713 
ACHIEVEMENTS OF FIELD ARTILLERY. 
BY 
MAJOR E. S. MAY, R.A. 
PART V. 1 
It was at Sedan, however, on the first of the following September, 
that the German artillery gave the most signal proof of its efficiency 
and destructive effect, and that decisive blow has been termed “the 
greatest artillery battle of the war.” 
On the 31st August the army of MacMahon, foiled in its flank march 
to the relief of Bazaine, stood at bay in a curved line round the little 
fortress of Sedan, while the German armies, under the Crown Princes 
of Saxony and Prussia, advancing from the east and south, threatened 
to crush it between them, or force it over the neutral Belgian frontier 
in dangerous proximity behind. One French corps (the 7th) faced 
BATTLE OF SEDAN.—September 1st, 1870. 
G-eneral position of German Artillery shortly before the end of the struggle. 
