THE CAMPAIGN IN ALSACE

On 4 August 1870 General Abel Douay's French division was surprised and virtually destroyed by Bavarian and Prussian troops at Wissembourg. Douay held a very strong position initially, thanks to the accurate long-range fire of the Chassepots, but his force was too thinly stretched to hold it. Douay was killed in the late morning when a caisson of the divisional mitrailleuse battery exploded near him; the encirclement of the town by the Prussians threatened the French avenue of retreat.

Two days later at one of the decisive battles of the war MacMahon's I Corps was heavily defeated by the Germans at the Battle of Woerth. The Crown Prince of Prussia's 3rd army had, on the quick reaction of his Chief of Staff General von Blumenthal, drawn reinforcements which brought its strength up to 140,000 troops. The French had been slowly reinforced and their force numbered only 35,000. Although badly outnumbered, the French defended their position just outside Fröschwiller. By afternoon, the Germans had suffered c. 10,500 killed or wounded and the French had lost a similar number of casualties and another 9,200 men taken prisoner. The Germans captured Fröschwiller which sat on a hilltop in the centre of the French line. Having lost any hope for victory and facing a massacre, the French army disengaged and retreated in a westerly direction towards Bitche and Saverne, hoping to join French forces on the other side of the Vosges mountains. The German 3rd army did not pursue the French but remained in Alsace and moved slowly south, attacking and destroying the French garrisons in the vicinity.

Useful tactical treatise that was designed for use of Staff College students sitting exams in 1907, and as such gives a clear analytical account of two important battles during the opening rounds of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870. The observation of foreign armies and their technology, particularly that of the German Army, provided many tactical lessons at the beginning of the 20th century.