Evening star., 1920-08-08
FIFTY YEARS Ago IN
THE STAR,

After two weeks OF mobilization and
maneuvering. with very little fight
ing. and that
French Victory chiefly of a
at Saarbrucken. charac+ar - rs
first battle" of the Franco Prussian
war was reported in The Star Of -
gust 9, 1870, in a brief dispatch
from London saying that Saarbrucken
had been taken by the French that
morning with slight losses on both
sides A Prussian account of the
affair stated, however. that the for
tifications at Saarbrucken had been
attacked the evening before by col
umn of French infantry, which WAS
repulsed.
This Engagement was hailed by the
French people as notable victory.
since, as was noted in The Star of
August 4, 1870. the heights at Saar-
brucken formed key to the rail-
way approaches of Treves. A dispatch
from Metz said that fourteen Prus-
sian soldiers captured at Saarbrucken
had passed through that city in the
afternoon of the Sd and that ''Prus-
sian wounded had been cared for the
same as the French"
Possibly under the influence of this
initial French success-one OF the
very few scored by the French in the
war-a Mr.. Thomas of Paris offered
to wager a large sum that the French
would be in Berlin on the 18th of
August. This optimism had lis Ter-
tonic prototype nearly half a century
later when the Germans scheduled
their arrival in Paris. and il WAS
Sfa nrincp had ordered
his dinner at the French capital on
certain date.
The French rejoicing over the af-
fair at Saarbrucken, which proved to
Germans Defeat small engage
Donay's Division. checked by the
receipt of news of Prussian success.
In The Star of August 5. 1870. there is
dispatch from Berlin giving the fol-
lowing text of a dispatch received
from the front:
I'VE have won brilliant but bloody
victory. The left wing was the at
tacking body and consisted of the 5th
and 11th Prussian Corps. with the %
Bavarian. This force carried by as
sault. under the eyes of the prince
royal. the fortress of Weissenburg
and the heights between WeisSe nburg
and Geisburg. Donay's division of
Marshal MacMahon's corps was splen-
didly defeated. being driven from its
camp. Gen. Donay himself was killed
and 500 prisoners were taken, none
of them wounded. Many Turcos were
among the captured. The Prussian
Gen. Kirchbach was slightly wound
ed. The Royal Grenadiers and the
50th Regiment of the line suffered
heavy losses"
In the same issue of The Star is
dispatch from Paris giving an unoffi-
cial and unconfirmed report that the
French had taken Saarlouis, after
great battle" The capital, it was
stated. was greatly excited and the
details were anxiously awaited.
In a London dispatch the French
success at Saarbrucken is described
in details that
Moral Effect of greatly les
French Victory" nortsnce orig
inally attributed to it, The French
force was estimated at 10000 men and
the Prussians at 5000. The artillery
won the fight. there being but little
infantry and no cavalry engaged.
A dispatch from Paris printed in
the same issue illustrates the vital
Importance to the French of their
success in the campaign for the main
tenance of the morale of the army.
which it was well known was low.
and which later proved to be quite
unequal to the strain of defeat.
CAT the camp at Chalons the Garde
Mobile had a general illumination In
honor of the capture of Saarbrucken.
There had been previously some
slight insubordination among the
garde, but the favorable news enoeo
that at once"
A London dispatch of August stated
that the plans of the Prussian COM
mander- in chief, Gen. Moltke, had re-
Gently been changed from the Of
fensiye to the defensive and the ad-
vance of the French was threatened.
This dispatch says:
.'The fight at Saarbrucken on Sat
urday lasted six hours. and on ootn
sides 600 men were placed hors ou
combat Judging from the French ac-
counts. the mitraifleurs had already
decided the war" In addition 10 this
reference to the French multiple nre
weapon is the following reference 10
the Prussian equipment:
.sThe French say that the needle gun
recoils SO badly that marksmen are
soon compelled to f1re from me
ahoulder. The French also say that
the Prussian cavalry carry OLD morse
nistols. while the French have car
hines of long range and admitting OF
aim.
For about two years before the out
break of the Franco-Prussian war
rumors had spread
nk;4;,l.r,. of the invention by
the French of a ter
Not Secret. rible new weapon,
which was to revolutionize warfare.
The preceding paragraph refers to
this and reflects the confidence with
which it was regarded by the French.
The mitCailleuse was a group of gun
barrels that could be fired singly or
together. and could discharge mi
traille." or finely fragmented missiles.
The French government had sought
to keep the secret of the mitrailleuse
as carefully as its successor of near
ly half a century later managed to
keen that of the "soixante quinze."
or "seyenty-five" which was the
greatest ordnance success in the great
war.
In The Star of August s. 1870, is
the following extract from the New
York Tribune's correspondence from
Metz:
LAS we returned to Metz We passed
a battery of the much talked-of mi
trailleurs coming in from the station.
They each had a tarpaulin over
them bl,t il was plain to any one who