The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1870-08-20
THE PRUssIAN ACCOUNTS OF IHH
RECENT B4TTLES.
The siege OF Mctz-Furtber Particulars Of
the Battle OF wocrth-The Fatal Impetus
oeity Of the French-The Flight Of Macs
Mahon's shattered ARMY.

The siege OF Of
the Battle OF wocrth- The Fatal Impetus
oeity Of the French-The Flight Of Macs
Mahon's Shattered Army.
BERLiS, Tucsday.-The encounter before Mc'S
on Sunday was an attack upon the rear guard oe
the French and a repulse OF sortio from the for
tress by the troops OF the First Eastern Prussan
and Seventh wostphalia Army corps, the com.
manders OF these two army corps, Won Mantculcl
and Won Zastrow, having directed the movements,
II Is probable that
TnB SIEGE OF METZ
will begin At once. The siege train at Magdebourg
has left for France already ION Saturday, and other
siege artillery is to follow II. Strasbourg It Is sup.
posed. will be besieged exclusively by South Ger
man, chiefly Baden troops. An early surrender IT,,
however, anticipated, AFTER the earnest of the siego
will have been sufficiently shown but the impress
| sion is not so in the Of Metz.
Our special correspondent at the headquarters oe
| the Crown Prince Of Prussia writes on the 18TH
| inst:
| the battle OF Woerth the more clearly docs IL
appear that there miracle about tue affair. ma
sudden surprise to military critics a. though new
weapon had been discovered. From the villages in
the rear Of the field gather far OF the French
movements than could be learned from the prison.
ers or the villagers upon the field itself. II woult
seem that the Imperial comma nders In this quarter
were altogether
oUrsASEuvRED
by the Crown Prince, ana that whatever the merits
OF the respective small arm fire may have been,
| there comparing the tactics of the two arr
better rifle than the needle gun. But be that ~ Il
may, the French allowed themselves to be so placed
| them First we hear Of their blind confidence and
Of their cries, "A Berlin" while they were really
| In desperate danger. Then came the news Ol iho
SURPRISE At wEIssESBuRG.
| and OF the death OF Cen Abel Douay. lie wac
| posted In a corner OF the French territory with =
mass OF German tropps coilec ed on his nlnks aud
| was much further from his supports than prudence
| warranted In the face Of such nn enemy. 1t can
never be known whether the French commau lcr
| would have exricated hi with less loss than
they actually sustained had he lived direct ti,n
for lie tell by one Of the fret discharges Of artillery.
| Thus was step gained by the Germans. Toy
had gallanuy storrled the position at wesseub,ra
| and had begun to
SKATER THE ENEMY
| in detail. MacMahon and De Faiily were now cll,eI
| on to act. The former marched against the Crown
| Prince with his whole corus d'armee and was
believed among the French soldiers expected Do
| again was the impetuous over-con1dence whch
| Frenchmen are apt to show. The second opportu.
nifty Of meeting them In detail was given to the Gir.
mans and bloody battle was the result Tia
Prussians and Bavarians together far outnumbered
Wen take it that the Crown Prince had At lc1st
halt as many again d-posable troops on Aug a. lns
opponents. have ard
TWELVE TO SEVEN
| on good authority, mentioned "a the odds IN tho
| fight ut NoeTlh, and before MacMahon had beeu
long engaged lee was sending an aidIe-camp after I'd
/
The distance was not great to Bitche, and thu
MESSENGER must have arrived In time IN bring tina
here Sgain oycrconadence prevailed One RieDeh
| corps was destroyed before the other came to Ia
day following the battle, large force was about ia
| the rear of whore MacMahon had fought. People
who saw II tell with wonder Of the
RUSH on THE BEATEN ARMY
| westward, and the advance Of angry ard almost in.
crcduous troops toward the front. 1t was too Inta
| to renew the battle; too late to the five rrgl.
ments when Law strcwn over the fields at Woertn.
| Tie more desperate their resistance the they
had been slaughtered, and at the last there hid
sart OF panic. frenchmon are bad hands at
treating after a defeat II seems certain that Tho
| iugtiyes were In great disorder ~ they passed
through villages ten miles IN tae The corpa
| OF FaillY cauld only lave
SACRIFICED THEMSELVES usELEssLY
When once MacMahon's corps had been der1oral.
lied, AMI TO have fought second battle OF Woer;i
would have been To play into the hands % iuo
| Crown Prince. who would have liked nothing better
than 10 engage the whole French army In dotl ind
teat them By degrees. le must remember thcu he
ent Ia tue nick of time.
FRANCE Is NOT PROPERLY FoRTFIrD
for war with united Germany. These little pi c.s
| WHEN hold few hundred men and did wei "u Ingi
IN CID times nrc useless against modern ar Icry.
There is, for instance ancient fortress ni,na
wood covered hins, qnant picturesque stronrhold
, much esteemed as a check to an invader coming
through the Vosges, but now 1t i abandoned with.
military stores have been cap'ur,i therein.
j IL was not ready Tor defence When the rrus~ana
come. The outer and more important wor; WA
unfinished. Therefore La pcu,e Pierre ab n.
doned TO toe great relief Of inhabitants Nao d
| feared destruction, and tile Irussiaus Cnic'lp
mtFChed on. Now II strong tort. say IRON,
clad tower had been upon ti' nil Of which -peak,
= the Crown Prince must have sent heavy cna
/ do not say that any mere fort bya ro,d-ile
would hinder the German INVASION, But tii- .iulo
fortress OF L. Petite Pierre, among It, w,yfcoy-
!, cred ILLS, illustrates two points OF IL" Fr"n'h'
, mems unreadiuoss for this strange ursc,nn- " al
their pian.. First, the fort was oG.tt,hon'd 'nd
l. n.uCl1itnt; second, II was not equPpe. tor de-
l. fence.
i, the MOVEMENT OF TROOPS
a is cessant, though no ono is told whittier ice" ira
roiur. And with each advance the Plns.iH. ntn
forward their field nest and their ielc ''uh. \
neTfect system Of organic I,ion It i din "a TO
% imagine. TIE columns OF provisions clc.p nks
great serIcnts over the country
= The active dc.achments NJ tclerranh mon rush m
= with their light poles, set IN ut intervals, Avn Obs.
slowly d decreasing coils of wire, and the hti r'st
y Clce brin-s letter. 10 tie different division. Fnm
side 10 side for many nile the whole counir, IA
2 on the move.
Nov are,iment Of cavalry ,oes by will 30 'o.is
| iiuslng OF harness an gathering OF hoo~. Vow
D tie has onct- OF The irfinirF SHOW ont anon To
tl,c-, or there j. an WlcfmiulhlC tram ,I Eu' Z
dragged past. iancY titt tDe yillagcrs nrr ~
a tuuu cd ~ at tuey see, ana tLuk thar . t,ur4
| any /, upon item.
UroN ruFM
The soldiers aurh, and tel ol the Other two crcll
| armies which are invading France. Tue tu.cr.0t
| is quite SAFE. The war has scared troubled sn d
q. rWan village, not one on this uart OF the iue aui
rain "a II may tae men are thoroughly ch,Drsu.
A gentleman of stamford, Conn, is raI-.u, q
crop OF cotton with ever prospect Of -ucc. II
is not very t. tcDs,yr, tuI 1t lGstratcs pcr :, ga