A SCENE FROM THE GREAT SORTIE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1005, 4 March 1871, Page 6

A SCENE FROM THE GREAT SORTIE.

The correspondent of the Standard in Paris, in a brilliant description of the fighting on December 2, gives the following account of apart of the engagement : —

The critical point of the battle — that where the tug of war was most desperate and bloody — was outßideßrie, on the left of Ducrot's front. A division which had been thrown over the Marne nearly opposite Nogent, where the river bulges out in an arc, had marched gallantly on to the scrubby range of hills on that side, so as to take the enemy in flank. The column of attack was headed by the 125 th Regiment and the Zouaves. They came on gaily ; and those cool, calculating Prussians let them approach to within range of their guns, hidden by the walls of the park of Villiers. When the devoted fellows had got fairly into the jaws of death, a sheet of flame rose before their eyes, and the earth quaked under -a thunderous peal of artillery. A shower of hurtling missiles rent the air overhead. Again and again was the diabolic salute repeated. The leading ranks fall as if swept down by a scythe, their comrades falter, run to the shelter of the vineyards near, where they throw themselves in a sprawl on the ground, while the shells split into fragments high I up, or cut through the branches of the [ trees, or rip the earth into furrows, scattering the clay in all directions. Flesh and blood could not stand it. The worst of the trial, that which chokes Zouaves and linesmen with rage, is that the enemy k invisible. The only means of overcoming a resistance like this is by artillery ; like to like. It would be madness, cruelty, to ask human nature to advance bare-breaated against such a storm of lead. Oourage can do much, but it cannot face cold metal hurled from the muzzles of modern cannon. The two regiments could do nothing situated as they were ; they might be turned by the ! enemy's cavalry ; there is no alternative but to retrace their steps ; the order is given to sound the l< retire." The movement is executed without flurry, but not without sensible gaps in the ranks of the French. The commandant of the 2nd battalion of the 125 th is killed, and many brave officers drop at the head of their companies. The Prussians, seeing their advantage, are not slow to pursue it, and at eleven o'clock they are in possession of Brie, which they had quitted in the early morning to escape the bombardment of the forts, and the French left falls back on the railway to join hands with the more fortunate right. But the triumph of the Prussians was short-lived. The French on this occasion showed quite as much tenacity as they. Old Duorot, who had Bworn never to return to Paris, but as a victor, told his men they Bhould go on, and that he would show them how. About one o'clock, a division of D'Exca's corps having entered into line, the word was given to march forward again. In the leading column this time were Beveral battalions of provincial Mobiles — fine, sturdy youths, but not reliable, as most of them were never undei fire before. They stepped out pluckily enough towards the ridgQ of heights between Villiers and Brie, but the enemy was prepared for them, and absolutely riddled them with the rapid discharges from bis mitrailleuses. The first raws Cell, the lecond turned pale,

