THE FIELD TELEGRAPH, 305 



reduction of the vast fortress as the circle of steel and iron, of bat- 

 teries, earthworks, and redoubts, which, without the connecting link 

 of the telegraph-wire, could not have been maintained for a single 

 month. On their side the French displayed no less energy. The reg- 

 ular telegraph corps was shut up in Metz or lost at Sedan ; but a fresh 

 corps was organized for the armies of the republic, and at Paris the 

 telegraph-lines linked together the enceinte, the forts and outworks, 

 and the headquarters of General Trochu. But it was in the second 

 siege of the capital that the French telegraph corps obtained its 

 greatest success. During the fighting in the streets of Paris, in May, 

 1871, the moment a barricade was taken, a telegraph-station was es- 

 tablished in a neighboring house, and when another post was carried 

 the telegraph corps would again move forward with the troops, and 

 thus MacMahon was able to watch every turn of the fight, and pro- 

 vide for every contingency, in a way that otherwise would have been 

 utterly impossible. For ourselves, we have had no European war 

 since 1854 ; but our armies have carried the telegraj^h with them into 

 India and China, and through the ravines and passes of Abyssinia ; 

 and now the "talking wire" stretches from Cape Coast Castle through 

 the bush, across the Prah into the heart of Western Africa, hanging 

 on the trees, with here and there a few poles, the whole having been 

 erected by Fantee laborers, under the direction of a handful of Royal 

 Engineers. 



The object of the field telegraph is to keep the headquarters of an 

 army in communication with its several corps, and, at the same time, 

 with the general telegraph system of the country. In the Prussian 

 army, when the telegraph corps was reorganized after the war of 1866, 

 it was formed into two divisions — the Field Telegraph Division and 

 the Etappen Division — with a view to the more efficient performance 

 of these two services. Both divisions consist of several com2)anies or 

 sections, each of which contains about 150 men, including officers, 

 telegraph operators, pioneers, workmen for the erection of the line, 

 and drivers for the station-, store-, and baggage-wagons. In all armies 

 the telegraph materiel is, of course, very similar, and we shall there- 

 fore describe that of the Prussian army, adding a few notes on that 

 of other countries. 



The two essential portions of the field telegraph are the station 

 and the line. In order that there may always be a sheltered place for 

 erecting the instruments and transmitting messages, each detachment 

 of the telegraph corps carries with it one or more wagons fitted up as 

 stations ; but, wherever a halt of more than a few minutes is made, 

 and there is a suitable building available for that purpose, a telegraph- 

 station is established in it by removing the batteries and instruments 

 from the wagon. Fig. 1 is an outline sketch of a Prussian station- 

 wagon. Fig. 2 being a section of the same. The wagon is about 9 ft. 

 long, with an interior height of 4 ft. 6 in., and a width of 4 ft. It is 

 VOL. v.— 20 



