Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1871-02-02

The Late Operatfons-The Defbat-xn.
Probable ConseQuenees>
To clearly understand The recent OBJ

at Orleans and along the Loire protect
ed the German left wing, while the Ger
man Army of the Loire, in the vicinity
of Glen, kept watch upon the French
Army of Bordeaux, which was reported
advancing from Bourges.
Undoubtedly at this time the French
had the advantage 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 Negent-le-Retron to point south
of LeMans, 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 1t had CON-
PEELED them to extend their lines i'm
mensely, thereby necessarily weakening
it at all points. When Chanzy, after a
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
Vendorae 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 Chartres and Pith-
iviers.
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 Chanzys
large army with food and ammunition.
In addition, it must be admitted that a
flank march upon Versailles in the face
of a watchful enemy, rendered possible
the isolation and subsequent capture
of the thanking column by sudden adj
vance on the French centre 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 ha' been impossible for the
Germans to have prevented the escape
OF Bazaine's army. In fact every mil
ltary 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.
Chanzy, however, adopted the plan of
advance on the left flank of the German
army. He threw forward flying columns
to occ1py the attention of his enemy
along their whole line, while his right
wing pushed on through st. Calais in
the direction of Vendolne Had he be-
gan the advance ten days earlier he
might have been successful, but the re-
suit could only have been the withdraw
al of the German left and the concen-
tration of the entire German army on a
shorter line, and one which more eff
fectually covered the besieging army
before Paris. Practically but little i'm
mediate benefit would have been de-
rived from the success. Ultimately
much good might have followed, for IL
is reasonable to suppose that had the
first flank movement succeeded, ChanZy
would have followed it up by a second,
directed against Dreux. What the
French general seemed most solicitous
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.
By the time Chanzy began moving,
the Germans, heavily reinforced, were
again in condition to resume the often
sive. 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-le-Ketron, and it
very soon became apparent that the
German plan not only embraced the
capture of lie Mans, but also the pre-
venting of Chanzy retreating northward,
in the direction of Cherburg. Whether
the French line of retreat northward
has been out 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 il to
change front under most disadvantage
ous 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 a 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-
tion 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 proves the error of any such
supposition. Prince Frederick Charles
does not 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 la an editorial pub
lshed some days since. Savigne
'Eveque, the immediate scene of the
engagement, is village situated north
east of II a Mans