A WELLINGTON MAN AT GRAVELOTTE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1017, 5 January 1911, Page 6

A WELLINGTON MAN AT GRAVELOTTE.

:—« SCENES UNDER THE STARS. "DEAD STOOD IN THEIR BANKS." (By Gvno.) fOn Monday there "was published an account of tile Battle of Mars.-la-Tour, August 16, 1870, from supplied to a Dominion- representative in the course of an interview with Mr. Herman Wollerman, of Wellington, who - belonged to one of the grenadier companies of Stulpnagel's division of tho Third Army Corps. This action made the general, battle of Gravelotte possible two days later. At Mars-la-Tour Bazaine's line of battle had been oast and west, with his left flank resting on the fortress of Metz. On August 17, still pivoting on Metz, he-wheeled back over a quarter of a circle, so that the direction of his lino became north and south. The southern wing still touched Metz, and the aim of the German commanders was now to discover hi 3 northern flank, and roll him up from north to south into the fortress. Thi3 ,wao the purpose of the heavy battle -of Gravelotte, which was also remarkable for tho slaughter of the elite corp3 of the German Army—the Guard.]

A Evening. Under tho stars at' Gravelotte on tho night of August 18, 1870, one realises a little, as he listens to the story of ono wjio saw it, what the scene must have been. Citizens of the Fatherland are generally slo.w to admit that anything has touched their emotions—much less their "nerves"—but Mr. AVollerman, in reply to a question, stated that he thought that the effect, even on the steady German soldiers, must have been oxtreme. Illazing homesteads and villages reddened the sky on a front as long as from Wellington to the Hutt, and the cries of dying men among the vines and copses filled the night. lint that was not all.. AA'hat must have touched the Gorman soldiery more than anything was the knowledge of what had happened that day to tho Guard. The Guard, like the other army corps, was about 25,000 strong, with its quota of horse, foot, and guns. But, unlike tho other corps, it was non-territorial,, being recruited from all over Germany and Prussia, and it embodied about the best manhood in Prussia and the North Gorman Confederation'.

All tho timo that, the other German corps liad been marching and fighting, the Guard :had been on the move also, but had been singularly unlucky in not getting near enough , to any engagement to'take a pronounced part in it. They had exerted themselves to the utmost to reach Mars-la-Tour, -but had been unable to do so, and when, on tho afternoon of August 18, they, arrived in rear of tho smoking German lines at Gravelotte, they, no doubt naturally felt that now was their opportunity—now, tired ..as they must have been, was the time to bo up and doing. Thero was, perhaps, also a feeling .that tho mere weight of such fine troops must bear down all opposition, and that (no matter What the text-books said) it' was not important whether tho artillery "preparation" had been sufficiently'completo or not.

How the Tragedy Camo About. What''followed (judged from Mr. Wollerman's account, and from the celebrated pamphlet of the Duko of Wurtemburg) was astonishing, but these German hostilities are a little'intricate, and require some rather tedious explanation. From mid-day onward there had been a steady search for Bazaine's northern flank, and each corps commander had been 'enjoined not to engago until the firing towards tho north showed that that flank had been reached. At tho same time these corps commanders wore practically "head 9 . of departments,", and each was allowed' a certain cxercise of his own judgment. It was also understood that, in the event of one commander making an error of judgment and bringing on tho battlo too soon, all the other corps commanders were to instantly conform. to tho movement,' for the spirit of co-operntion was the spirit, of Moltke, and also the spirit of- tho army.. ' So it came that Von Manstein (Ninth Corps), reconnoitring his own front on that beautiful' landscape, concluded that ho had 'found the flank, and marched straight in. . As a matter of fact, so far from being on tho much-desired flank, ho had launched his 25,000 men into Bazaine's centre. Tho action of his brothor commanders, however, was instantaneous to support him, and at oncci a dozen points on the battle-field—La Folie, Chantrenne, tfyo Bois-de-Vaux, ana the Bois-de-GoMvaux—began to smoke. These were all south of. where Von Manstein .was locked up in battle.. North of him tho Hessian artillery began some time later, and they, too,- thought that thc-y liad got tho flank, and so did others, but at 5 o'clock,-with that exhausting sun still playing 011 tho men, the flank was almost as far off as ever.

