,i-:i:.MAN-ri:KNcn 



345 



il MacMahon was placed at tho head of 



. niiv n!' tin- South, coiiM-ting of tho Fifth 



-, and Marshal Oanrobert received tho 



awl of the A rmy of Reserve. 



Immediately utter the declaration of war, a 



, Yencli regiments, which were collected 



at l-'orharh, endeavored, by repeated reconnois- 



sances, to ascertain tho strength of tho 1'nis- 



arrison of Saarbrttckon, and to interrupt 



t he connection between this town and the for- 



<>f Soar-Louis. On July 23d, the French 



endeavored to take possession of tho bridge 

 in-ar \\dirden, o\cr tin- Saar, but they wero 

 driven hack by tho tire of tli- I'nivian-, into tho 

 woods toward Clarenthal. Three French com- 

 panio, which tor the same purpose marched 

 toward Gersweiler, were repulsed by Prussian 

 fiisiloers, who were guarding the railroad 

 liridjro near Hurdach, with a loss of eleven 

 killed and wounded. Thirty Prussian uhlans 

 burst the railroad tunnel between Saargemund 

 and Bitsch, thus for a tune making the road 



from Forbach to Ilagenau unavailable. On 

 July 21st the French were repulsed with some 

 loss near Ludweiler. On the next day they 

 mounted seven pieces of artillery on the 

 heights of Spicheren and bombarded the open 

 town, without, however, doing much damage. 

 The bombardment was repeated on July 30th, 

 but an advance of the French infantry was re- 

 pulsed by the German fusileers. The first im- 

 portant movement began on August 2d, when 

 the corps of General Frossard, numbering 

 about 30,000, advanced from St. Avoid against 

 Saarbrucken. This town had a garrison of 

 only 900 men, several companies of which, 

 upon learning the advance of the French, oc- 

 cupied the heights near the city. After de- 

 taining tho French for a few hours, and 

 inflicting upon them a loss of 6 killed and 67 

 wounded, the small band withdrew to the 

 right bank of the Saar. Tho French occupied 

 the heights around Saarbrucken, but not the 

 town itself, and Napoleon telegraphed to the 

 Empress : " Louis (the Prince Imperial) has 

 received the baptism of tire. He displayed an 

 admirable sang froid, and was in no way ex- 

 cited. He has preserved a ball which dropped 

 close to him. There were soldiers who cried 

 when they saw him so calm." 



According to the plan of the campaign de- 

 vised by Moltke, the three German armies 

 were to advance by converging marches upon 

 the Moselle, and there to form a junction. To 

 that end the Third army, under the crown 



prince, had first to occupy northern Alsace 

 and the passes of the Vosges. On the side of 

 the French, Marshal MacMahon, who with the 

 First Corps was stationed in and near Stras- 

 bourg, was directed to prevent the union of 

 the German armies. On July 26th a body of 

 French infantry which was to occupy Rhein- 

 heim, in the Bavarian palatinate, was repulsed 

 by Prussian uhlans and Bavarian chasseurs. 

 On July 28th there were several skirmishes 

 near "Weissenburg. On August 2d King "Wil- 

 liam arrived at Mentz, and issued an army 

 order by which he assumed the chief command 

 of all the German armies. Telegrams from tho 

 front informed him that all the armies wero 

 ready for an advance. The Third army began 

 to move on August 4th. It was on this day to 

 achieve two things in order to force a passage 

 into Alsace. The Fifth and Eleventh Prussian 

 Army Corps, and the Bavarian division Both- 

 mer, were to take Weissenburg, while the 

 divisions of Baden and Wurtemberg, under 

 General Werder, were to march upon Lanter- 

 burg. Weissenburg and Lauterburg are both 

 situated on the Lauter, and are connected by a 

 chain of ditches and intrenchments (the so- 

 called Weissenburg lines), which were intended 

 to guard Alsace against an invasion from tho 

 north. About two miles south of Weis-cn- 

 berg, the Geisberg is situated, a hill rising 

 about 250 feet above the valley. The defence 

 of this key to Alsace was intrusted to the 

 division of General Abel Douay, one of the 



