THE BATTLE OF SOLFERINO—THE LOSSES.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 3, Issue 106, 1 October 1859, Page 3

THE BATTLE OF SOLFERINO— THE LOSSES.

Napoleon shows his usual sagacity in telling only part of the truth after his battles. Had he, after the battle of Solferino, announced in his despatch to the Empress that 720 officers and 12,000 men had been lost to the French, he would have created a feeling of disappointment, if not indignation, all over France. But he merely tells of victory — that the enemy had to move olf, and allowed the more terrible facts to gradually ooze out. The Sardinian army suffered great losses too. It seems 200 officers end nearly 6000 men were killed and wounded which brings up the loss of the Allies to nearly iy,ooo men. Marshal Niel's corps from 6000 to 7000 ; Marshal Baraguay d'Hilliers', nearly 5000; Marshall M'Mahon's, 2500 ; and Marshal Oaui'obert's, 1000 — which, with casualties in the special corps, such as the artillery, will make up the number. If we '< include the missing, we fear 20,000 will be siiort of the truth. The Austrians do not admit a loss so great, even though they were routed. They state that 10,000 are killed and wounded, and promise farther iuibrmation. Considering the havoc done among them by the long range of the new French guns, to which their guns were unable to reply, the probability is that they lost many more than they admit. Such terrible artillery as the French had playing on an army of 270,000 men some ten or twelve hours would, in all likelihood, kill and wound more than 10,000 men. We may assume that at least as many Austrians as French, and Sardinians were put hors de rtombat, and we reach the fright'ul numher of 40,000 persons suffering in the battle of Solferino. 01 these, probably nearly a half have already been buried, and many survive only to be objects of commiseration for the rest of their lives. The rumour of five of the French generals being killed is now ascertain-, ed to be incorrect. Five of them were slightly wounded, but none of them mortally. It is stated that the Emperor had an epaulette shot from his shoulder, and that a shell burst over the head of the Austrian Emperor, but both emperors were unscathed. Twenty thousand men killed iti one battle ! What an idea of the horrors of war ! Many of these men had fathers and mothers, and brothers and sisters, who lament them. They had their circles of acquaintance and friends, and these are all Jeft to lament the hard fate of war. These 20,000 have been slain, and the question urges itself on humane minds whether their death was a necessity ? In other words, was the war neces-.' sary in which they were killed ? THE AUSTRIAN ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE. The "Times'" special correepnodent says : — Verona, June 26. — Solferino is a straggling village, through which runs the road to San Cassianno. The road through Solferino is on a much lower level than the hill of Eocca or that of San Pietro, . which command it on both sides. The efforts of the French were directed at an early period towards this point, every step they took in advance there giving them a. chance of turning the 'flanks of the Austrians defending both Solferino and San Pietro. As their masses became more compact and difficult to repel, they gradually forced their way up the road, driving back the Austrians both in flank and front, and separating the extreme left of the sth corps from its right, and ceri'tre. The French crowned the heights of Solferino about $ past one, and .their ..batteries. placed on the range of Monte Matgan, began shelling Cavir* ana, while the Ist corps continued to dispute the intermediate ground. I<; was at this moment that the Emperor with his stafif left the Monte Roccoio and tool; the direction;, of a cascino on

the road feast of Cavriana, where already several 1 wounded soldiers had found their way. The Emperor, cool and collected as a veteran, stood on the height of Madonna delie Pieve, close by a i, church surrounded by 'cypress trees, till a $ to 4. Ccjunt iSchlick and his aide-de-camp, his Highness Jhe Prince of Nassau, were standing by him at ■Madonna delle Pieve, while the masses on the plainjbelow were already retiring. The French were pressing hard on Cavriana. ' They had already gained possession of an old bridle path called the Strada Cavaliara, which runs direct from Solferino to Valleggio, and already the road from Madonna delle Pievo to the latter place was becoming excessively dangerous. The Emperor now went off leisurely by Volta with a few aides-de-camp, while the Archdukes with the Hereditary Grand Duke of Tuscany and his brothers followed a bye-path through groves and over rocks towards Valleggio. While we quietly rode on, few of us ' knew that the enemy, iollowing in a parallel direction to our own, were within £ a mile of us. The French, on the other hand, were happily in equal ignorance of our true position, or they would have made a dash to cut us off. At i past five Cavriana had been finally taken by the. French, who then made a combined attack on Volta and on Giiiddizzolo, but both these attacks were successfully repulsed, which enabled the Austrians to retire their "materiel" and gun 3by bridges at or near the Molino di Volta during the night, and ' move off their first army by the same road on the next day. As we slowly threaded our way through these obstacles, a tremendous hurricane of wind, the precursor of the coming storm, raised a dark veil of dust. The sty became completely overcast and as black