ACHIEVEMENTS OP FIELD ARTILLERY. 
717 
guns were covered by earthen parapets, and they were burling death 
and destruction on the Saxons.” Even the French guns, we may note 
in passing, were capable of something more serious than merely moral 
effect, but they were taken in flank by three of the batteries just 
specified, and the brilliant effect obtained by the German batteries, and 
by those of the 12th Corps, was amply vouched for by the number of 
disabled guns and mitrailleuses found subsequently in the emplacements. 
Then the enemy tried to bring 1 his artillery into action at a closer range 
against these batteries of the Guard who were so greatly troubling him. 
“ A battery horsed entirely with greys trotted up from the Fond de 
Givonne to Givonne itself, and tried to take up its position between 
that village and the Bois de la Garenne. As soon as it appeared on 
the hill the three batteries mentioned above opened fire on it. It fell 
to pieces, as it were, and its ruins remained where they fell. It did 
not fire a single shot. A second and a third battery met with a like 
fate.” Then to corroborate what he says (it is still Prince Kraft who 
is speaking) he brings forward the evidence of his foes from a French 
pamphlet which appeared after the war, and which contained the fol¬ 
lowing statement :—“ The Emperor himself tried to post three batteries 
at the exit from the low ground of the Givonne. They were demolished 
without having fired a shot.” 
But, if it had been destructive before, when the line of guns was 
increased to 90, the effect was truly terrible. As the troops of the 
enemy attempted to show themselves the combined fire of this great 
mass overwhelmed them with “ such a hail of missiles that they broke 
up and fled into the forest where they hoped to find shelter. The 
spectacle of the carnage worked on these masses of men was horrible : 
the fearful cries of the victims of our shells reached as far as where 
we stood.” 
Instances from this battle of the effect with which the efforts of the 
German guns were crowned might further be multiplied, but want of 
space and the fear of wearying our readers with a tale which must be 
familiar to many of them compels us to pass some over in silence. 
Otherwise we would show how, even at 4000 yards, their missiles 
carried destruction with them, and how, in spite of what has been 
said in these pages, as to artillery not being able to carry off the 
trophies of its prowess as do the other arms, a whole battery of French 
guns was found lying helpless in the path of the German guns, a grim 
tribute to their steadiness of aim. 
But we must pass on to the last decisive strokes of the battle, and 
tell how, when the final onslaught of the Guards was to be delivered, 
a furious cannonade from the great line of batteries shook the forest. 
A heavy salvo, about 2.30 o’clock, was the signal for the infantry that 
the moment for their advance was come, and, starting from the 
Givonne, they began to swarm up the opposite slope. Let us listen to 
the leader of those efficient guns once more :—“ We were in a state 
of feverish expectation ; every eye was fixed on the forest. We asked 
ourselves if the capture of the edge of the wood would cost as many 
lives as had that of St. Privat. But this time the resistance met with 
was almost nil, At most points the French, utterly discouraged, 
