Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1870-09-23
Prussian Losses Official but Inc0m.
plete Statements. - i, ,gs j.

TIE Berlin correspondent of the Lon
don Times, writing under date of August
%, says: At length Sthe first Official
losses In the field have been made public
They only fulfill, too completely, the
melancholy anticipations with which we
saw the troops going out to the war.
ferring only to few Introductory en-.
gagements, they contain figures which
will not easily be erased from the minds
AS you may be aware, a Prussian regi;
ment on war footing has 5000
men, with SO officers. OF these SO
officers, ! the 74th regiment (Hano-
verians) lost no less than 80 in killed
and wounded at, Weissenbourg. The
nth (also Hanosefians) on the same
occasion lost % officers; the 39th lRhine-
landersl, 2e; the s2d lHessians) 10; the
95th (Thuringians), is; the 83d (Hes-
sians), IA; the SD (Westphaliansl, IL the
8Sth (Nassauers), 9; the S0th (Hesslan 3,
8, etc. Still worse was it at Woerth,
where the Prussians were for i've
mortal hours opposed to the. French
who were stationed on the hills,
and could not be dislodged until
taken in the flank by Wurtembergers and
Bavarians. There the .58th regiment (Po-
seners) had 80 dead and wounded officers
the 59th (Poseners), 90; the 7th lKing's
grenadiers-Lower Silesians and German
Poseners), 35; the 47th Uower Slesians),
90; the 46th Oower Silesians), 80; the
57th Nower Silesians), 30; the 9th (West-
phalians), 28: the 37th (Westphalians),
25, etc. What terrible conclusions must
be derived from these statistics in respect
of the higher grades as to the number OF
casualties among rank and file l need not
say. But the most frightful carnage of all
in the earlier part of the campaign was at
Spicheren, whose steep and precipitous
heights, defended by tearing fire from
cannon, mitra6lleuses and chassepots, were
thrice assaulted in vain, and at last car
ried at the point Of the bayonet. On
this spot 10000 Prussians, gradually
increased to $1,000, struggled against
10000 French. Though the official list
does not yet extend to this sanguinary
encounter there can be 40 doubt as
to the correctness of the private intelli-
gence forwarded to me, which gives the
total of the losses as 2,297, of whom Sl1
are dead, and 1856 wounded. According
ly, every twelfth man was killed or
wounded Some companies lett nearly
one half their men on the spot, as, for in
stance, the 5th company of the 4Sth
(RhineIanders), which went with. 25O
men into the fire and came out with 1879,
and the 1st company of the Sth (King's
Own-Brandenbu which on the
evening of the battle consigned 107 COM
rades either to the grave or the hospital.
Passing on to the tremendous three days
battle near Metz, we have but private in
telligence, and this only referring to indi-
vidual detachments; yet we know al
ready enough to imagine the rest On
the 18th, in the action named after Pange,
or Courcelles, the 48th (Rhinelsnders)
lost 80 officers and S91 rank and file; in
other words, about -one-third its compile
ment. A rifle battalion in the same To-
cality was, by the enemy's fire, deprived
of nine of its officers and 270 rank and
file. e., of third of the officers and a
fourth of the men. On the 14th,
as well as on the 16th-the latter
being the battle of Mars-la-Tour,
or Vionyille-the losses of the Prussians
were comparatively greater than. those OF
the French, the former being ON both oc
asions greatly outnumbered, yet holding
fast the enemy with the bulldogs tenaci-
.ty, to give their main forceS time to come
up and engage him in right earnest. At
MARSHA Tour the best blood of the coun-
try was split like water. Within Q few
minutes, by the unexpected unnasking OF
a mitrailleuse battery, Count ,Westarp,
Count Wesdelen, BARON X Kleist, Henry
VII, Prince of Reuss, Baron Witzelben,
and many other noblemen ofEhigh rank
and position were killed. The. grand
sembled in strength, are said to have suf-
-fered a loss of $4,000 combatants, was
worthy of the beginning. Nor did the
near Metz they had nearly 10000 dead,
and 10000 dead, wounded, and prisoners
together.