between the Seine and Marne,
that is to say, between Saint-Denis on the north-west, and
Nogent on the south-east. This expectation of itself
would be one reason why the attack should not be made
there. The works the enemy would encounter would be,
proceeding from his right to his left, the Fort de l'Est,
near Saint-Denis, Fort d'Aubervilliers, Fort Romain-
ville, Fort Noisy-le-Sec, the redoubt of Loutencey, and
Fort Nogent. These forts all occupy points of a crest
which commands the surrounding country. If, desiring
to avoid these works, he should pass round to the west,
he might cross the Seine at Saint-Denis, and besiege Mont
Valerien, possession of which would place Paris at his
mercy. Much concern is often expressed at the bombardment
of Paris, which is supposed to be approaching. It should
be remarked, however, that her double line of defences
place her beyond the range of heavy guns of an enemy
who has not beaten at least one of them down. It is some-
times assumed that an army beyond the outer forts may
not only breach the enceinte with his artillery fire, but
also burn the town. This is a mistake. Fort de l'Est
and that of Aubervilliers are at a distance of nearly a
mile and three-quartersirom the enceinte, and more than
two miles and a quarter from the octroi wall. But a
68-pounder of 112 cwt. does not carry 2,800 yards, and
the range of a 13-inch mortar with a charge of
251bs, of powder is not above 4,700 yards. The other
forts we have named are still further from the bastions
of the enceinte ; those of Noisy and Romainville being
2 miles and 3 furlongs, and those of Rosny and Fontenoy
three miles and a half from the same line. The forts are
so placed that each one supports the fire of its neighbour,
and is supported by it. That of l'Est is one mile and
six furlongs from that of Aubervilliers, and the two would
pour a cross fire upon any point of attack in front of
them. Forts d'Aubervilliers and Romainville are placed
at the same distance from each other. Forts Romain-
ville and Noisy are near to each other, and so are forts
Noisy and Rosny, while forts, Rosny and Fontenoy have
a mile and six furlongs between them.—Daily News. 1

of the vanquished, I almost with relief look at
this little affair. A mile and a half separates me
from the fortress and the enemy, and I am as com-
pletely my own master as possible. You will not easily
understand why the Prussians are losing time in attack-
ing Montmedy. Very useless it would seem in the pre-
sent state of affairs, but when you know that within the
walls are stored and assembled all the provisions, live stock,
&c., sent lately in view of the arrival of MacMahon's
army, you will see its importance ; it will be a precious
capture for the Prussians in their needy condition, and
no doubt they will go on till they have succeeded in cap-
turing the place. Pilsoners continue to arrive in the
different Belgian towns—Zouaves, Turcos, chasseurs,
cavaliers, artilleurs, linemen all in the most des.
perate condition, their clothes torn up, their feet stained
with blood, all harassed and weakened by fatigue ; many
wounded, some can scarcely walk. The greatest part of
them belong to De Failly's corps, which was partially
annihilated on th Tuesday, and entirely cut off the main
eft wing on th Ist of September. It is still asserted
here that the soldiers, mad at the unfitness and neglect
of their chief, in a moment of fury and indignation
have shot him. A great many Prussian prisoners have
also arrived in Belgium; all of them, French or German,
are treated with the greatest kindness by the
officers and s )Idiers of the Belgian army ; they are
directed on th Namur, from there the Prussians
are sent to Bruges, and the' French to the camp of
Beverloo. Officers and soldiers are unamious in pitying
their Emperor's fate. They blame the persons around
him, the incapacity of his generals, to whom they fully
attribute the real cause of the disasters which have befal-
len the French army.

AFTER THE BATTLE.

