726 
ACHIEVEMENTS OF FIELD ARTILLERY. 
battalions and four batteries held Villemarceau against every effort 
of the French. At 12 o’clock the main body of the Germans felt 
strong enough to advance to try and repossess themselves of Villejouan, 
and for the next four hours a desperate struggle raged round that 
position. The French then brought up fresh forces to sweep the 
remaining Germans away, but meanwhile a great artillery line had been 
developed to the south of Villemarceau by the artillery of the 17th 
Division, two Horse Batteries of the 10th Corps, and the batteries of 
the 22nd Division. The fire of these guns put an end to any further 
attack of the French 17th Corps. 
But strong columns of the 21st Corps, on this day, for the first time, 
realising where the Germans were most vulnerable, had advanced 
at 10.30 o’clock on Villcnmain, and the toil-worn Bavarians had to form 
a line from Jouy to Coudray to oppose them. Once more guns were 
called upon to fill the breech, and by degrees a great mass of 19 bat¬ 
teries was built up in that position, whose “visibly effective fire ” 
compelled the French to take their artillery out of action at 3 o’clock' 
and to limit themselves for the remainder of the day to such isolated 
and feeble assaults as were thrust back with comparative ease. 1 
Thus ended the four day’s fighting of Beaugency-Cravant, where the 
Grand Duke held his own against three corps of the enemy, and was 
enabled to do so by “ the bravery of his troops, more especially of the 
artillery. This alone lost 255 men and 356 horses. The guns were 
brought into such requisition that at last almost all the steel guns of the 
light batteries of the 22nd Division, and most of the Bavarian, were 
rendered useless by the burning out of their breech-blocks.” 2 
An especially interesting artillery battle is that of Loigny-Poupry, 
when the effort of the Army of Orleans to reach Paris on the 2nd of 
December was stifled by the Bavarians, and a large share of the fight¬ 
ing fell to the guns. The incidents of the struggle exhibit almost 
every phase of artillery usefulness, and illustrate every possible role 
which the arm can be called upon to assume. 
To give an account of the fight in a manner which would at all ade¬ 
quately convey all that can be learnt from it would, in the space here 
available, be hopeless. The deeds of the German gunners have been 
made the subject of an excellent paper in the KriegsgeschiscJtfliche 
Einzelschriften , 3 which are published by the great General Staff in 
Berlin, and those who would study the matter in greater detail must there 
seek for information. Colonel Lonsdale Hale also gave an interesting 
lecture on the performance of the artillery at this battle last year 
at Aldershot, but this unfortunately is not published, and cannot there¬ 
fore be referred to, although it is through him that attention in this 
in this country has been called to the battle. To give but a brief out¬ 
line of the fight :— 
On the morning of the 2nd December the 1st Bavarian corps was 
formed, facing south-west, at La Maladerie, and the French advanced 
1 Official account. Part II., Vol. II. 
2 “ The Franco-German War,” by Yon Moltke. Yol. II. 
3 Yol. VII. 