as ink. The dust and gravel of the road rattled furiously in our faces, casting everything into darkness. The roar of thunder was mingled in sublime confusion with that of cannon, which appeared to be so close that its reverberations might be distinguished from that of the thunder that rolled, around us. The storm disappeared as speedily as it had come on, the sun shone out again with brightness in the west, and still closer and closer came the sounds of artillery. It was evident that the enemy was threatning the "tete de pout" of Valleggio. At all .etents, Valleggio was not exactly the place for a night's rest, so, without hesitation, following the example of the Imperial head-quarters (we had ridden all day without food of any kind,) I started from Valleggio and rode through Ouaderai to Villafranca, where the Emperor had already arrived. There dispositions were speedily made to guard the passage of the Mincio, the wandering soldiers were brought together on the roads, and directed back on Valleggio. Batteries of position were moved so as to cover Barghetto, and the sth corps was ordered to stand fast at Monzambano, where, as you are aware, there is a bridge over the Mincio. It was night when I came to Villafranca, where the first batches of the wounded were beginning to arrive. The Allies, as well as the Austrians must re-assemble and re-arrange their army, when, doubtless, hostilities will be resumed. There are here 400 or 500 Piedmontese, and some French prisoners. What the losses on this side may turn out to be it is impossible to state with precision. They cannot be less than 12,000 or 15,000 men "hors de combat." Ko Generals were killed. THE FRENCH OFFICIAL REPORT. The French Government has published the following official account of the battle of Solferino. It is supposed to be inspired by the Emperor, and is dated — Head-quarters, Cavriana, June 28. — At five in the morning of the 24th the Emperor, who was at Montechiaro, heard the report of cannon in the plain, and proceeded in all haste towards Castiglionc, where the Imperial Guard was to assemble. During the night the Austrian army, which had decided on assuming the offensive, had passed the Mincio at Goito, Valleggio, Monzambano, and Peschiera, and again occupied the positions which it had recently abandoned. This was the result of the plan, the execution of which the enemy had pursued from the time of their leaving Magenta, by retiring successively from Piacenza, Pizzighettone, Cremona, Ancona, Bologna, Ferrara — in a word, by evacuating every position in order to accumulate their forces on the Mincio. They had besides, increased their army with the greater part of the troops composing the garrisons of Verona, Mantua, and Peschiera ; and it was thus that they were able to assemble nine corps d'armee, numbered altogether from 250,000 to 270,000 men, who advanced towards the Chiese, covering the plain and the heights. This immense force appeared to be divided into two armies ; that on the right, according to notes found after the battle on an Austrian officer, was to take possession of -«Lonato and Castiglione, and that on the left to march on Montechiaro. The Austrians thought that the whole of the allied army had not yet crossed the Chiese, and their intention .was to drive it back on the right bank of the river. The two armies,, on their way one against the other, met therefore suddenly. ...Scarcely had Marshal Baraguay d'Hilliers and M'Mahon passed Castiglione when they found themselves in presence of considerable forces, which opposed their advance. At the same instant General Niel encountered the Austrians near Medole. The King's army, which was going to . Pozzolengo, also met the Austrians in advance of Rivoltella ; and, on his part, Marshal Canrobert found the village of Castel Goffredo occupied by the enemy's cavalry. The Emperor sent orders to Marshal Canrobert to support General Neil as much as possible, while recommending him to guard himself on the right against an Austrian corps which, according to information given to his Majesty, was to advance from Mantua an Azola. These measures having been taken, the Emperor repaired to the heights, in the centre of the line of battle, where Marshal Baraguay d'Hilliers, too distant from the Sardinian army to be able to act ifc conjunction with it, had to struggle in very c^fficuit ground against troops which were incessantly, renewed. The Marshal had already lost a great number of men, and had more than orce to qxpose himself by leading on the troops of Bazaine's and Ladmirault's divisions. Worn out with fatigue and heat, and exposed to a heavy fire of musketry; these troops gained ground with much difficulty. At this moment, the Emperor ordered Forey's division tQ advance, one brigade on the

