THE WAR OF 1870

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2230, 17 August 1914, Page 7

THE WAR OF 1870

AT GRAVELOTTE A VETERAN'S NARRATIVE THE CALL TO ARMS * ho PMctisM his professioi in fcydney for many years, and Who is noli tZTlii'JS™ ■** Australian, newepapei man the following narrative of his eiparl. cnces tbo war of 1870. betS IViuice and Germany . •""««»' f^*'* 10 ond , of 18G9 - x completed mj term of comimW service iii the Pms raiment with a sergeant's stripes. I'ht Mowing July found me'spending th Uwversfty vacation under fie .parental ™hct- ?L a J ew > t:unn ? a * Wp l, nin & ™tage which W<U iib,A& y gf^ou l, d ™ o fld then; mi? S, w l * fro T m P"" blue, cani" the dread tal LS, I& at sunset, when all aa'71 veTa ? d "h. heard wailing teJV aUey J 0 ? d - In-ft few mindS J£L d to change its tone end draw nearer, fall our next door neighbours frere evidently, responsible for a share ol i!ni. re ? n ■* ° non-cdmmissioned officer, with a bundle of'blue, papers under hit up our garden path, ond call. na ? e -, handed me the mobilisatioi] summons sndbadj me attend the paraxk u ? d °J 7, oolo:,k nfixt morning. fv,?1 ly at .%, .appointed hour I reached joavihonon the parade ground, and entered the door at. one end a civil' an; and came out of the other complete a soldier. Ifl the first com. paffaeflt there was a doctor who ordered me 1» strip, and whilst he wa<s examininj me, «a orderly Whisked away my clothes; and I passed into the next room with t certrfloate of fitness, and a leather id<ra, tifioation token hanging from a neck-cord, jAt one counter I got two'undershirts; at another my, uniform j at o third mj boots; and at a "ourth my leather equip, moat; at a fifth my.heltoot and llstfj "jy arms and ammunition. Every artiole ot clothing, inoluding boots, bore mj name, and had been made to fit We. A Splendid Commissariat. "Passing out into the parade ground, I was dirooted to line up to one of a number of poles, wbioh, carried-pennons, and it was not long before a whole 1 company was constituted, and my former dut ids as a sergeant imposed itpop me. Sy midday four Ml regiments had been caw pleted, and after a few preliminary evolutions, ,we wero ordered to draw up in lines facing, inwards, about 15 yards apart, So that the commissariat waggons might distribute a meal. At a Sharp trot big jans caaie along, with, men throwing to the soldiers, bread rolls and sausages; next cam© wagons with tea and sotee* wine and bee-. In this way a regiment : tta4 supplied with food in a few minutes right throagh' the war, and I well remember that we Were not allowed to miss our meals, even on that bloody day of dravelotte. ,-. "For a short time.during the afternoon we were allowed to go to the fence and talk to. our loved ones'; but all too soon the assembly soundodi and wifcb' bands playing we: marched tip the valley road, without the consolation of onelast kiss or handgrasp. We marched right on through the night. And at :& cross road wcro joined by the cavalry of our brigade. Sometime during the march we found that batteries .of artillery, : companies of engineers, and other auxiliary corps were accompanylßg us. We marched til! the sun was well up, and then Camped with anntlior division* thus constituting an army corps. The next day we became aware that we Wero part of an, army of 200,000 men, and that 25 mite'to the north, a Similar host was keeping pace with us, with another army of like dimensions tinder the Crown Prince 25 miles to tho soiithr-aU going for the frontier. Before Met*. ■ "That evening, just at dusk, my regiment Was halted, and entrenching tools Served out. Wo iworc 'told to dig, roar our lives" aa. we:Were;itt front ofa fort, and the French' would, make it warm for lis when they discovered our presence. We had barely got down a couple of feet When h searchlight Swept our trench, and thereafter for 20 .hotifs we Were peppered with mitrailleuse and rifle bullets.'Hardly, had'this ordeal, begun when raia fell in. torrents, and our shallow trenoh became full of water. The men took tho risk of being shot rather than remain in the trenohes. It was mv.duty to see that the sentries at three Salients Were at their posts. ■At the first position I inspected t found the man shotthrough the 'head; • I crawled back for a, substitute, placed him On the watch, wont dtt to the other salient, and fonnd both' Sentries dead, replaced them; coming back to the starting point, found the Mitotitute had pn'd for his disobedience of the Order to keep under cover with his life. We had to submit to these'conditions all the.'next day until nightfall, because no relief eoiild "survive the dradly hail which swept over the approaches to the entrenchments. .All this time a battle .was heir.* folijrht Oft nur side of JfetE—principally with.' the Imperial Guard, to. delay Bazaine's retreat from ■■ the other side of the fortress until our men wild get round to block it. Our division din riot COVer tho intervening 30 miles until tli«. riicht' thH> French army was forced back from Mars-la-tour and Vionville; The Day of Battle. "In tho morning wo found ourselves drawn up with nilite a hnndred thousand men in tho Bols des Ognons, .a thick wood within longe rahge of Fort PlaTineville, and easy shooting distance of the enemy's field batteries on the heights. Here, the French mined shells upon Us incessantly for about two hour.v •ad. drawn up as.we were in close order, ws buffered. gTe.at losses. I saw. at .least thirty poor fellows taken away by the krankenta?er after the explosion of one shell. When we hioVed it was to occuny a field near the low ridge upon which the bulk of our 800 guns played all' dav on the 'French infantry. Our division had this field to itself, 4nd it fairly covered the area, notwithstanding our previous losses. An hour or two later wo were oiderod to assault the heights. Our divt sion marched about half a mile, then entered tho winding -street that led to the hill. I remember being struck by the coolness of the villagers, who oame to their doorways and watohed us pass with no more interest than they would have shown if we had been marohing to a roMew. At the 'head of the street wo came upon a eloping field, with a stone wall continuing the street line. Beside this wall we marched till the last company was clpat of the houses. Then came the order: "Half-right turn—charge." Wo went up that'hill .for about "00 nr 100 yards in tho teeth of a leaden Itail that nothing human could cndun>. We never prot near enough to the Frenoh to cross bayonets with them—all We could see through' the smoke wo» their red trousers. After tho battle we found that there was a dteep ravine between ns. Wo came down that hill at' a tush and 'reformed under tho_ shelter of the houses, whilst another division marched through the villnsro to second olir attack. W* then withdrew to our starting point, and were spectators of half adojen'fmitlcss charges up that fatil hill. Two or three hours later wo fesayed the attack again,'but When we cleared.the village we had-to d* ploy 150 yards up tho hill, because the space intervening between that line and the wall was filled with dead men. We dashed up the slope, but came down nnickor, and there Was plenty of room for what was left of, us when wo returned to our field. A little later we faced tho fatal hill for the third time, and wo camo back with such diminished numbers that We were put ia the reserve. Nevertheless, later in the afternoon the army was So reduced that we had to face the music the fourth time ll ' rt" 1 w^V the heaps of slain at the .foot of the hill wa had to march more than 300 yards in front of our first route before we charged. A Cavalry Charge. "Towards evening the French mado 8 show inth a oloud of skirmishers to attack, but the Imperial GuaTd, which had remamod inactive 1 all day, and which might have dono something effective at this stage, did not come on. We were surprised by a sudden attack of chasseurs d'Afnque, who rode through out ranks and were greatly cut up, Thov d'd us some damage, but that was the last tesle of tho day for us. About this tuno a comrade Minted out that! 1

