ACHIEVEMENTS OF FIELD ARTILLERY. 
669 
close of the day, when the 1st Army was again ordered to assume the 
offensive, supported by the 2nd Corps which was arriving on the battle¬ 
field. Yon Moltke with admirable candour has blamed himself for 
ordering this movement, 1 which could hardly be expected to lead to any 
decisive issue at so late an hour, and wasted many valuable lives for a 
very minor result. As the German advance began the French re¬ 
opened fire with unexpected vigour, and their reserves were brought 
up as though they too meditated offensive action. Swarms of 
skirmishers issued from Point du Jour and Moscon, and the German 
troops in front were pressed back in something like a panic. The 
garrison of St. Hubert, however, stood firm, and Gniigge’s battery, 
realising the gravity of the situation, staunchly held its ground too. 
This is how Hoffbauer tells the story :— 
“ Even when the mass of stragglers rushed towards the battery 
Captain Gniigge preserved an unshaken calmness, and endeavoured to 
restore order out of chaos. Yain attempt ! The mighty stream could 
not be checked but poured through the battery,where it was overwhelmed 
by the enemy’s fire, and men and horses were crushed together. Every¬ 
thing was obscured by clouds of dust. Captain Gniigge, utterly 
powerless, saw part of his battery swept away in the general confusion, 
and when the turmoil was over three guns without limbers and another 
unhorsed limber was all that remained in its original position. Collect¬ 
ing, however, a few gunners and infantrymen, about 30 in number, he 
opened fire on the pursuing skirmishers and repulsed them. 
The German infantry then again advanced in good order against the 
enemy’s position, so that the battery was unable to fire more than a few 
rounds in the direction of Point du Jour for fear of hitting some of the 
troops. Second Lieutenant Wintgens had meanwhile removed his 
division of the battery to a position 200 paces to the rear near the high 
road to support the infantry. There he had time to fire a few rounds 
of shell and case in the direction of Point du Jour before the guns were 
masked by the advancing infantry. The battery did not quit the 
position where it behaved so nobly until darkness made it impossible 
to lay the guns, and the 2nd Corps advanced to the assault.” 
What will strike the reader of these stirring incidents is the almost 
reckless manner in which the German artillery, in the same spirit as 
prompted Nelson’s Captains to lay themselves alongside of their enemy, 
did not hesitate to seek close quarters when it was desired to produce 
a decisive effect, and the chief testimony to their effect is to be gathered 
from the official account which, reviewing their performances with 
judicial calmness, considers the lavish sacrifice of men and horses 
justified by the results achieved. 
Of Gniigge’s battery it is written that it held out, “ although it is 
true the musketry and mitrailleuse bullets showered unceasingly on its 
exposed right flank, and even on its rear, occasioning heavy losses. 
But, on the other hand, at this most advanced post of the Prussian 
infantry, Captain Gniigge found himself within such close range of his 
1 “ It would have been better if the chief of the Staff, who was personally on the field at the time, 
had not allowed this movement at so late an hour.” The Franco-German War, by Von Moltke. 
Vol. I., p. 78. 
89 
