The Franco-Prussian War by Howard Michael

Author:Howard, Michael
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-136-75306-0
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
Published: 2017-09-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER VIII

The Battles for Orléans

§1 Coulmiers

THE CAPITULATION of Metz and of the Army of the Rhine on 29th October marked the end of the campaign which the King of Prussia and his allies had undertaken in July against the Second Empire. The King and his military advisers could pride themselves on the astonishing fact that the entire military force which Napoleon had put into the field had become, except for a handful of individuals, either casualties or prisoners-of-war. The history of modern Europe showed no precedent for such a victory, and there is little cause for wonder that it should have gone to the collective German head. The Prussian government made it clear that it had no intention of ever relinquishing the fortress, which would henceforth be embodied in the western defences of Germany; and the King celebrated the occasion by creating both Frederick Charles and the Crown Prince Field-Marshals and bestowing on Moltke the title of Count.

There was however more immediate and practical reason than the lustre which it bestowed on German arms for rejoicing at the fall of Metz. If the war against the Empire was over, the war against the Republic was well under way. The armies of the Crown Princes of Prussia and Saxony were pinned down before Paris, while in their rear, in a wide arc from the Somme through Normandy and Brittany to the Loire and the Saône, the forces which Gambetta was stamping out of the ground were making growing demands on the limited resources of German manpower. For Moltke Bazaine’s capitulation came not a moment too soon, and the forces it released were a godsend for him. To the First Army, now commanded by General von Manteuffel, he assigned the task of reducing the fortresses which still lay across or threatened the German communications—Verdun, Thionville, Montmédy, Mézières—and then advancing westward to the Oise to break up the French forces which were assembling in the north. As for the Second Army, his need for it was yet more urgent. Frederick Charles had received his marching orders on the 23rd, as soon as the capitulation was certain; and on 3rd November he set out to deal with the critical situation which was developing on the Loire.1

Once the plains and water-courses of northern France have been abandoned to an invader, the curving course of the Loire provides a natural line of defence: a moat protecting the inner citadel of Central France whence attacks can be launched northwards or eastwards, and behind which troops can be switched to meet attack from any direction. If military considerations alone dictated strategy it would always be wise for French armies, once beaten back from their frontier fortifications, to abandon Paris and the North and fall back on this strong inner defence-line, possibly preserving also a redoubt in Brittany to take the enemy in the flank.2 Such were the plans which Napoleon had made in 1814 and 1815; and Palikao had already done much towards organising such a defence when the events of 4th September swept him from power.

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