The Hatzfeldt letters, letters of Count Paul Hatzfeldt to his wife, written from the head-quarters of the King of Prussia, 1870-71

UNCERTAINTY OF PLANS 31

1 The battle of Mars-la-Tour.

UNCERTAINTY OF PLANS 31

1 A village near the battlefield of Mars-la-Tour.

UNCERTAINTY OF PLANS 31

3 Captain ist Dragoons of the Prussian Guard, killed at Mars-la-Tour.

UNCERTAINTY OF PLANS 31

4 Colonel of the ist Dragoons of the Prussian Guard, mortally wounded at Mars-la-Tour.

FRENCH SOLDIERS 43

trenched and almost impregnable. I have seen with my own eyes all the battlefields since that of Saar- briicken, and this has always been the case. I can rdd still more. The French awaited the attack in strong positions, on the heights, entrenched behind cover and walls ; and when our troops arrived, they fired at 1,500 paces and continued to fire as long as possible, inflicting great loss upon them. Our men always had to cross plains several thousand yards broad, exposed to a murderous fire. When after cruel losses they got up to the French, the latter never awaited the bayonet attack, but retired. This was confirmed to me by everybody who took part in the fighting near Metz. Personal bravery and impulsive action were beyond dispute on our side. I won't say anything about the leadership and about the Generals, who seemed to me to have been sometimes very improvident. One thing is quite certain, namely that at this moment the Chasse- pot is infinitely superior to our rifle. Fortunately the enemy in general shoot very badly. The mitrailleuse did some harm in certain cases, when a regiment or a battalion was unlucky enough to find itself just in the line of its fire. But this does not often happen ; and several soldiers told me that the bullets from the mitrailleuses constantly passed over their heads. Our artillery has been admirable, and altogether superior to the French artillery. I think I have already told you that the French cavalry has not distinguished itself. Our cavalry was constantly pitted against theirs in the proportion of i to 2, and even i to 3, and always won. Of course you understand, my Darling, that all these details are for you, and that you must not show them to anybody else. People would gossip about them, and I should possibly get into trouble in con- sequence.

TEA WITH THE KING 95

I should be exceedingly pleased if I could now hear of the surrender of Metz. We should then have another 150,000 men available before Paris, and the defeat of the last regular army in France would certainly have a great moral effect on the population of Paris. What is said about the existence of disease in our camp before Metz is an invention. I saw a Russian officer last night who came from there : he assured me that the state of health of the troops was much better than one would have expected.

THE METZ GARRISON 147

No letter from you to-day, nor yesterday either. The courier missed the train somewhere on the way and won't arrive till to-morrow. This is a nuisance. . . . I suppose there were illuminations this evening in honour of the surrender of Metz. There ought to have been. We have been greatly deceived about the garrison at Metz. We always estimated it at 80,000 men at most, whereas there were 173,000 — more than twice as many as what we thought. It is incredible that no means of getting out could have been found with an army of that size and good generals. I offered to bet that before three days the Paris newspapers will say that we bribed Bazaine to betray the army. They know now the fact of the surrender, because our officers at the outposts took good care to pass on the news to their French colleagues.

THE MONITEUR DE VERSAILLES 191

1 Edwin, Baron von Manteuffel, born 1809 ; entered Prussian Dragoons of the Guard in 1827 ; frequently sent on diplomatic missions to Austria and Russia in early life ; took part in Danish war 1864, and .made Commander of the Prussian troops in the Elba province after the war, and afterwards Governor of Schleswig ; also took part in the war of 1866; in 1870-1 commanded ist Army Corps, and distinguished himself at the battles of Columbey-Norritz and Noineville ; directed the siege of Metz, and after the fall of Metz assumed command of the First Army ; was at Amiens and besieged Rouen ; in January, 1871, made commander of the South Army ; was at Belfort ; compelled Bourbaki at Pontarlier to cross the Swiss frontier ; in June appointed commander of the army of occupation in France, which post he retained till 1873, when the German troops left ; in 1873 made Field-Marshal General ; in 1876 and 1879 sent on diplomatic missions to Russia, where he was made F.M.G. in the Russian army; in 1879 appointed Statthalter of Elsass-Lothringen. Died 1 7th June, 1885.

SEDAN 61

What did you say to the terrible events of these last days?1 It is all like a dream. If I am not mistaken, I haven't been able to write to you since the 3Oth, the day of the battle of Beaumont. We went out again on the 3ist, and I was nine or ten hours in the saddle, thinking something would happen, but the French re- tired still further. At last we had the battle of Sedan on the ist, with the details of which you are now doubtless acquainted. If I am not mistaken, we left Vendresse at five, and at seven o'clock we arrived on a height that commanded the whole position. The can- nonade had commenced at 4.30 in the morning. It was terrible. On our side more than 600 cannons. This, with volleys of musketry as thick as hail, and the abominable noise of the mitrailleuses ! Several vil- lages were in flames, and in Sedan itself there were some fires. On a plateau beyond Sedan the French fought desperately. Their cavalry (Gallifet's and Murat's regiments) attacked our infantry four times and were decimated like hares. Towards evening a report was spread (by Putbus)2 that the French prisoners asserted that the Emperor himself was in the town, which we completely discredited, for towards the even- ing, after a further cannonade against the town, the Bavarian officers announced to the King that an officer with a flag of truce had arrived offering the capitulation of the town. The King replied that a superior officer should come to him to treat. A little while before, a member of our General Staff, Colonel Bronzart,3 had

SEDAN 61

1 Beaumont and Sedan.

SEDAN 61

gone as parlementaire to demand the surrender of the town. He was admitted into Sedan and conducted to the presence of the Emperor, whom he found greatly offended ! The result of the interview was, that the Emperor charged General Reille to take a letter for the King, in which he said, that not having been able to die in the midst of his troops, he handed to him his sword.

AFTER SEDAN 63

I took advantage of this moment to approach poor Reille and express my sympathy with him. Bismarck then sent for me. Two chairs were placed one on the top of the other, and I was given pen and paper. The King and Bismarck dictated, and we drew up a draft of the answer. Afterwards the King sat down on one of the chairs ; Alten held the other as desk ; and I held the ink-bottle, and dictated to the King the answer that Reille took with him. The next day, the 2nd Sep- tember, the Emperor sent to find Bismarck at Donchery, where we had passed the night. He waited, seated on a chair, near a small house that was situated apart from the rest. They conferred together. Afterwards the Emperor was installed in a little Chateau near Fresnois. His suite and his luggage have arrived, at which he is much pleased, as they (the French) evidently thought they would be detained at Sedan. From noon to three o'clock I remained in the garden, chatting with the Emperor's officers. I went up to them at once and shook hands with them. There were Lauriston, Achille Murat, Massa, Reille, La Moskova, Darillier, Conneau and several others. I offered them my services and my cigarettes. Of course they were very much up- set, but they put a good face on the matter. Murat assured me that the Emperor was exposed to the hottest part of the firing, and that it was a miracle that he was not killed. About three o'clock the King arrived, and the Emperor left his room and moved some paces towards him on a kind of verandah, or second room. They shook hands and entered the apartment alone. Then the Crown Prince arrived, and he also went in. At the end of a quarter of an hour the King came out again, much moved, and we all left to ride over the battlefield and to see the troops. You cannot form the very slightest idea of the hurrahs and enthusiasm. Our ride lasted till 11.30, and we got home when it was pitch dark, except for the light