The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1882-11-19
NAUBAN.

rules embodied, remain applicable ever As the
Quarterly Rsuieto has lately said II would he din
cult to ponttoany branch ot the OF war perhaps
to any other art which hss owed so great a stride to
one man Sebastian lie prestre de Nauban was born
in Burgundy Ia 1888 the son OF q soldier Of noble
birth. He was left at ten years OF age penniless
orphan, but adopted aud educated by the Cure Of
the village. Before he was eighteen he went to
Flanders and enlisted in the regiment ot Condc and
served against the King, Louis XIV. But in 1868
Nauban was taken prisoner and was persuaded by
Mazarln to transfer himself to the royal service lie
had attracted notice at the siege Of ste. 1
Menehould, where he swan the Aisne under
fire on the day ot the assault and lie was now
scnt TO assist In recovering that place for the King
For his services there he was given cutenancy In
1855 he was commissioned one Of tho Kings en-.
gincers was given company two years later and III
i75S inttus,od with the chief direction of the
sleges undertaken by Turenne's army. For the next
forty years he was constantly In service aud was
recognized as the foremost engineer OF France. lie
rose rapidly TO I've btigadier, major general, neuen
ant general and finally made a Marshal Of
France In forty slegcs he had the chief direction of
attacks and In every one he was successful. lie was
eight times wounded though after his reputation
was established royal orders were wisely issued to
the marshas to prevent his exposing himself. In
the "Memorc pour seryr d'instructlon dams Ia
conduite dcs scgeS 50 written In six weeks at the re-
quest ot the War Minister, Lunvois, Vauban
pointed out many OF the mistakes then commonly
made Ia seges. lie was kecny sensible of the value
of tried occts and soldiers, aud Of the fact that 1t is
the braye,t aud best who are lost In desperate as.
saglts and exposed si'gn work. Ret et'rring to the
system OF thtyng general commanding the trenches
Tor tile day vino often intcrrered dis,strously with
tile orders Of the directing Engineer Npuban wrote,
Tho emulation between the garcral omccrs often
leads them to eNppsi their soldiers 10 no putposc,
trying to makc them do more than they can, aud
caring little they get score or two killed 50 long
" ,nty can nOaln tour PAGES motenrogfeSs than their
fellows. by their authority they direct the course VI
the approaches as they please, ami are continually
iutttrnptiug the plan Of attack aud all the arrange
mcuiS ut the engineer who, far from being able tu
follow the systematic action which would have
ht"uEht alNtSt To good end, nnds Gimselt reduced
20 serve rs the Instrument ut 'her varying caprces
Varying, say for Uue commands one way to-day
aud Tomorrow the general who relie"c, him will
/ command quite another way; and as they
are not always endowed With the highest
capacity for matters Of this sort, God
knows what failures and what waste they
caus0 and how much needless blood thcy shed In the
course OF Siege. But what Is most absurd Is to
/ these gentemOn, when they have been relieved
In the trenches, describe aud lament, rather boast
| with self-satiShed and cnmplacent air, how they
| have lost n hundred or hundred and hfty men dur
ing thelr turn oil duty, among which perhaps there
VIII he eight or ten officers and brave engineers,
who might have done service elsewhere. L. not that
sumrthihg To e pleased at and Is not their utihco
| much indebted to those who obtain the los, of u
| hundred men what might have been obtained 10y u
little industry with loss Of temp In truth, II States
perish for want Of good men to defend them, l know
of no punishment severe enough Tor those who rob
| them uf such men to M purpose.
Naubau himself was carnlng At this tiine but he
had mastered the secret which West Point does not
seem to have taught the generals of our civil War
that the ART Of war Is application OF Intelligence
and not a mere exercise Of brute force. Pointing
ont the faults committed In the siege of Lille two
years before, then considered skillfuy conducted
one he declares 1t important "to seek means of ie.
ducing the conduct OF SlegeS more systematic anj
/. = =,
and declares that 10y adopting It 1.-the besegei
would than hrce-r rourths of the men usual,
lost. We do not take half the precautions
that such An enterprise requires, and necessary
consequence, instead Of gaining one day we los,
two, at the expense Of best soldiers who perisl
mserably ON such OCCASIONS
The sieges subsequently conducted by Vauhan al
most always furnished Illustrations of his leadn!
principe--to rely on art and industry rather thar
force.
