The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-25 00:00:00

MACMAHON'S FLIGHT.

A noteworthy description of the flight of MacMahon's
army is given in a letter to the Wehr Zeitung of Vienna.
The writer says :—" I judged the fight to be near Nieder-
bronn, and did not err. At 4 o'clock in galloped a horse
with empty saddle slipping under its belly, through the
town gate. Directly after a second, then a third; then fol-
lowed a cuirassier, his horse covered with blood and foam,
without cuirass, without arms. Next an artillerist, on an
unsaddled horse, his face distorted with inexpressible
fright. Some minutes later a mob of some twenty horse-
men hurried past, among whom two Zouaves clinging upon
one horse were conspicuous ; the others were Cuirassiers in
every stage of fright and terror, some swinging wildly their
sabres ; others, as if out of their wits, flogging their poor
exhausted horses, several without saddles, most of them
without arms. One Cuirassier halted his horse just
before me, loosened his cuirass, threw off his helmet,
next his heavy sword, lastly his Weighty breast-plate,
and then, laughing contentedly, rode leisurely on. A
pause of some five minutes followed. The townsmen had
all fled inside the gates. The fieldwatch and I stood alone
at the point where the Niederbronn branch railway inter-
sects the high road. Presently up gallops a field Gen-
darme, halts his half-dead horse, and calls out, ' Shut the
gates instantly; the Prussians are at my heels.'
The field-watch turned white. I exclaimed, ' What
madness. Hagenau is an open town. There could
be no defence, and if the Prussians really were
there the best thing for the town was to open the gates
as wide as possible.' His face brightened up. The
tumult became greater. Among a crowd of Cuirassiers
some Lancers were mixed up ; then came Hussar uni-
forms. The roads are thronged ; unmounted horses
gallop past as if driven on by panic ; on all sides are swarms—
artillerymen in shirt-sleeves, many of their horses
with the traces cut, ridden by infantry men or artillery.
So far I have not remarked one officer. As the mob
was thickest a railway train came screaming along
from the north. At the moment a number of
peasant girls, with their conveyances entangled in the
throng, were close upon the rails. They cannot move
forwards or backwards ; they seem lost. The field watch
and myself, seizing the barrier-tree, forced back the dis-
tracted wenches, shut the barrier, helped them over, and
the train rushed past without mishap. The train ought to
have saved the materiel accumulated at Niederbronn ; it
ought to have transported the wounded ; it was entirely
devoted to flight. They were the first infantry soldiers
who saved themselves. All the waggons over filled,
on the roofs, hanging on by the handles, with half
their bodies in the air, on the gangway boards,
some fully accoutred, some half-naked, no wounded !
So flashed past us this novel picture of dis-
traction across the current of misfortune in the
high road. We let the barrier balk drop, and sprung
aside. Like a wild hunt the horsemen galloped into the
town and clattered through it without drawing bridle. By
5 o'clock the torrent gradually ceased. After a pause
came the conveyances. I saw four or five carriages
all completely harnessed, yet without their guns. Then
jolted and rattled past a broken ammunition wag-
gon crammed with Turcos ; next a peasant's waggon
filled with bedding and household gear, but no owner.
A Zouave led the horses, two frightfully wounded Turcos
lay on the top, a cluster of unarmed soldiers of all arms
clung round it. Now followed infantry on foot, It was
about Imalf-past five ; still no officers. In dense swarms
the chancery cars, the carriages of three general brigades,
the archives of a Division, four or five empty ammunition
trucks, every kind of ambulance waggon, all packed with
uninjured soldiers. On one car lay three corpses, a few
pitifully-draggled Turcos following in the crowd in dumb
resignation. Then came a lot of sutlers and camp fol-
lowers. The infantry had all flung away their packs,
many their guns, some were in their shirt sleeves, many
of them had loaves stuck on their swords and swung on
their shoulders. By far the greater part were
those " vieux soldats " for whose valour General
Trochu has so lately vouched. I shall not
soon forget a poor perspiring infantry soldier of
the 50th smartly accoutred, with knapsack on his back,
with broad red face, who came up to me and anxiously
asked where his regiment was. I told him to go right on
to Strasburg, and perhaps he would find it there. He
marched bravely along as I had directed him. He was an
Alsatian. About half-past six an orderly troop of Cuiras-
siers, under command of a captain and two subalterns,
about forty men strong, rode past. They were almost all
properly accoutred, and kept step. Between four and
seven o'clock a disorderly rabble hurried by absorbed in
themselves and their miserable existence ; in the whole
body not more than 40 in marching order ; altogether
some 8,000 to 10,000 men ; very few wounded, some three
or four cavalry officers, two artillery, and about eight