Shortly before we came into Douzy we saw a column of
French prisoners passing across the village in front of us.
They were infantry of the Lire, escorted by Dragoons.
It appears that they are marched off by different routes,
incolumns of two or three thousand at atime, for Germany.
The distance between Douzy and Bazeilles (the burnt vil-
lage) is not more than a league. The road is singularly
level, edged with the eternal poplar, and on either side the
ground rises gently, but continuously. This (all along
this Line) I supposed to have been the scene of one epi-
sode in the battle of Friday, and at first sight the im-
mense numbers of dead horses scattered about in the
fields on either hand see med to justify the idea, but on
going over part of the ground I could find no trace of
shot or shell, not even one solitary burnt cartridge.
These dead horses must, therefore, have been wounded
further off and come over here in their flight from their
terrars of the battle. The fight begun outside the town
was, no doubt, desperately contested by the French, who
must have retired through the belt of wood till they
were forced back into tbe village streets. And it must
have been at this crisis that there occurred one of
the most deplorable incidents of modern warfare.
I understand that the French tro ops, consisting
principally of Marines and Gerdes Mobiles, in contesting
the possession of the place, got into the houses as
they retired, and fired upon the enemy from the
windows, and the contest became one of almost un-
paralleled fury. The French, who are said on this oc-
casion to have surpassed their former deeds of valour,
were evidently determined to do anything rather
than surrender, and the German obstinacy and persever-
ance would appear to have been equally decided. When
the contest was at its hottest, the town was suddenly and
simultaneously fired in a hundred places. There
can be no doubt that there will be bitter arguing
and cross-swearing about this event for many a day to
come. The German story is that the villagers fired upon
the wounded and upon the surgeons who were tending
them,, and that the order to burn the place was given as
a just and obvious reprisal. The French people in the
town appear to deny this with great indignation,
and aver that neither by the troops nor by the
villagers were the wounded or the surgeons fired upon.
The appearance of the town—l have called it in-
differently town and village, for though it had only
a population of little over 3,000, the stamp and
substantially of many of the houses, as far as one
could judge, were more that of a town than of a
village ; the appearance of the place I cannot better
describe than by saying that it looked as if one great
thunderbolt had fallen upon and in one moment
destroyed it utterly. The human bodies had by this time
been removed from the street, but the charred remains of
helmets and shakos, and the stocks of rifles, with every
here and there swords and bayonets and every sort of
weapon, showed that while the flames were raging all
round them, and the helpless women and children
were literally being roasted alive in the houses and in the
streets, the maddened combatants did not cease from the
battle, but died no doubt in numbers, hemmed in by the
flames while they were fighting. It is almost impossible
to realize that such things can have occurred in this age
of civilization, and that humanity and civilization and
Christianity should be disgraced by horrors that seem the
very outcome of hell. It is like an evil dream ; but it
is to be hoped these terrible events will leave the world
wiser for the future. The completeness and suddenness
of the destruction were evidenced numberless
little circumstances—such as the but it rerna of birds
and animals one would hay( expecte" of all others to
escape, dogs and pigeons, and ven eats in large
numbers. Hundreds of the people betook themselves
to the cellars, it is said, and, there perished suffo-
cation. Nowhere could there have appear e an
asylum for the miserable people—raging flame s and
suffocating smoke inside their houses, and )utside
falling walls and roofs, and men like fiends incar-
nate fighting amid the flames and the blazing wreck.
I walked about through the dreary streets Her and
there wretched old men and women were hanging about
the ruins of their homes in a sort of stupour appa-
rently. Some of them were weeping and sobbing—
" I have lived 66 years in this town," one poon,,old
fellow said to me. ."I was away from home when
this occurred, and now I don't know whether any
of my family are left to me or whether they are not all
buried in there," pointing to the ruins of his )use.
Every now and then, almOst, as it appeared, at liar
intervals, there was the crashing sound of fa ling
masonry. We kept as much as possible in the centre
of the streets. For an hour or so we walked
about ; the scenes were simply repeated in every h )use
and in every street. The smell from the burning flesh of
cattle, which we saw still on fire in the byres and stables,
was offensive and overpowering, and we were not sorry to
turn our backs on a scene of desolation and horror which
must be almost without a parallel in history. —Times C o
respondent.