The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-29 00:00:00

THE WAR.

WITH THE LOIRE ARMY.

The most various accounts are published of the state
of the armies under Chanzy and Bourbaki. Some corres-

pondents say they are disorganised and mutinous ; others
declare that they are in as good fighting condition as the
weather will allow. • One military writer speaks highly
of Chanzy's men. Speaking of the action at Beaugency,
in the . North, he says :--" On the morning
of the 9th the action recommenced and in-
creased in fury during the day. The same
villages as on the previous day became the
scenes of desperate engagements. Around Villerceau the
dead Bavarians and French lay thicker than pheasants
lie after the hottest battue in 14`.1igland. On each side of
a little wave of ground they lay face to face, with only
a few yards between them. On the crest a Bavarian had
fallen dead on a dead Frenchman. During the day
Beaugency was patrolled by Prussian troops, and all
the houses in the suburbs and the tobacconists' and
confectioners'.shops were plundere 1. The butt-end blows
on the doors and shutters alarmed the inhabitants almost
as much as the firing. The Brandenburg troops seemed
most systematic in their proceedings, and quietly broke
open houses in the market-place in presence of their
officers. A barricade was formed next the railway station,
and, as it was a good place to view the action, I walked
down and made acquaintance with the officer of the fort.
He mentioned that he had lost in seven days 90 out
of 160 men of his company, and that in his
opinion the Loire Army had fought better than any
army be had seen—better, even, than Bazaine's army
at Metz. He added `lllais! vous le voyez Lien!' as
he pointed to where the most desperate fighting was
going on. As he spoke loud cheers broke on our
ears, and we could see two regiments of Prussian
horse, supported by a second line, charging some French
skirmishers who had ventured rather forward, The latter
tried to form rallying squares, but were not quick enough.
I don't think they suffered very much, for many of them
commenced popping at the cavalry after it had passed,
and I fear that the mitrailleuse and musketry fire which
greeted the horsemen as they crested the hill before halt-
ing did considerable execution."
The Times' correspondent with the German forces is as
much perplexed as people in a distance. ." It would ap-
pear that General D'Aurelle was compelled to evacuate
Orleans because he could not get his men to fight, and I
have since conversed with a French officer who
in the heat of his description of one of the
battles in which he was taken prisoner, admitted
that he was compelled to use his sword in order
to drive his men to the front. The great number of
prisoners taken adds a strong colour of probability to
this view of the case, but they made such a good fight
of it on the 2nd at Bazoches des Hautes, and on the Bth
at Meung, that their conduct on the 3rd and 9th
respectively becomes more and more perplexing. Un-
doubtedly they were vastly superior in number to the
Germans on both those occasions, but this should only have
been a greater inducement to fight as well on the second
day of a battle as they do on the first. Again, if they
had been so utterly demoralised, there would have been
greater evidences of it in hurry and confusion ; but, upon
each of the three occasions that they have retreated, their
retreat has been effected with admirable order and preci,
sion, excepting always the numbers of stragglers that
remain to be captured. It is dude to the Mobiles to say
that, according to universal testimony, they are far
superior in fighting capacity to the Line."