The New York herald., 1870-10-14

TH11fILTARY OPERATIONS
TBE LiTE BATTLE BEFORE METZ.
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inst. nrsm corespondena says, - rsg.@ ,,.
rsdsy's battle was the most inporsap. EFFORT thai
Bas has has maAe since be Prussiaus have thrown
sneir belt Of men. guns ana eaxthworks arosnd me
fortress he had at least fty thousand mel, EN-
Eaced. the Prussians were cousluerably more mn.
THR CALM BEpoaE rHk sronu. sn
the morning was dull and misty, and as reached
The snineAoe y Polk / ,csuld barely see Mont Sd
nnent,n above the fog IN tho valley. the rayA
strtking upon its warm gray peak. II seems as II 1
general arlnistioe had been declared for even the
,orepost nre had dropped. y, ~ ..ssse5
80 POSITIONS OF rHF GERMANS
In The bombardment OF the two previous days the
position occupied by the batteries OF German heavy
guns was at frsnecourt, near the commencement OF
the rsse OF the hills. at some distance to
the southwest OF Mezieres. To speak more
precisely. they we're stationed In the low
heights OF Leboriment on the rising gronnd
beyond which stands an observatory, which com
mands tho whole plain. Maranage, the headquarters
Of the Prussian Third Army CORDS is considerably
$500 eh,nx nrxr
rtcaay enough, belong to the State Of Hesse Darm-
s.adt bur the Prussians pushed their batteries con
siderably beyond Frenecourt. They had six field
batteries midway between It ana semecourt. and on
the 6yh they haN passed forward seventh battery
as far as Semecourt itself.
THE FRBHCH FORCED TO RvAcUArE 4 VILLAGE
From the several position the borubardment OF
Fort Steloy had been gong forward and alsoA shell
1re into the village Of Ladouchamps, some little
distance nearer Meta than Strcmy, on the line OF
railway. TIL lately this village had been reckoned
neutral territory but on the "a OF October
the French had seized II and established
. battery In front OF H. The village
itself was burned the sams night by Prusslan
Shells bur stan the French retained the position and
the Prussan fire for the Last rev days had been
partly directed to the dislodgmeut OF the enemy
from position which was important, as the occu
the valley. On the 9th nearly q thousand shells mad
been thrown into Ladoucnamps and the neighbor
hood, and late In the evening the French mad evacu
ated the shattered fragments Of once smiling VII.
lage.
PRUHsIAN OCCUPATION or THE POSITION.
The Prussans At once threw forward troops in Its
direction establishing their reserve In the rear ana
sending forward sergeanrs parties TO occupy and
Grande and Perites Etapes, villages to which its
possession was the key, Stremy, constituting Its
chief support and hero lay the Flftyninth regiment
OF the Landwehr. Make. close to the river
and considerable in advance, was occu-
PIED by oufposts sent forward from the
Tentn Army corps On the other side
OF the Aoselle tne two divisions or the iandwehr
stretched right athwart rho valley from the brnue
a. Arganw. where they toucned the Tenth army
corps, 70 near Msranage, where they met the F,sn
and 70 them was connded tho duty Of Keeping tho
mas anuvlal tract the western bank Of the Mose,e
AZ Maz1en I found the headquarters OF General
Won Kummer, who commands the laDdwehr The
men, to great exront were located In temporary
barracks. which they hsd themselves constructea
and which dfd great credit to their ingenuity.
wHB yrHB OPENED.
About one O'CLOCK I was sitting at lunch with t,yo
stan ofncers in an arbot In General Runners gar
den, when the guns Of the Prussisn batteries nv
Frcnecourt began TO give tongue. only . few
Frencnmen were loanng around at Ladonchamps
one Of tho ofncers said, "Thers win be nothing
serious to-day; there II too much mist In
the valley" Certainly, It seemed a. IL he muss
Re right when was on the heights at Frenecourt
could not see the villages in the valley below ana
me cathedral Of Mstz, our constants Iandmark neY
to st. Quentin. was utterly invisible. But the roar
OF tho guns grew louder aud louder, and them came
,0rss one great boom and then another from the bio
guns Tying behind ~ Freneoo1rt, Tho or
'hcers ndgeted, but stn would not own
'hat anything was tho matter. Bus their
rnonchsiance gave way when an aide-de camp came
up a. the gaop, spreading the alarm every "a
DO went ana dashing on the Generals quarters for
'siruc'ons 70 guide the 'front.' In nve minutes more
we were al IN tho saddle, and after short gallon
were looking ont on the scene Of action rom the
1rnRe OF me wood. In front Of tho chatcaux or
Bryeuy snd Amelarge.
THE BATTLE GROUND.
TO explain the tactics Of gsAayna ap6 ihc manner