The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1871-02-03
LIE MANS,
Probable Consenueneea. -


of Chen, kept watch upon the French
Army of Bordeaux, which was reported
advancing from Bourges. ai afa7i'
Undoubtedly at this time the French
had the advantages in the situation.
Their line was shorter and more COM
pact than that of the Germans. Chan
zy's army occupied a line extending
from Negent1e-Retron to a point south
Of LeNIans, completely covering all the
railway communications with the sea.
The northward movement made by
Chanzy, after the French defeat at Or
leans, had thrown the Germans com
pletely on the defensive. It had COM
PEELED them to extend their lines inn
mensely, thereby necessarily weakening
it at all points. When -Chanzy, after q
most fatal delay, determined upon
taking the offensive, he had one or two
movements to select from. The first
WAS to extend his right wing and take
Yendome in flank, and by forming a
junction with the army of VendOme
and Orleans, and retire northward.
/ This would have necessitated their
forming q new line, which would ex-
tend from Dreux to 0hartres and Pith-
i iviers. - sE3s lss arp s8sf aF1
The next movement was to continue,
or ratherresume, the flank march north
ward, flank Chartres and advance on
Versailles. This, as will be seen at a
glance on the map, involved the aban-
donment of lie Mans and its railroad
facilities, and the compulsory depend
ence upon the single railroad line to
Cherbourg for supplying Chanzy's
large army with food and ammunition.
In addition, it must be admitted that
flank march upon Versailles in the face
of watehful enemy, rendered possible
the isolation and subsequent capture
of the ianking column by a sudden ad-
vance on the French cextre from Cha
teaudun. Still, it must be borne in
mind that all great flank movements
are full of danger. MacMahon's flank
march to Metz was badly executed, but
its conception was admirable general
ship. If the French army had sue
ceeded IN crossing the Meuse river it
would have been impossible for the
Germans TO have prevented the escape
of Bazaine's army. In fact every mill
itary movement promising great results
is attended with great risks.
Thus we consider that Chanzy's
movement should have been northward
Once north of Chartres the chances
would have been ten to one In favor of
his raising the siege of Paris. Prince
Fredrick Charles, failing in piercing the
French centre, would have been unable
to give battle except at most decided
disadvantage Besides which the great
length of his line would have prevented
his concentration between Chartres and
Dreuz in time to foil the French flank
ing party.
Ohanzy, however, adopted the planof
advance on the left flank of the German
army He threw forward flying columns
to occupy the attention of his enemy
along their whole line, while his right
wing pushed on through st. Calais in
the direction of Vendome. Had he be-
gan the advance ten days earlier he
might have been successful, out the re-
suit could only have been the withdraw
al OF the German left and the concen-
trstion of the entire German army on q
shorter line, and one which more ef-
fectually covered the besieging army
before Paris. Practically but httlei i'm
mediate benefit would have been de-
rived from the success. Ultimately
is reasonable to suppose that had the
first flank movement succeeded, Chanzy
would have followed it up by second,
directed against Dreux- What the
French general seemed most sohcitous
about was the covering of LIE Mans.
He appeared to forget that the tempo
rary abandonment of the place would
be more than compensated for by a
successful march upon Chartres. g..
By the time Ckanzy began moving,
the Germans, heavily reinforced, were
again in condition to resume the often
siye. Before the French column had
struck the flank of Vendome Prince
Frederick Charles threw his left wing
forward and drove it back. The Grand
Duke of Mecklenburg, commanding the
German right wing, simultaneously ad-
vanced upon Nogent- -hetron, and it
very soon became apparent that the
German plan not only embraced the
capture Of lie Mans, but also the pre-
ventingo of Chanzy retreating northward,
in the direction of Oherburg. Whether
the French line of retreat northward
has been cut off yet we are unaware,
but the fact that In the recent battle at
LIE Mans the French faced eastward
After the Germans had advanced be-
yond Calais and Nogent- -le-R Retrod, Gen.
Chanzy's chances of relieving Paris de-
pended solely upon his winning a great
victory. Strategy could do little then,
unless he had evacuated LIE Mans, and
made forced marches to Montague, from
which place he could have threatened
the German right and compelled it TO
flxora
GUS circumstances But Chanzy him
self would have to change front in the
open field to make any such flank
movement, and in doing so he would
have run imminent risk of being badly
beaten IN detail
The last alternative of the French
was to fight pitched battle. So far as
we can Judge from the dispatches Chan
zy erred in continuing to fall back be-
fore the Prussian advance. He should
have endeavored to pierce their centre
before they had reached Montfort. In
stead of doing that he continued re-
treating, evidently upon the supposi-
ton that as his forces retired upon a
common centre they would become
more compact and better able to resist
the Germans IN a general engagement.
The result prsves the error of any such
supposition. Prince Frederick Charles
does rot appear to have attacked the
French all along the lines His two
wings seem to have done all the work,
while his centre renamed comparatively
inactive In other words, he massed on
his wings and drove in the French
northward and southwark.
The battle of LIE Mans was fought
some seven miles from the city, and
took place near Montfort, as we sug-
gested probable in an editorial pub
ished some days since. Sayigne
l'Eveque, the immediate scene of the
engagement, is a village situated north
east of LIE Mans.
By his defeat Chanzey has lost his
last chance of relieving Paris. The
present indications are that 10th wings
have been badly beaten, and if this be.
the case he will have to retreat west
ward upon the seaboard instead of
DOrthUard in which event he would