PANORAMIC VIEW OF THE STRUGGLE.

West Coast Times, Issue 309, 19 September 1866, Page 1 (Supplement)

PANORAMIC VIEW OF THE STRUGGLE.

From a lofty fower commanding the Prague gateway, whence Josephstadt on the north and tl;e whole of the positions of the armies were displayed as if on a raised map, Dr Russell saw the whole of the Lite battle of Sadowa looking on a scene in which every village was vomiting forth fire aud smoke, every knoll the scene , of murderous conflict, every valley the indiscriminate grave of thousands of. men, every cornfield covered with the full harvest of dpath, and trodden under foot by furious legions before day was done. From this point the main incidents of the battle could be followed. At one moment "My God, imilovitz is in flames,'' exclaimed the guardian of the tower. The officers who were in tbe tower said, " Ja so !" and " Hem !" and uttered various other sounds of varied import possibly, smoked their

oijjjars, and looked on. (Soon after, " (iott in llimmel !" cried the guarilinn of the to'wcr,' " Sadowa burns now !" From the left of Klum to tho Prague rond, and beyond it, all was lire and smoke. Tho tumult of voices was dreadful, aud such us is never to be heard save in some such awful agony of battle Soon there wire six or seven villages and' hamlets on fire from- left to right. • The battle was assuming a more awful and tremendous aspect, and the 1 faint rays of sunshine which shot at intervals through the lifting clouds only gave the scene greater terror. Horses without riders' careered amon»' the the wounded, who were crawling all over the plain, dismounted dragoons dragged themselves to the rear, and men came crawling along in such numbers that they appeared like a broad fringe to tho edges of the battle. ' - • Dr. Russell gives some striking epiiodes of tbe terrible struggle. He says :—: — " Once an Austrian column, separating itself from the great multitude below, wfth levelled bayonets, led by its officers, in front waving caps and sabres, ' wont straight at the wood aro,und Klum and drove back the Prussian Tirailleurs, but were staggered by fearful volleys of musketry. Their officers were all killed or wounded. They fell sullenly back. Down came the Prussians, but they were received on the bayonet point, and with clubbed muskets, and were driven back to the shelter of the wood, aud some carried off prisoners in the retreating column. Indeed handfuls of Prussians were coming into the town behind us all the day, showing how cloae the fight was, and a considerable body of the 27th Regiment, with some officers, are now in the* Grosser' Ring. Ohesta and Visa were now burning, so that from right to left the flames of ten villages, and the^ flashes of guns and •nrusketry, coutended with the sun that pierced the clouds for the honor of illuminating the seas of steel and the fields of carnage. It was three o'clock. The efforts of the Austrians to occupy Klum and free their centre had failed, -their right was driven down in a beldless mass towards Konigjrr.itz, quivering and palpitating as shot and shell tore through it. Artillery j si ill tiiundered with a force and violence which might have led a stranger to such | scenes, to think no enemy could withstand I it. The Austrian cavalry still hu-ig like white thunder-clouds on the flank, and threatened, the front of the Prussians, keeping them in square and solid columns. But already the trains were streaming away from Kouiggiatz, placing the Elbe and Adler between them and the enemy. The grip of the Prussians could not be shaken. Word was brought to me to leave at once, for the city gates were about being closed, and the gunners on the walls were laying their pieces to cover the inundations and the causeways. One more glance showed a very hell of fire — cornfields, highways, slopes, and dells, and hill-sides covered with tlie slain — the prid e and might of Austria shattered and laid low. What happened more I can onlj; tell from hearsay. Bat lam told that at rhe last the Austrian horse saved all that was not lost, and in brilliant, charges rolled back the tido of Prussian infantry ; and the gunners threw their pieces into the Elbe and into the inundated fields as they retreated ; that men were drowned in hundreds as they crowded over pontooa . bridges hastily laid and sunk or burnt ere the columns could cross over ; that luggage trains, reserve ammunition, guns, and prisoners, the spoils of that en .»rmous host, fell into the hands of the victors, who remained masters of 'that hard -fought field, covered for nine miles with myriads of the slain. Well might Benedek exclaim, " All is lost but my life ! Would to God I had lost that too. !' " In a second letter, the military correspondent with the Prussians describes a smart cavalry combat : — " The Prussian cavalry, unable to leave the road till it got to nearly the top of the hill, ou account of tbe woods by the side of the way, was not up till the Austrian infantry h id gotbalf way across the hollow which separates Lipa - from the further ridge of Streselitz, and there the Austrian hat( erics had taken up their position and began to play upon" the pursuing troops. Then, for a few minutes, Prince Frederick Charles, who was leading the Hussars and Diagoons, had to leave, them to make his general dispositions for attacking the new position taken up by the Austrian artillery, and the cavalry immediately got out of hand. By feingle squadrons, by single troops, and even only in knots of a few horsemen, they rushed with wild impetuosity at different points of the retreating infantry ; but the Austrian guns sent shells rapidly among them, and the infantry, though running, still kept its formation, and turned, when they came too close, to stand and deliver volleys which emptied many a saddle. Nor were the Austrian cavalry off the field, though "they could not face the tremendous Ure of the Prussian guns to charge and cover the retreat' of their infantry ; but when attacked by the enemy's cavalry, and when thus the guns could not fire upon them, they fought hard, and sacrificed themselves 'to cover the retreat. Then, squadrons of the 3rd Regiment of Prussian Dragoons rushing forward, came upon an Austrian regiment of Cuirassiers, who turned and charged. ' Big men ■on big horses,' they drove the Prussians back, and, smiting 1 them hearvily with their ponderous swords, nearly destroyed 'the diagoons ; but Ilohenlohe's Prussian Uhlans, seeing their comrades worsted, charged with their lances couched against the Austrians' flank, and compelled them to retire. Pressed hard by the lancers they fell back ; fighting hard, but then Ziethen's Hussars charged them in rear. A fierce combat ensued ; the Cuirassiers struck strongly about them, lighting for their lives ; but the Lancers drove their lances into their hor&is, while the Hussars, light and'active, •closed in upon them, and only ten Austrians are reported to have escaped unwounded from the melee"

