668 
ACHIEVEMENTS OF FIELD AETILLERY. 
and could not be stopped, even by the most energetic efforts on the 
part of the officers. A single limber was with difficulty brought back 
to the guns, where t! the only men tit for duty besides the officers were 
a non-commissioned officer, a driver, and two gunners.” 1 2 Two guns 
were brought away with difficulty, but the remaining three (one had 
been abandoned in the defile when moving into position) had to be 
left where they were, and were not brought off till after dark. 
Hasse’s battery from the first sustained enormous losses. Two other 
officers were severely, and Captain Hasse himself was slightly wounded. 
All the officers’ horses were shot. But in spite of the sacrifices it had to 
make the battery held its ground, and maintained its fire with great 
effect. 
Seeing the precarious situation in which it was placed Lieut.-General 
von Schwartz sent his Adjutant to tell it to withdraw. 3 So many 
horses had been killed, however, that it would have been impossible to 
move the guns, and the gallant Hasse said he preferred death to leav¬ 
ing them. They continued, therefore, to fire until only one gun could 
be worked, and that only by four men. The detachments of all the others 
were either killed on wounded. The ammunition in the limbers and in 
the remaining limber of the wreck of a battery along side them was 
exhausted, aud the ammunition wagons had not been able to pass the 
defile. Such was the situation when Major Coester reached the scene 
with three wagon teams and orders from General von Schwartz to 
bring back the disabled battery. 
The limbers riddled with bullets and guns laden with wounded were 
at length brought away through the defile—a few drivers on foot lead¬ 
ing the two or four horses which dragged them painfully along. 3 
Major Coester’s horse was then shot under him, and the last gun, 
reduced to one horse and piled with wounded, had to halt and wait for 
further assistance. 
At length Gravelotte was reached. The return of the heroic battery 
was greeted with loud cheers all along the line, while Yon Schwartz 
embraced its commander with emotion in the presence of the troops. 
Its retreat 4 “ was a triumphal march in the real sense of the word.” 
For two hours this battery had stood its ground in an exposed 
position within a few hundred paces of the enemy’s skirmishers, “ yet 
it was not until after repeated solicitations by his superior officers that 
Captain Hasse abandoned the position.” This battery had 3 officers, 
30 men, and 10 horses wounded, and 5 men and 67 horses killed. 
Captain Gniigge was now left alone in the advanced position he had 
occupied. His guns were slightly protected by a low garden wall, but 
he also experienced heavy losses from the first. He kept up an effec¬ 
tive fire, however, at 800 to 1000 paces on Moscou, which was set on 
fire by his fire and Hasse’s, while the fresh batteries which the enemy 
tried to bring up were invariably prevented from coming into action. 
But this gallant battery distinguished itself most especially at the 
1 Hoffbauer’s account. 
2 Hoffbauer’s account. 
3 Official account. Part I., Vol. II. 
4 Hoffbauer. 