side of the plain and the other on the height against the village of Solferino, and caused it to be supported by Camou's division of light infantry of the Guard. He caused to advance with thesa troops the artillery of the Guard, which, under the command of General de Sevelinges and Genei ral Lebcsf took up an uncovered position at about three hundred metres from the enemy. Thi3 manoeuvre decided the success in the centre. While Forey's division seized on the cemetery, and General Bazaine dashed his troops forward into the village, the light infantry and riflemen of the Imperial GJ-uard climbed up to the foot of the tower commanding the chateau and possessed themselves of it. The little hills near Solferino were successively carried, and at half-past three the Austrians evacuated the position, under the fire of our artillery, placed on the crests, and left in our hands 1500 prisoners, 14 pieces of cannon and two colours. The share of the Imperial Guard in this glorious trophy was 13 gun 3 and one colour. While this conflict was going on, and while the fire was heaviest, four Austrian columns, advancing between the King's army and the corps of Marshal Baraguay d'Hilliers, endeavoured to turn the right of the Piedmonlese. Six pieces of artillery, however, ably directed by General Forgeofc, had opened a very heavy fire on the flank of these columns, and forced them to retrace their 9teps in disorder. At half-past two o'clock the Duke de Magenta assumed the offensive in his turn, and ordered General de la Motterouge to advance onhis left on the side of Solferino in order to carry Sau Cassiano and the other positions occupied by the enemy. The village was turned on both sides, and carried with irresistible vigour by the Algerian Riflemen and the 45th. At the same time the Emperor gave orders to Maneque's brigade of Voltigeurs of the Guard, supported by General Mellinet's Grenadiers, to advance from Solferino against Cavriana. The enemy was unable any longer to resist this double attack, supported by the fire of the artillery of the Guard, and about five in the evening the Voltigeurs and Algerian sharpshooters entered at the same time the village of Cavriana. At that moment a fearful storm which burst over the two armies obscured the sky and suspended the struggle, but as soon as the rain had ceased the French troops resumed the operations commenced, and drove the enemy from all the heights commanding the village. Soon after,, the fire of the artillery of the Guard changed the retreat of the Austrians into a precipitate flight. In the midst of the incidents of this combat of 12 hours duration, the cavalry was of powerful assistance in checking the efforts of the enemy on the side of Casanova. On several occasions Parton* neaux's and Desveaux's divisions charged the Austrian infantry and broke its squares. But it was our new artillery which produced the most terrible effects on the Austrians. Its balls went to distances which their guns of the largest calibre could not respond to, and strewed the plain with dead. The 4th corps took from the enemy 1 colour, 7 pieces of cannon, and 2000 prisoners, The losses of the French army amounted to 1200 rank and file killed or wounded, and 720 officers 'hora de combat,' of whom 150 were killed. Among the wounded are Generals de Ladmirault, Forey, Auger, Dieu, and Douay. Seven colonels and six lieutenant-colonels have been killed. As to the losses of the Austrian army they cannot be yetcalculated, but they must have been very considerable from the number of killed and wounded which, were left on the field of battle, wlaich extended not less than 12 miles in length. They left in our hands 30 pieces of cannon, a great number of ammunition waggons, four colours, and 6000 prisoners. The resistance which the enemy opposed to the Allied troops for 16 hours may be explained by the superiority in numbers which they possessed, and the almost impregnable positions which they occupied. The fruit of this victory is the abandonment by the enemy of all the positions which they had prepared on the right bank of the Mincio to dispute the approaches to. that river. The Fbench Rwoed-Batoket. — A correspondent of the Evening Mail says : — "An eye-witness has assured me that one of the causes which has demoralized the Austrian soldier is the new weapon — the sword-bayouet — with which he is attacked by the French soldier, and against which neither his own old bayonet nor his superior physical strength are of any avail. Wot only can the sword-bayonet give thrust for thrust with the older weapon, but while it thrusts, or withdraws after delivering it, it severs the tendon of the arm or leg of the opponent, thus completely disabling him, prior to the last death-blow. Moreover, the French soldier is taught to wield his weapon by poising it like a quarter-staff horizontally as high as the head of his adversary, and by a slight movement in the segment of a circle, the sharp blade is swept across the neck, chest, or face of three men opposed to him in line. This novel mode of attack cannot be met by the old musket and bayonet; hence the Austrian soldier has in despair resorted to the butt of his musket in endeavouring to crush hia enemy, who, agile, skilful of fence, and rendered, confident by the superiority of his new arm, can deliver three wounds with his sword-bayonet whilehis antagonist is swinging his club. If we do not look to the new modes of attack developing by the. French, the opener line borrowed from our own Highlanders, and the sword-musket, we shall be as much and as shamefully surprised by the French* as we were by the Americans." All European stocks have risen, in consequence of the peace. The second reading of the Bill for abolishing church rates was supported by the government^ and carried by a large majority. The English revenue for theiast quarter showa an increase of £200,000. The government have undertaken to supply 25 per cent., of the rifles required by the various yoU unteer corps for the purpose of practice; : \ No volunteer corps are to be formed in Ire* land. Government has in preparation a bill for reform ing the corporation in London, It is said that Walker, the buccaneer, js prepar« ing another expedition against Nioaragua. A «reat contest has taken place for the vepre« eentation of Marylebone, Lord Fernioy has beea returned,