of the dead have been buried, for the number of wounded was so great that every man who could be spared from duty was required to look after them. All n'ght long the ' Kranken-trager ' have been at work, and have been assisted by a large number of soldiers. Ever}' village near the field of battle has all its standing houses converted into hospitals, and the surgeons in the army have been busy all night long. In the woods and in the broken ground the bodies of Austrians and Prussians are tolerably equal in number, generally lying in groups of four five of either nation together, marking the spot where a shell has burst ; but in the open ground and down the reverse -side of the Lipa slope, the Austrian*' lie terribly thick, and hardly a Prussian uniform is t6 be seen. Wherever the Austrians fought unprotected by cover,, and wherever the Prussian i^flemen, armed with needle-gun, could see their enemies, the disproportion of the dead become 3 immediately apparent. Tkfi corn is trodden down all over tbe field, and tbe ground is ploughed up and dug into holes with shells so thickly that it is hardly possible to ride in a straight direction for twenty yards.

" On the top of the Lipa ridge, and near the village, a large number of the captured guns, .with all their waggons and carriages beside them, and on the slope away from Sadowa the rest are placed under the charge of the corps of the Guard which in the Crown Prince's attack stormed the batteries. Everywhere about the field, fatigue parties are digging large trenches in which the Austrian and Prussian killed, are being laid side by side, clothed in their uniforms. No other tombstone is put to mark each £,rave than a plain wooden cross, 6u which is written the number of each regiment that lies below. The v officers are placed in .single graves near beside the men. But here and there a few are seen silently carrying some c,omVade to a more" retired spot. - On one part of the field a Prussian General with his staff was burying his- son, who had fallen in the attack on the Austrian right. Close by, the 'wife of a private soldier who had found her husband's body on the field had it buried by some soldiers, had hung 1 - some oak branches on the Jjfctle wooden cross at the head, and was kitting on the fseshlyturned earth sobbing her heart out, with his shattered helmet in her lap. She had followed his legiment in order to be near him from the beginning of the campaign, j through all the long marches the army has made. The less severely wounded have been moved to Moritz, from which, on the approach of the Prussians, the inhabitants had nearly all fled. The vacated houses have been converted into hospitals, and at nearly every window and every door men are hanging about listlessty, with heads or arms bound up, wilh a half-stupefied look, as if they bad not yet recovered from the stunning effects of the blow which had disabled them. Many are Austrians, aud are prisoners of war ; but the greatest liberty seems to be accorded to them, for they are allowed to wander about the streets, and to mix freely with the Prussian soldiers. Long coluirms of un wounded • prisoners have also been marched continually through the town on their waj' to the Tear. The Austrians look dejected a v id unhappy, but ninrch stolidly and silently along ;_but the prisoners from the Italian regiments laugh and talk cheerily!, and on them their imprisonment sits lightly. Iler.e and there an Austrian officer, prisoner ou parole, 1 strolls moodily about, stopping every now and then to return the courteous salutations of the Prussian officers who pass by. To ease the anxiety of their friends at home, they write letters to announce that they are not -killed, but taken, and these are scut wilh a Hag of truce to the Austriau lines.. The greatest courtesy and kindness are shown by the Prussian officers to their unfortunate prisoners, and every attempt is made to make them feel their position as little as possible. Several Austrian officers wounded mortally on the field icquested Prussian officers to send their" last message to, their "families, requests which it is needless to say were readily complied with.

"The actual junction of the two armies of the Crown Prince and of Prince Frederick Charles was effected ■on the battlefield of Koniggraiz, and the Austrians have now lost the. chance ,they had of falling upon each army separately. They are now united in one firm body, and number together in line of battle about 250,000 men, with aTioilt 900 guns. After the severe defeat •diich tht> Austrians have 'sustained it seems doubtful if they will be able to take the field for some time in sufficient force to oppose this large army ; for since the beginning of the 'campaign they mrtst have lost iri killed', wounded, aud prisoners, almost 100\0d0 men. The morale of their army is destroyed, atid •their infantry in open country cannot stand against the better-armed Prussians. The Austrians had hoped to be able to close with the bayonet, and so amend the .effects of the fire of the needle-gun ; but the idea of the superiority in the use of the bayonet, in which the Austrian army prides itself, is one of those vanities which are common to every iiatiou, and this war has proved that at close quarters the stronger men of Prussia have invariably overcome the Austrians."