The Centre reporter. [volume] (Centre Hall, Pa.) 1871-1940, 1878-05-02
NUMBER 18.
TIE BATTLE OF SEDAN.
VIstsr HuHs's Descrtpsisa 81 the Great
GeFman vietsry.

Let us define the situation.
The Germans have numerical strength
on their side; they ARE three 10 one, -four,
perhapa; they conleas 10 having 260, ,OOc
men. bat il Is certain that their line OF
attack was thirty kilometres IN length
they hold the positions, crowd the
heights, I'LL the forests, they are covered
by all the sleeps, they are maaked by All
the nhadows, they have matehless artil-
lery. The French army is In q hollow.
almost without artillery and Rmmuni-
tion, naked under their grape-shot. The
Germans have ambush on their SHE, the
French have on theirs nothing but he
roism. II is fine thing 10 die, but a
good thing 30 surprise.
This achievement at arms In a sur
prise.
L. il fair wArS Yes, but II this be fair
war, what IL foul war
The same thing.
Thus much said, the battle OF Sedan
in recounted.
We would stop here. But we cannot.
Great though the horror of the historian
be, history is 4 duty, and duty must be
fulfilled. There is no more imperiOus
slope than this; 10 tell the truth, who
ever ventures upon il rolls 10 the bot
tom. ID must be 90. The Judge in
doomed 30 justice.
The battle Of Sedan is more than
battle which is fought; il is a sylloglsm
which finishes itself; dread premedita-
ton Of destiny. Fate never hurries. but
always attAins it's goal ItA hour strikes
and IL is there. III let's years 60 by, then,
when least thought Of, il appears. Sedan
Is the fatal unexT ected. From time 10
time, in history, divine logic makes sor-
/ ties. Sedan is one Of these sorties.
So, on the Ist OF September, al five
O'Clock in the morning, the world awoke
under the sun and the French army
under the thunderbolt.
Bayeilles takes fire, Givonne takes
fre, Floing takes Are; the thing begins
by a furnace. The whole horizon is
afiame. The French camp is IN this
crater, stupehed, scared, startled, IN q
funeral swarm. A ring Of thunderbolts
encircles the army. determination hens
il in.
This immense murder is carried on on
all sides AT once. The French resist,
and they are terrible. for they have
nothing left them but despair. Our guns,
almost all old-fashioned and carrying
badly, are Immediately diSmounted by
the terrible and precise aim OF the Prus-
SLAMS. The density Of the rain OF shells
upon the valley is such that " the earth
is ruled, says a witness, q" as by q rake.
How many gunss Eleven hundred, az
least. Twelve German batteries on the
Moncelle only; the third and fourth
aJtseilsag. frightful artillery on the
crests Of Givonne, with the Second Horse
Battery in n reserve; opposite Doigny, ten
Saxon and two Wurtemberg batteries;
the curtain Of trees in the wood north Of
Villers-C s-Cernay conceals the mounted
dbtbeittInQ with the Third Heavy Artil-
lery as q reserve, and from this gloomy
thicket is poured q formidable fire.. the
twenty-four pieces Of heavy artillery
form q battery in the clearing near the
road from La Moncelle 30 La Chapelle;
the battery of the Royal Guard sets fire
TO the wood de In Garenne; the bombs
and the bullets riddle Snchy, Franche-
val. Pauru-Saint Rerny, and the valley
between Heibes and Givonne; and the
triple and quadruple row Of guns ex-
tend, without a break, 10 the calvary Of
lily, the most remote point Of the hori-
Zon.
The German soldiers, seated or re-
cumbent before the batteries, look upon
the artillery dong its work. The French
soldiers fall and die. Among the corpses
which cover the plane is one, that Of an
officer, upon which they find, after the
battle. n sealed paper containing this
order, signed by Napoleon: This Sep
tember ] rest for the whole army" The
valiant Thirty fifth Regiment Of the Lane
disappears almost entirely under the
crushing mass of shells; the brave mari
nes hold the Saxons and Bavarians in
check for an instvnt, but being overflow
ed on all sides, fall back; the whole Ad-
mirable cavalry Of Margueritte's Divi-
sion, hurled against the German infantry,
stops and breaks down when half way
on its road, exterminated. says the Prus-
sian report, "by well directed and quiet
fire." This filed of carnage has three
issues, all Of which are closed: the Bouil-
Ion road by the PrussiAn Guard, the
Carignan road by the Bavarians, and the
Mezrieres road by the Wurtembergers.
The French have notthought of barrioad-
ing the viAduct of the railroad; three Ger 1
man battalions have occupied il all night; 4
two isolated houses on the Balan road I
might have been the pivot of prolonged 4
resistance, but the Germans hold them: 1
the Montvillers Park. at Bayeilles. deep 1
and full Of thick foliage, might have pre- /
vented the Saxons, who are masters OF 4
La Moncelle, and the Bavarians, who 1
are masters OF Bayeilles from effecting a
junction, but the French have been fore
stalled, and the Bavarians are seen there,
cutting away the hedges with their
sickles.
The German army moves all Of piece
with absolute unity: the Prince of Sax
ony is on the hill OF Marry, whence he
the scene In the French
army the command oscillates at the out
set Of the battle; at 5.45 McMahon is
wounded by the fragment Of a shell; at
seven o'clock Ducrot takes his place; at
ten O'Clock Wimpfen takes Ducrot's.
From minute 10 minute the wall Of
FIRE approaches, the thunder-ron is con-
tinuous. a sinister pulverizing Of 90, 900
men. Nothing like il was ever witness
ed-never did an army sink under such
n falling mass of grape. At one o'clock
All is lost. The regiments take refuge,
in Sedan. But Sedan begins
to burn: lie Disjonval burns, the ambu-
lances burn; nothing but a dash
through the lines is possible. Wimpfen,
brave and firm, suggests il TO the EN-
peror. The thirty-eight zouaves, mad
tened, have set the example, being
parted from the remainder of the army,
hey have made their way through the
Zoe and reached Belgium. A plight of
ions.
Suddenly, above the disaster, above
he enormous heap Of slain and dying
men, above all this hapless heroism ap-
pears shame. The white flag il hoisted.
There were there Turenne and Vau-
present-one in his statue,
he other in his citadel.
The statue and the citadel assisted at
he horrible capitulRtion. The two vir-
yins, one Of bronze, the other of granite,
elt themselves prostituted. o august
'row of our country %, eternal blush
u shame
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