Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-09-25
FALL OF MEET IN II;
BAz|NE SENT TO JAIL
Great Fortress Was Lost to the
French by Incompetency OF
Dereliction of Duty.

Jr Wow of the advance OF inc NiiCu
forces on the great fortress OF hlctz' y -
interesting 10 recall that one oi the tluN'
notable incidents IN the long story -, 'h'
TOWN is that episode IN the franco-t rus,
sian War of lS70-7l when MarSial
Bszainc. with the whole army oi 'h'
Rhine surrendered To the German Yen
cral Prince Frederick Charles. after nav
inc bccn locked up within the line oi forts
aro,,nd the town for 81 days Marshal
Ra1aine's surrender has never been
nroncrlv cxplaincd. any more than has his
action in allowing himself to he be
Ioag,icrcd He was IN command oi n
thoroughly efficient fighting force ot over
1oO 600 men The forces opposed to hum
were. Mt the beginning of the Investment,
distinctly inferior both rs regards ncn
and material. and the demand that hc
should fight his way out, cut across the
communications Of the first and second
German armies and join hands with
Marshal ATacMahon was perhaps the
most urgent that had ever been laid upon
any general.
pAzINE s PRoCR ASTNATI FATAL.
After the battle Of Gravclottc. which
was fought ON August is, battle winch
SO nearly spclt defeat for the PrussIan
forces behind the forts of Metz short
rest q fresh issue of ammunition and
food was all that was necessary To re
habilitatc them. hut Bazaine set about lus
work Of reconstruction IN the most
lcisurrlv fashion. whilst bismarck and
Moltkc. when thcv realized what was
happening. decided that the Simplest
course was to invest the fortress and starvc
ont thc garrison Prince tTcdCrIck Charles
was appointed CommandCr-ln-Cm Of the
army of investment and the work began
The story If the next - days. as far as
the heicag,lcrcd French Army IS concern
cd. is a story of iucxpicallc IndcclIon
from any military point of view Tho IN
vcstmcnt took place on August 10 and
II was not until the 25th that BazluC
determined on a sortIc He laid his plans
To break out 10 the northward, by the
right bank of the Mosclle
DELAY FOLLOWED DELAY
Delay. however, followed delay. and i
was not until . Y m on August 26, that
the troops were formed ready for action
AZ the last moment Razainc wavercd Tic
called n council Of war on tho heights "
1T st Julien The council was urgently
in favor Of tho abandonment OF The pro
iect The artillery. II declared had only
ammunition enough for single battle,
whilst thev had boon preparing SO long
that the Germans know just exactly
what thcv meant 10 do MI element of
e,lrprisc was gone. and il was moreover.
raining heavily The project was there
fore abandoned
On the 3lst. urgent messages from
Marshal NacNahon, Just before the
disaster Of Sedan. forced Bazalnc 70 mako
another effort
pAvDa pFTRkyFD ACTION
This time. the sortic IN force was actu-
ally carried out. hut tho habit of excessive
bugling and band-playing apparently S"
ineradicahle from the French arnlc% If
those day-. BETRAYED their design To tho
Germans. and although the first onset
overwhelmed the Germans outposts, thor
main line held good The next day, the
disheartened French forces retired under
tho guns Of the forts and the last serious
hone Of a break through vanished
There were two moro sorties ono on
October and another on October :. hut
neither Of them had any chance If sllc-
cess and the shortage Of provisions he
coming desperate. negotiations for tho
capitulation were begun on October l3.
and the dav following The army of the
lthlnc SUrrPnUCTPu. i1au X iV'io fttt 't'F
another Is hours. the character Of the
war might have been considerably changed
As II was. the surrender was so timed that
il set free the PruSsIan Army to crush the
t,at effort then bong made to relieve
Paris
PA7INF C0CRTN ARTI ATFD.
In 1873. after his return from captivity
in Prussia Marshal Ba7aine was court
martialpd for dorellction Of duty. and
condemned TO suffer the extreme penalty
This sentence was however subsequently
commutod 10 - wears seclusion He was
imprisoned in the lie Ste Marguerite.
but escaped in 1874 and fed TO Spain
Christian Science Monitor