The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-22 00:00:00

THE BATTLE OF BORNY.

Hitherto all the accounts published of the Battle of
Borny—which took place on Sunday last have been drawn
from French sources. It will be well therefore to give a
German version of the affair. The Cologne Gazette pub-
lishes an account from the field of battle, dated Monday,
of which the following is a translation. It may be necessary
en passant to give a reminder that of the three battles

fought during the week, the first took place on Sunday at
Borny, on the east of Metz, and was designed to harass
the retreat of the French ; the second took place at Mars-
la-Tour, on the west side of Metz, and was contested by
the Prussians with the view of cutting off the French
retreat; and the third, fought on Thursday, seems to
have decided the fate of the war by locking up Bazaine in
Metz. The letter in the Cologne Gazette, dated Monday,
says :

I can at last send you an outline of the reconnaisance of
yesterday, which, thanks to the spirit of our men, became
a sanguinary conflict. At a quarter to five the order
came to make a reconnaissance in the direction of Metz
so as to ascertain the strength of the enemy at this point.
They were estimated at 100,000 men commanded by
Bazaine. The object of the movement was to delay and
to engage this army so as to facilitate the
operations towards the south-west. This scheme suc-
ceeded and more than succeeded. On the left of the first
division the thirteenth division advanced by the Laguenexy
route. This division began the fight. The first division
marched by Pont-a-Chaussy, Flanville, and Montoy. The
second division followed the route of Les Etanges.
Noisseville. and Servigny, were occupied by the
enemy, but at the first sound of cannon they
fell back rapidly on the position of Vautoux and
Borny. That was the chief point of the position
and they had covered it by their intrenchments. Since
five o'clock our advance guard had been engaged near
Montoy. It was weak in comparison with the forces of
the enemy which opposed it, but it was strong in
courage. The thirteenth French division fought there
against the 43rd regiment and two companies of
Chasseurs from East Prussia, The main body of
the advance guard, two companies of Chasseurs, and
the 3rd regiment, advanced towards Montoy, in order
to establish communications with the 2nd division.
The chief part of the Ist division (the Geil
brigade) advanced between Planville and Montoy. The
41st regiment marched at the head in the direction of
Nouilly. The Crown Prince's regiment was stationed
provisionally at the embankment at the south of Noisse-
ville as reserve. A desperate fight, very firmly sustained,
went on along the whole line. The terrible fire of
the artillery, and the incessant rain of the in-
fantry were heard without interregnum. The
advance guard and the main body of the army,
however, succeeded in ranging themselves in a semicircle
on the slopes to the north-west of Montoy, occupying the
two roads leading to Metz. The batteries of the 13th
division were on the left of this concentric position, those
of the 2nd division were on the right. There were fourteen
batteries of our first corps there. The concentric fire
lasted from five o'clock till eight o'clock in the
evening ; that is to say, until twilight. It seemed to
make great blanks in the enemy's lines. On the
other hand the French artillery caused us few losses, their
aim was not good. Most of our wounded, even those be-
longing to the artillery, owed their wounds to the firing
of the infantry. Our artillery would have been still more
successful if it had not had to contend against two
obstacles ; first, the direction of the wind, which hid the
enemy's position by thick smoke; and, secondly, against
the setting sun, which glowed red in the faces of our artil-
lery men, and blinded them. It was hardly possible
to look steadily in the direction of the enemy for a few
minutes consecutively. As I said above, the fight was
desperate. The left wing of the 2nd division,
the 4th, 43rd, and 44th regiments sustained the heaviest
losses. At one time, when it was near seven in the
evening, the First Division, which was supported by the
Second Division on the right centre, had lost nearly all
its officers. At this moment, General Bentheim saw a
soldier coolly smoking his cigar in the midst of
the terrible struggle. This sight amazed the
general. He went up to the soldier, asked him for a
light, lighted his cigar, rallied the officerless battalions,
and with his cigar in his lips and his sword in
the air, he led the decimated troops again
to the fight. The struggle was prolonged
until nine o'clock, when it was already night. All our
divisions remained on the battle-field until it was quite
dark. They occupied their position until past
ten, when they received the order to rejoin their
bivouac. Once only, when the evening was
already far advanced, the enemy endeavoured to
take the offensive against our extreme right wing in the
direction of Nouilly. He was obliged to fall back on
Metz, It is impossible here to form an exact
idea of our losses, but they were not unimportant.
The firing was very heavy and continuous. This morning
our general commandant sent to General Bazaine to ask
for an armistice in order to bury the dead and remove the
wounded who had fallen under the batteries of the
fortress. The Marshal readily consented, and at
this moment they are burying the remains
of these brave men. We have received no orders to re-
sume the attack. The object has been gained. The
enemy has been driven back into Metz, and the field
is occupied by us.