tod swerved aa if an eiectrio^hock ran it at the sight of mutilated comrades. For a moment it looked as if a panio were about to set in, and all the morning's advantage lost. But again the officers, by their energetic conduct,. saved the day. Death was raining round every other' minute, but still they urged their command to think of France and home and act likfe men. A little, thin, bronzed i man, who had been riding about in the press of danger and in front of a battalion ■ oi thfi Seine Inferieur, which was shaky, - exhorted it to the onset, encouraging it by example or by Birord, when hia left foot was crushed by ft splinter of shrapnel, and he had to be taken down from his horae. It was the forty- fifth wound he had received in hie career of nigh half a century as a soldier. Thelittlethin bronzed man was no other than the famous fighting General Renault— * Renault of the Rear-Guard.' Afu soon all the rewß that he is wounded tuns through theranks, hiscommand, with whom he is popular, as all brave officers are, swore vengeance. Closing up their ranks the men again advanced, but quick and merciless rolled out, volley on volley, that terrible fire. The Marqms de Bellange, of one of the battalions of the Loiret, had his horse killed under him ; the chef of the 4th battalion was struck dead, other superior officers fell on every Bide, and the infantry were directed temporarily to evacuate the plateau on which they had ventured too Boon. The guns were got up and turned into position, and then commenced such an artillery duel as the world has rarely seen. For nigh two hours the air was filled with the most awful symphonies, flashing missiles shrieked and tore on their messages of death; the thud of howitzers punctuated the roar of crashing bolts, gushes of amoke curled cloudwards like incense swung to the feet of the war gods, and all this time the bright Decamber sun shone tranquilly down on the combat of Titans from a clear cold sky of blue, flecked with a feathery vapour. From the position I occupied, the area of confliot could now be taken in completely. The sight would be magnificent as a mere sight, if one could divest the mind at each quick-recurring throb of the conBoiousneßS that those reports were the knell of fellow Christians, if one could forget that each lurid spark that flickered and died in the pure sunshine was typical of the light of young lives gone out for ever, and the lamp of fond hope quenched hi castles and cottage homes of France and Germany. As many as two hundred and fifty shots were exchanged every minute during this diabolical concert. " The blast of war's great organ shakes the skies," in full diapason, until the sun is far on its downward course, and it is past three by the watch. By degrees the' replies from the Prussian batteries visibly and audibly weaken, the superiority of the French gun is incontestible. The heights are abandoned, and the infantry, massing by regiments, advance with high heart to the attack anew. "Use your bayonets, men," is the word. But the stubborn Germans are there awaiting them ; they had merely changed their positions ; the shock was frightful. Private soldiers fought like generals, and generals like private soldiers. Trochu was in the thick of the fray, cheering on his fellow Bretons, and had an aide-de-camp killed by his side. To those who remonstrated with him because of the rißk, he answered, " Who can prevent me fighting at the head of my children ?" Ducrot had his horse shot under him, and broke his sword on the breast of a Prussian. One of Franchetti's scouts was the hero of a feat that brings back stories of Shaw, the Lifeguardsman. To his own share {he cut down five Prussians, one down another on. Many noble officers of the Burgundian battalions bit the dust, the Count de GontaulBiron fell grievously, the Marquis de Trecesson mortally, wounded. Ten times the tide of battle flowed and ebbed ; there was fighting at close quarters ; there were some bouts of the Homeric wrestling of old, not your modern trigonometry business. Men laid about them with their rifles as if they were quarter-staffs ; but, as generally happens in such life and death tussels, the assailant had the advantage, and the French were fairly in possession of the plateau at four o'clock. But the Prussians were not beaten. The supreme effort was yet to be tried. Their cavalry, Cuirassiers, and those redoubtable Uhlans, were drawn .up in a dense formation behind, and as the infantry fell back, the mass was put in motion, and the clatter of hoofs was heard distinct on the soil, hardened by the frost. Steadily as machinery at first, then breaking evenly as if by one impulse into a smarter pace, the squadrons bore down on the French right outside Champigny. As those splendid [cavaliers came on, a phalanx of symmetry and power, the peasant boys, who were weary and hot with the hard task of beating back the footmen, were puziled, perhaps a little disquieted. 'Prepare to receive cavalry. 1 Quiok with you into solid flquareß, front ranks kneeling, with bayo-

nets to the horses' hreas's, and musket I butt res ing on the firm earth.' Nothing of the kind. Those days are gone. The French deployment is unaltered, and still nearer press the mass of cavaliers. On they came, quioker and quicker, till at last they settle in fer a gallop, at some 700 yards. The French infantry dips, and over their prostrate form sweeps a death-blast that no horse nor man that ever was born could meet and live. With a continuous castanet-like rattle the ■ mitrailleuses roll forth their horrid mußic, and in ten minutes the ground where the oharging squadron careered is strewn with corpses and carcases ; smashed helmets glitter from under saddle girths, sword blades are Streaming with the blood of those who brandished them a little while ago, and horses with foaming nostrils run wildly about the plahi. Tho cuirassiers of Reichshoffen had been avenged !