Daily Kennebec journal., 1870-09-02
THE ARMIES AND THEIR INITIAL
MOVEMENTS.

The best account which we have seen of
the French and Prussian Armies and the
initial movements of the campaign in pro-
gress, is the following from the CORE
spondence of the New York Evening Post.
1t is necessary to understand the follow
ing facts, in order to have an intelligent
idea of events as they transpire:
"For a clearer view of the recent opera
tions l will give you the positions and num-
bers of the two armies as they were on the ID
of August, taking the field forces OF the
French at the estimated 100000 or 100000
and the Germans at 500, 700 or 100000. The
supposition is that these numbers arc stated
too low on both sides. The French occupied
offensive positions close up, to the German.
borders The French centre, with the head
quarters at Metz, under the command of Mar
shall Bazaine, the commander of the Third
army corps, was composed of the Second
army corps, under Frossard, headquarters
st. Avold,) the Fifth army corps, under
Failly, headquarters Bitche,) and the Sixth
army corps, the Imperial Guard (headquar-
tiers Nancy.) The left wing was composed Of
the Fourth army corps, under rAdmirault,
(headqarters Thionville.) The right wing
was the First army corps, under MacMahon,
headquarters Strasburg.) The reserve army,
the Seventh army corps, under Canrobert,
was in Chalons. The six army corps with
out reserves) consisted of % infantry and
cavalry divisions, in round numbers, $50, 200
men. The reserve army numbered $4,000.
The French line extended from Sierk, north
east of Thionvlle on the Moselle, over ST.
Avoid, Saargemund, Bitche, as far as Weis-
senburg, there resting on the Rhine while
MacMahon, in order to protect the upper
Rhine, was concentrated at Strasburg, he de-
tached the division of Douay northward in
order to maintain his connection with the
great French army.
Opposed to these the Germans were divided
into three great armies, the northern one, the
first, under General Won Steinmetz (Herwarth
Won Bittenfeld had the nominal command),
posted on the line ne-Coblentz Mayence,
on the left bank of the Rhine, the troops
pushed westward. 1t consists of the Seventh
and Eighth army corps, and numbers over a
hundred thousand men.
The second army, the German centre, un-
| der Prince Frederick Carl, stood on the left
| bank of the Rhine, between Mayence and
| Mannheim, with single army corps towards
| Rhenish Prussia and the Palatinate, close up
to the French border. 1t consists of six army
corps. The south or third army, under the
Crown Prince of Prussia, consisted OF the
third and fourth Prussian, the Baden and
|
| divison-one hundred and fifty to two hum
dred thousand men. The German lines ex-
| tended from Treves to Speyer, that is, from
| the upper course of the Moselle to the upper
Rhine their front being the line of the river
Saar, the great bulk of the German army
massed in the square made by the Saar,
Moselle and Rhine, as see on the map. The
French position possessed great advantages
over the German. They were in full railroad
Mnt1 fhrNyx yx0
Saargemund, Bitche, Hagenau, and the
second line Nancy, Thionvile and Stras-
burg; while on the German side railroad
connection from CoblentZ to Treves was
broken, and the French border had to be
reached from Coblentz by way of Bingen,
and from Mayence over Worms, Neustadt,
Landau. At Newstadt the road branches off
to Kaiserslauten and joins the hine-Nape
road at Neunkirch, so that here the connec-
ton along the front of the German army was
given.
A noticeable fact in the position of the Ger
man line was the proximity of the centre to
the left wing, and the apparently isolated
position of General Won Steinmetz's first and
weakest army; and the Prussian loss of Saar-
brucken was, it is now thought, only an at
tempt to draw the French armies between the
two northen German ones, and since it could
not be seen whether the French would make
the great attack from Alsace or Lothringia,
the two principal armies of the Germans
were placed in such way as to provide for
either event. The French were expected to
move on the 9th to the Sth of August, but did
not advance beyond the lines of Saarbrucken.
The Germans then appear to have quickly
decided for the aggressive. First of all it
was necessary to make the corps OF Mcmahon
undangerous, since if the Germans entered
France from northeast to southwestthis corps
would have been able to fall upon the left
German flank. This mission fell to the Crown
Princes army, with what result is known
Division Douay of McMahons corps was at
Weissenburg, some ten thousand men, against
whom the Crown Prince employed on the 4th
about fifty thousand of his best troops.
Though well defended the victory was gained
at considerable loss.
1t is still mystery why Mcmahon did not
hurry troops up to Douays aid, since Stras-
burg is only about thirty miles distant, and
the railroad communication was perfect
Seeing Weissenburg lost, Mcmahon appears
to have left Strasburg in all haste northwards
in order to join the main French army, but
before he could accomplish his design the
Crown Princes army attacked him near
Worth, and though supported by troops from
the main army, he was so thoroughly beaten
that of his entire army corps of from fifty to
sixty thousand men, he has since been able
only to gather together some eighteen thou
sand On the same day, and after the Crown
Prince had proved his ability to keep McMa-
hon in check, on the 4th Steinmetz received
orders to advance on Saarbrucken, and his
victory was accomplished nearly at the same
moment as that of the Crown Prince at Worth
The mission of the second army was evil
IDENTIFY to advance upon Saargemund, in order
to break through the French centre; but
Friedrich Carrs movements were too late,
and he was unable to come up with the enc
my. On the evening of the 9th of August,
the French had left their entire border line,
and were retreating in all directions, followed
by the Prussian cavalry. AsIwrite, the French
are forming behind the Moselle, on the line of
Thionville, Metz and Nancy, and the Prus-
sian advance is within ten miles of Metz.
Alsace and German Lothringia are now near
ly cleared from the French. Some seven
thousand men occupy Strasburg.
Over ten thousand French have been made
prisoners, and immense stocks of provisions,
c,ll .,xtn @hn