The Irish standard., 1895-08-03

aaSss a'sssS
& - oItlse, who
4 as,sI q leep. Roused Ithstz
tie word fia1ls
sare nm ina Bistrifz 8 Moltk sprang but
u Nit Il III aIlk g od u ~ own
1rls The information dispelled all
II iioti Its, and lifted Ia weight orr my
heart, & and hllrrying to the king, he ex- -
pIained to. his Majesty the new SITUATION.
n On his way across the market-p lace ne
sssiI1 Ia formed the plan of action which Re
hTiefiy submitted to his Majesty and OBJ
Y tanned his APPROVAL thereof All three
4 Prussian armies were to cooperate. 70
I the center {Prince Frederick Charles
= asny) fell the arduous task CT supporting llgls
4, I detaining engagement for several
3 hours, pending the arrival on the AUS
d trian right tank Of the Grown Prince,
i AFTER a severe march Of over ten miles,
4 willie General Herwath, with the Army
OF the E;lbe, was to strike the Austrian
q left Tor the flank. The feature Of the
scheme was the double-fank attack by
both, the Ranking armies.
5 Weights Rhetz rode away to kamenltz
at midnight, bringing back to the Red
Prince the instructions for his command.
8{5 Count Finckenstein galloned twenty
eight miles in three hours, through DARK
ness, and over an intricate country, car
rying to Koniginhof the orders to the
Crown Prince 10 hurry his army against
The Austrian right flank. 81
Ry four iii the morning, MOltke with
his staff officers was riding through the
hi n
in front of Sadowa Before the king ar
rived there at eight, the first shot had
been fred. and half az, hour later the
cannonade was In full vigor along the
Bistritz. Then the Prussian infantry
moved down to assail the villages on the
stream, and Immediately the battle wax
ed fierce. F'ranseky, on the Prusslan
left, dashed on Benatek; Horne promptly
flung his Brandenburgers against Sa-
aowa: Herwath's Pomeranians battled
their way into the blazing Dchalitz; and
Werder led his division through the AUS
trian cannon fire upon Mokrovous. Y An
hours hard lighting sufficed to carry the
villages; but the attempts to press up the
wooded slopes beyond were unsuccessful
In the face Of the stubborn Austrian de-
Tense and even the advantage gained
was held with difficulty.
Three hours passed of stationary fight
ing and terrible slaughter, but Moltke's
confidence in the issue wos unimpared.
To. a question put by the king, his quiet,
assured answer was, "Your Majesty, to-
day will not only win the battle, but will
decide the war At length was visible
the smoke Of the Crown Princes cannon; ;.
the Auatrians began to wayer, and the
order was given for a general advance.
The stoFmlng masses swept up the
slopes, pierced the belt of wood, over
whel1ned the Austrian batteries on the
upland beyond, and fell on the rear OF
the retreating enemy. The Prussian cav
airy crossed The stream, galloped up the
slope, and debauched on the blood-stain-
ed plateau. Furious encounters occurred
between the Prussian squadrons and the
valiant Austrian horse fighting desper-
ately TO cover the retreat, Moltke and his
royal master were in the heart Of the
melee, but escaped uninjlred. After rid
ing over the battlefield, the king went
for the night to the adjacent village OF
Horitz. Moltl1e had to ride twenty miles
back to Gitschin, where the bureaux
were. to prepare, orders for the new stu
alton resulting from the victory. Unlike
Dugah Dalgetty, he had neglected the
stfproviant," and had been beholden in the
battle to al Uh]an for a slice of sausage.
When he reached Gitschin at midnight,
he was SO exhausted that he threw him
I.seif ON his bed in his clothes, and instant
8ly fell asleep. 1t had been q great day for
Prussia, of the triumph OF which, while
the brave soldiers had been the doors, he
had been the planner. The battle of
Koniggratz, fought on the Sd Of July,
1856, In effect ended the war.
3. Moltke's specific meter in war time
was that of the strategist. He will figure
through the ages AS the organizer Of vic
tory. He was not the thunderbolt, but
the master and director of the thunder
bolts. He was not present at any of the
five earlier battles OF the Franco-Ger1nan
var, and it was on the momentous day of
Gravelotte that he first, in that war heard
the near roar of cannon. The previous
battles had been incidental, and, so to
speak, fortuit0us. On the quiet day be-
fore Gravelotte there was for him the
leisurely opportunity to plan and organ
1 iEe the methodized scheme of action by,
following out which the Prussian armies
were. to gain the great victory Of the me-
morabIe August 10, 1870. But on the af-
terRoon Of Gravelotte there occurred a
crisis, to meet which Moltke for once in
h1s later career, regarded it as %incumb-
ent Oh him to lead troops on into actual
st1ffe, and. inspire them with ardor by
his presence at their head under close
and heavy hostile fire. This episode lis
little known, and deserves to be narrat-
ed. 8sS sy 4, .ss4r.a@
It was about six D. N. when Steinmetz
got the order to cross the Nance ravine
and attack the French position at Point
Gu Jour. The German belief was that
the French left was quite spent; and the,
error cost the Teutons dear. AS the
heads Of steinmetzs columns showed
themselves on the edge Of the plateau,
the French flung aside the mask of ex-
hanstion. The thunder of their long-sil
4 ent artillery broke forth in fullest vol
ume. The French infantry, relieved for
the moment from the trammels of the
defensive, dashed forward with the
grand old elan, and swept the Germans
back into the Nance ravine. That deep
hollow was q horrible pandemoniunl,
wherein seethed struggling masses Of
\ German Soldiery. torn by the she'll frA of
the French batteries, writing under the
4 stings OF the lnitrailleuse, bewildered' be-
i tween Inevitable death in front and no
less inevitable defeat behind. Again and.
again frantic efforts were being made to
force up out Of the hell in the ravine, and
gain a foothold on the edge of the plateau
4 beyond; and ever the cruel steel of death
d beat them back and crushed them down
& Moltke was equal to the emergency
The Second Army Corps, after a long
n ,,o1, nod ,ota Il