Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-07-19
THE WAR IN GERMANY


Prussian reports as follows
g It is difficult as yet to bring the austrian and
Prussian bulletins to agree as to the Hnai results
of the affair at Skalicz The latest Prusslan tele
grams are from the headquarters OF the Crown
Prince at Reinerz, place situated about halfway
between Glatz and Nachod, and they bear the
date of Wednesday evening. The Russians, IL Is
stated, came up with large Austrian force at
Nachod, consisting of the Zammlng corps and TWO
divisions of calvary A conflict ensued, which
lasted from early till three In the afternoon
Five Austrian guns, two standards and large num-
bers of their cavalry were captured by the veto
rious Prusslans
So far the Prussan account, which may be
nerfectlv correct as far as it goes The Austrians,
driven back by superior force at Nachod, had at
3P M. been pursued by their foe far as Ska
licz on the road to Jaromirz yet, If we may be-
lieve the Austrian bulletin, dated from Joseph
stadt that same afternoon, at ten minutes to i've,
we find that the Prussians, pressing forward from
Nachod and Neustadt in the morning. came INTO
collision with Austrian army corps at Skallcz,
and were repulsed after SIX hours lighting, Win a
loss as a Vienna telegram of yesterday adds, OF
eighteen guns and many prisoners The Austrian
accounts bear witness to the losses sustain
ed by their army especially in cavalry, but leave
little doubt to their conviction that the victory
was their own and that they had been lett IN pos
session of the battlef field It is also stated from
Vienna that the Prussians had sent one OF their
field officers with flag of truce to the Austrian
Headquarters to solicit armlStlce, but that Mar
mistice of o few hours is often asked and readily
ascented to between belhgerents alter sangu1na-
ry action merely for the removal Of the wounded
and the burial of the dead and If such was the
tenor of the Prusslan message 1t Is difficult to
conceive why Marshal Benedek should have de-
parted from humane rule of civilized war
fare. But, whatever might be his reason for re-
fusal, it is evident from that very fact that the
Austrians had remained masters of the field, and
this is further proved by the circumstance that the
Prussian headquarters, which had been advanced
to NachOd in the afternoon OF Wednesday, had
fallen back us far as Reinerz that same evening.
''The Austrians, there is no doubt, had the best
in this encounter, though the advantage they OBJ
tanned may have been by no means decisive
Somewhat astonished at meeting with no Opposl-
ton in their invasion of Saxony, the Prussians
have been for this last week feeling their way at
every point on the frontier of Bohemia and Aus
trian Siesa, until, wearied with their vain efforts
to fall in with their ever-receding enemy, they
pushed forward through no less than three Of the
mountain defles, debOuching On the plains of Bo-
hemia. At Turnau, Trautena and other places
they drove back the Austrian outposts but
their columns advanced they found themselves in
presence of the army of Benedek, which, massed
behind Josephstadt and Pardubitz, had long been
on the watch for them, and was ready for spring
before they had time to draw up and deploy their
forces in the open country So far as 1t is posi-
BILE to judge from the imperfect and somewhat
conflicting reports we have received, it would be
natural to infer that the onward march Of Prus-
sian invasion has been checked for the present,
and that further advance into Bohemia will be
found impracticable.
"We do not know how much weight should be
given to the partial success of the army under
Prince Frederick Charles at Turn; and Traute
nau, but it must needs be barren of general re-
suits unless seconded by corresponding victories
| on the part of the army under the Grown Prince.
Benedek resting on the two strOnghOlds of Joseph
stadt and KOnigratZ, commands the junction of
all the railway lines which lead by Parduditz, on
the west to Prague, and Oh the east and south to
Brunn, OmutZ and Vienna. Had even the Prus-
sian leaders been able to disCngage all their forces
from the narrow and mountain gOrges through
which they struggling and to bring them
out in compact mass into the plain, they would
still have had to compete with equal and, IN
all probability, superior force, and the strug-
gle would have been on Tho enemy's own ground,
where he had the choice of his positions,
and where railways enable him at any moment
to muster up all the means and resources of the
Empire.
''The encounter between the Austrians and
PruSSlans at OSWiGcin, on the frontier of Galicia,
ended, after ten hours struggle Sin the defeat of
the latter, who driven bacl across the Vistu-
la. The forces engaged on either side did not eX-
coed single brigade, but the Prussian losses are
described as severe. The Prussians seem to have
been more fortunate on the side of Austrian Sile-
STA, where they entered Troppau, the principal
town, without meeting any resistance. They we're
equally successful in preventing the escape of the
Hanoverians, whom as our readers are aware
y
their first inroad into their Kingdom. The Han
overians tried to force their way at Langensala,
where they had only to deal with six thousand
Prussians, whom they hoped to overpower. The
Hanoverians were, however, beaten back, and
marched northward, it is supposed, towards Sou
derhausen.'
The Pail Mall Gazette of June 20 says tThere
would be a flat contradiction between the Austrian
and Prussan accounts of the battle that has taken
place in Bohemia bat for suspicious difference of
dates. Either side claims the victory on either
guns, standards and prisoners have been taken ;;
and what is, perhaps, more circumstantial
the dispatch of each communicating chief describes
his enemy in full retreat
cit is rather singular that the Prussian intell-
gence of the battle still continues to be restricted
to three o'clock in the afternoon. Nor is there any
information in the official dispatch from the Prus-
sian headquarters of any contest whatever having
taken place at SkaEcZ, where the Austrians claim
the victory. Besides, if the Prussian account re-
presented the whole truth, why are not the Prus-
slams at Osephstadt, instead of their having pre-
cpitatey fallen back SO that the dispatch of the
ommander-in-chief, dated the same evening, is
from Relnerz, place actually in Prussian terri
tory, and near Glatz The Prussians on their
own evidence must have retreated ten miles from
Nachod OF twenty miles from Skaicz, on the very
evening of their pretended victory This admit
ted fact is alone conclusive against the Prussian
report OF the action. The fact that the demand
for an armistice from the Prussians and that
the Austrians felt themselves in position to de-
cline it, also confirms the report of Prussian de-
feat no reference is made to it, nor is there any
admission of defeat in the Berlin kilograms rela-
ting to the conflict"
Bcnedel< on the Austrian Victory in TALLY.
The news of the Austrian victory at Custozza
was received with JOY by the Austrian army
Benedek himself announced the tidings to a group
OF excited hearers, and sent the following reply to
the kilograms from italy:
6 ITub0u, 29th June. Marshal Renedek |