ACHIEVEMENTS OP FIELD ARTILLERY. 
673 
forcible manner, Jerusalem was quickly set on fire, and even in St. 
Privat itself the flames rose aloft in several places. “ Already under 
the iron hail the enemy’s masses were gradually thronging more closely 
together, while the bulwark of the French position was every minute 
more surely gripped from the north.” 1 2 For the 12th Corps was now 
deploying its gnus between Roncourt and St. Privat, and 11 batteries 
lost no time in cannonading the former village and the French right 
wing, whose fire was soon almost reduced to silence. 
The French, thus pressed by the Saxons on one side and the Guards on 
the other, were compelled to withdraw from Roncourt, and the Crown 
Prince 3 sent further forward the artillery of his corps to envelop St. 
Privat from the north-west. Fourteen batteries, formed in one great 
line, were placed, therefore, in position with their left resting close to 
Roncourt, and firing on St. Privat effectively supported the advance of 
the Saxon battalions. Thus at this time 24 batteries were overwhelm¬ 
ing the devoted village with a perfect storm of missiles. 
“ Walls and building crumbled under the crash of the shells, and 
the columns of fire rose in several places above the ruins of the village.” 3 
The moment for the decisive blow was, indeed, ripe. The drums and 
bugles sounded the charge, and the Saxons from the north-west, and 
the Guards from the south, rushed with exultation on the stronghold, 
which had cost them so much earlier in the day, but now lay helpless 
within their grasp. At 8 p.m. it was definitely in German hands, 
and the defeat of the French right wing was assured. 
But the roar of battle, still for a moment when the village had 
been captured, broke out soon in another outburst which lasted till 
nightfall, when the guns of the French Guard came into action near 
the Amanvilliers Quarries along the edge of the forest, and cannonaded 
the batteries of the German Guard. They, however, had now been 
reinforced by the guns of the 10th Corps and the Hessian Division, 
and as darkness closed the roar of cannon died away, and the French 
guns were withdrawn. 
It was at this stage of the fight that, according to the official account, 
the 5th and 6th light batteries of the 10th Corps specially distinguished 
themselves by advancing to the knoll on the east of St. Privat so as to 
engage the French artillery at a more effective range. Scarcely had 
they driven up when the first-mentioned battery found itself assailed 
in flank by hostile infantry, which it turned on in a moment and 
drove away. A similar result attended all the other sallies of the 
enemy, who were obliged to retire with heavy losses. 
The same spirit animated the batteries on the German left, and when 
St. Privat fell the masses of guns were again sent forward to secure 
what had been won, and thus at the close of the day an almost con¬ 
tinuous girdle of 38 batteries or 228 guns, extending from the Foret 
de Jaumont by St. Privat to the Bois de la Cusse, was fastened round 
the French right wing. 
During the night the French evacuated their positions, and withdrew 
1 Official account, Part I., Vol. II. 
2 Of Saxony. 
3 Official account. 