Battle-Shooting of a Century. Far north of where Von Maustein was fighting, the Guard had arrived some time after mid-day. They were opposite a little stone-built village named St. Privat,' and this village had been cannoned since 12 o'clock by about 80 or Prince Hohenlohe's guns. The expectation; was that the French flank had at length been reached, and, "about 5 o'clock (so runs tho official account) tho commander of the artillery considered that the position had been sufficiently shaken to risk an assault up over the gentle slope which intervened, between the village of Ste. , Maric-aux-Chenes (wliero the Guard were) to. St. Privat." It may be also mentioned that the range of. the French Chassepot. rifle was over 1800 yards, and what followed Is best' told in the cold..official account.

A division and a brigade of the Guard (Papo and Kcssel) issued out in line of battalion columns, at deploying intervals. The fire, however, with which they were received was so murderous that, at a range of 1500 yards, some COOO men were struck down in ten minutes, and the attack had to bo, immediately discontinued. "Whole.companies of the dead stood in ranks as they were shot.

Tho official account, however, does not do justice to the Guard. They did not retire, but lay. where they were and hung on. It is probably one of the best examples of human tonacity which history has. At 7 o'clock in the evening the Saxon Corps found tho longdesired flank at Roncourt, and Bazaino was pushed swiftly into Metz.-

The Third Corps (in which our informant was) was stationed a little. to tho south of where tho dead ranks of tho Guard'stood that night, in the full blazo of tho fuming villages, and -remembers it well. Few more solemn and melancholy sights., aro on record.

What Kind of Men? It should, perhaps, bo added, that Mr. Wollcrman tolls'the story, both, of Gravelotle and Mars-la-Tour with little reference to his own corps (the Brandenburgers), and no personal reference whatever to himself. He went through these stirring days without sustaining a scratch though he was slightly wounded some time later in the operations on' the Loire. He told his story at tho direct invitation of a reporter, and,, asked as to his own personal feeling, he merely spread out some photographs of his old battlefields on the table, and pointing to one—tho steep slopes of Spichoren—remarked: "Upon my word, I was just looking at that the other day, and I don't know how we managed to charge up it. I suppose wo were, younger then. To give an idea of tho men who went through it, it may bo mentioned that between August 4 and September 1, 1870, nearly 400,000 French had been blotted out, and, though it has boon tile vci>i"> to represent the French as ill-prepared, inefficient, etc., it may lie added thai inc-y were much better prepared and equipped than most armies which took the field from the time of Napoleon to the Boor War (inclusive). Between August 4 and August 0 the Germans woro engaged in the heavy actions of Spicheren, Weessenbcrg, and Woerth, and after that for more than a week they were marching 20 or 30 miles a day in very hot weather, and fighting occasionally. Oil August 10 occurred tho momentous struggle at Mars-la-Tour (described on Monday in The Dominion) ; or. August 17 they were buryinij the dead and marching, and on Aug'

ust 18 came Gravelotte. On the morning of August 1!) the troops were required to tako up pick and shovel, and open l the trenches for the siege of Metz. It is sometimes stated that the methods employed in tho lield then arc now "obsolete/"' and not worth considering. This view has never been held in Germany, where, presumably, those responsible ought to bo better informed on these matters than their critics. Generally speaking, the German theory still is that—with certain modifications as to range, extensions, etc. —the methods which were good enough for Moltke in 1870 are quite good enough for tq-day. It was on this theory that Meckel successfully trained the Japanese for their war with Russia. For a time it seemed as if smokeless powder would introduce an important difference by making reconnaisancc difficult or impossible, but the coming of the airship lias altered even that, and tho position now remains very much as it was.