had been wounded in the arm, and I Instantly became insensible, and fell down. I was all right in a few minutes, and found that a ehassepot bullet had hit me—apparently early in the duy—and gone through the muscles of my left | arm, the wound being stanohed by the elastic Bleoves of the undershirt. The tide of battle flowed more and more towards the other end of the five-mile front to St. Privat, and about 8 ptm. strong reinforcement from the Crown Prince's army arrived, and; crumpling Up the French right* brought' about a general retirement of. their army under the guns of Metz. That might only 420 men remained in my regiment Out of 2400, the junior lieutenant was the only officer left to command, and I was the senior sergeant. We marched from the battlefield a few miles towards Paris, and noifc morning one of the majors turned up. A week later a couple of trains arrived : with 2000 men, whose helmets bore the number of our regiment, and we marched, not to Pans, but to Orleans, to face the army of tie Loire. For weeks we were fighting amongst hedgerows and villages. As the Germans never encumber their field operations with tent equipment, they have to billet themselves on towns or villages, 6r bivemao in the open. One night we took our village .too late to get dry Straw. . I had a memory afterwards of having brid dreams that night, but nothing deflniite . presented itself to my mind until I awoke in a cduntry cart, and was txjld I had been down with typhus for six, weeks, and was on my way with another survivor from that dreadful fever, to try to meet a train bound for Germany. I shall never forget tha horrors of that journey homo; indeed, I was 6n«S6 more on the verge of collapse whsh I heard niy father'a chSefy (jreoting at the carriage door"