At Cambtai, In 1877, Louis XIV Insisted on assault
ing ravelin against his advice. "Sire, - hr said
lyon Will lose lives there that are worth thai
the raveln. The troops carried the work, but wer
driven ont with loss; and Nauban was then allowed Il
push ON his approaches and take in his fashion
which he did with loss of hve men. ~ viii beey
you another time, the King said; and he allowet
, Nauban TO diSsuade him from his angry purpose o
refusing terms the garrison Yet before this time
at Naencieuues, NauUan had shown that lie could ol
occasion be bold beyond Others. As the glaCs wa
countermineh lie proposed contrary to his usual Gus
mended that this assault, IN which several thou
sand men would be engaged, should be delivered,
at night, as was customary, but In broad daylight,
D when the enemy would be less the alert aud tcf,
would be less risk of confusion and misbehavior tn,
part ot the troops. The most experienced generals,
! Schomberg, LuNemburg, and others, agans
, this proposal. but after much argument the Kinl
5 consented. The assault met with unhoped-for sue.
cess ana not only the covered way but the place It,
self was gained, with loss of less than fifty men
But this success did not tempt him to employ assaults
where other were open to him. At the sicg,
A %
Ing chosen what seemed TO be the strongest side a
the point Of attack. But before long his choice wa
Nlndicated the outworks We're taken, the body of h
place preached, and the troops became impatient
| the assault Yet though the murmurs of his camp a
his oyer-cautiOn Were echoed back from the Court
| Nauban was obstinate. " Let US burn more powder
and shed less blood, +" he replied, and continued .,
h work with his miners until tho garrison who ha,
themselves mined the bastion in readiness or an as
sault found further resistance hopeless, and surrcn
+ | dered
a | In 1897 at the siege of Namur Yauban found him
self face to face with his rival COehorn, who was de
ieuding fortress of his own construction, but wa
obliged to surrender. Three years afterwarl Coe
II horn himself directed the attacks when William II
n recovered the place With strong likeness in tneI
general course the two sieges pres some Inarke
contrasts very characteristic OF the engineers:
10 "Nauban, employing no more guns than wer
e troops not allowing them TO advance except unde
cover, aud bringing them In this way 10 the foot
each work. had made IT his study ana his pride I
= spare them; and had done this without slaCkenin
70 the SIEGE CoehOrn, acCumulating ordnance seudiu
the troops across tine open to make assaults dis
/
shorten the Siege and TO scare and frghten the he
c tenders, had economical neither money, men, no
p in fact time. ''--Allent, 'lIstoire du Corps Il
The siege Of the town aud castle had occupied ny
. weeks IN 1872; 1t occupied two months In 1925 III
e loss Of the besiegers which under 3, 90
II in the former case nearly o. 900 In II
e latter At the same time allowance must be mad
for the fact that In the siege the place Itse
" was stronger aud the garrison larger When Wan
ban heard of the general assault In the second SIEGE
which the English GrenadIers crossed nearly 6alf
| hpat no and MIN
lv flying, on their way 10 the breach, he wrote: -
- never saw anything Ike 1t, or even approaching I
Is for tue magnitude Of the blunder, mean not f.
It the grandeur OF the action, for hnd that too
ID less to admire It,. "
~ lie had the same aversion to random violence
30 the artillery as In the engineering, operations ot
- siege. BumbaGdments, which much to Il
81 taste OF the harsh aud impatient Luuyois, met wi
~ uniform opposition from Nauban. ''Never Hire
o. the buildings of fOftresses ~ is of his maxim
p for that is 10 lose time and waste ammunition
things which contribute nothing to their surrendc
aud the repairs Of which always cost you much aft
the place Is taken.
In 1903, when he wasseyenty years old, vauban wro
n his "Traita de rattaque des places The thr
D. maSms in which his principles summed mp M
be condensed as follows
4 To be well Informed of the strength Of the garrso
To be careful to attack upon the weakest side; not
% open the trenches TIL everything Is ready: embra
tine whole front OF the works never To alta
IN reenterlng angles where the besiegcr may he el
m yeloped, Instead OF enveoping; Ia employ the S
II, directly open tTenchwork becomes dangerous. N
done by Industry, since Industry is always sur
whereas force Is apt sometimes To fail, and usual
D. runs great rskS: not To push forward the trench
"a tn those that are to support them ready; tOprOy
ut three grand lines, places Of arms, of due eXte
always II possible, to enhlade the works attacked
IA, take them In reverse by TCOChet re aud gain posse
sion Of them By this means instead OF by assaults
force; 10 avoid all precipitation for that does II
hasten the taking Of places, hut often retards II,
always renders to sCene bloody; not to waste ANN
milton In bOmDarding the town; to deyiate fro
AZ regularity In the attack more than Is strict
90 necessary and never on the ground that the place
" not strong; and to let tho chief direction Of all I
OF operations, both artillery aud engineer, lie In
De mans hands under the authority Of the gGner
>, commanding.
s. Vauban will also be remembered rs the inventor
the sOckebayonet In the latter half Of the Seye
ye tecnth Century the nt-lOck fusll gradually d
te Igacing the more cumOrOus musket. The French W
Ministry with conservatism akin to that which
our Cyil War clung to the buckand- ball musket. a
opposed breech- -lOadersl opposed the change, aud
iected Nauban's proposed improvements In the sery
weapon. But the troops showed their own Opn
Enthusiastically Just as they did IN l5G2-'GS with n
and after the battle Of Stenkirk NG99 the Freu
musketeers and plkemen alike threw away their on
s arms 10 take Instead the fus Of their beaten eneml
,st the proportion Of pixies 10 musksts became lass
it less, bayonets with wooden hats 10 NJ into the ba