New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-02-13
Three Great Battles.
Koniggrstz, GrsveIotte, and Sedan


The last number OF the .Mlidr UocLenJlatt
compares the great battles of Koniggratz,
Grave lottc, and Sedan, IN an interesting arti-
Gle, the principal points OF which we repro
duce: eff we consider i'll the first place.
says the military periodical, 1.-THE geograph-
ical position OF the three battlc-lields, we
shall find that in all the three great battles
of the Emperor, the cnCmy's forces were
supported by fortvcSscs. The Austrian army
at Koniggratz was drawn mp in semi circular
form in front of the small fortress Oh the
Elbe the French position al Sedan formcda
complete circle. ON the other hand, the
position OF BaZainc ut Gravclottc iomeda
straight line, with the front toward the west ,
and the fortress OF Met in the rear.
While the retreat to the small i0rtrcs>co
was disastrous for the beaten armies nj kon-
iggratz and Sedan, leading III the iirst-namcd
battle to Il terrible disorganizatlon, and in
the second to general surrender, the great
fortress of Metz was capable of furnishing a
temporary refuge for the rctrcating army and
arrestng the progress of the yictors, though
this did not avert the ultimate catastrophe.
These fDrtressCs are ali situated on large
rivers. At Koniggratz the Elbc, which was
in the rear of Benedek's army, exercised a
prejudicial effect on the retreat of the Aus
TRANS. At Sedan the Meusc was favorable
to the thanking movement executed by the
Prussian 9TH and 18th amy corps; indeed,
the river alone made ii possible to completely
surround the French army by prcclGding an
advance on the French side in that direction
and thus enabling the German commander
in-chief to employ his troops nj other points.
These battles were all begun by an offensive
movement on the part of the Emperor
William. The enemy i'll general posted HIM
self on heights, which he had partly fortified.
with regard t. the system of attack pur
sued in these battles, they may he nil dcSi@-
mated as outianking engagements. At no.
niggratZ the day was decided by the advanc"
OF the army of the i.lbc, and the second army
on the Austrian TANKS, that the PruSsian
order OF battle formed 4 scmi-circlc, the ends
OF which, the 9Th army corps and the army Of
the Elbc al length met each other at seven
O'Clock in the evening, near the village Of
Krakow. At Sedan the French were COM
pletely surrounded, and the German lines
closed the circle, from which there was no
escape, in the course Of the forenoon. What
poor consolation had our western ncighbOrs
in this stupendous German success in the fact
that they were outnum5Crcd, Never had
such q complete humiliation ota hostile army
been the immediate consequences Ola battle.
Besides, the long extended circular line of
the German army made il impossible for the
Germans To possess Il numerical superiority
at many points. The battle of Gravelottc
was also decided by the "utilanking move
ment of the PrusSian guards and the SaXonS
at st. Privat, the strategcal encompassing
having been previously completed. As to the
employment of the various arms, the battle of
Grayelottc was purely an infantry and artil
lery combat but at konIggratZ the cavalry on
both sides, in larger or smaller masses, took
an active part in the fight. Toward the end
of the battle several severe encounters took
plnre bpf wppp the pNrpllaDI cavalry which
both armies possessed. The Prussian horse
even repeatedly broke through the Austrian
infantry and captured pieces of cannon. At
Sedan, on the contrary, the French cavalry
attacked only i'll masses, and was uniformly
repulscd by the German infantry, though often
merely formed i'll strong lines of skinnisherS.
The employment and the handling OF the ar
tillery at GravclOtte and Sedan show a decided
advance when compared with koniggratZ.
While an efficient and uniform direction on
the part of the commanding officers, and a
perfect development of artillery power, were
often missed in the great combat Of the cen
tire on the Sd of July, 1850, the artillery was
early employed, in the most admirable and
effective manner, at Gravclnttc and Sedan.
1t was several times hotly engaged before the
infantry could come within range OF The en-
envy.
1.-The numerical strength of the respective
dI1llltS WIS is lb4IlNS. Al Nbll!I-!l az, -lD,-
900 Prlssian and 30 ,OUr .tustrians and Sax
ons at Grayelotte, l2U,unu French and 3DU,
0OO Germans AT Sedan, l&u,uuo French and
2O0, 900 Germans.
"Iookin. AT the number of men engaged.
the battle of knniggTatz j. the greatest in
the present century, Tor there were 3o,upn
men more in the field than nj i.cipsic. The |
lost i'll killed and wounded in each ot these /
three great battles WAS a. follows; At Non |
iggratz, 30 900 Austriam~ and SaXons, and |
10000 Prussian~ -iu all 10000 men: AT /
Grayelotte, lIIWO French and 20. 600 Ger |
mans-in all $4,000 men; ut Sedan, 1900 |
French and 10000 Gcnnaus-iu all ~ 900
men. koni"oratz shows the absolutely !
largest number oil killed aud wounded; and I
neither party lost, during Che war OF ls7O-?I. /
in the battles ofGrayelOtte or Sedan. :" many /
men as the Austrans and SaXons at kuHi.-
gratZ."