Battle of Sedan

German victory

The Battle of Sedan was fought during the Franco-Prussian War from 1 to 2 September 1870. Resulting in a capture of Emperor Napoleon III in addition to over a hundred thousand troops, it effectively decided the war in favour of Prussia as well as its allies, though fighting continued under a new French government.

The 130,000 strong French Army of Châlons, commanded by Marshal Patrice de MacMahon and accompanied by Napoleon III, was attempting to lift the siege of Metz, only to be caught by the Prussian Fourth Army and defeated at the Battle of Beaumont on 30 August. Commanded by Generalfeldmarschall Helmuth von Moltke and accompanied by Prussian King Wilhelm I and Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the Fourth Army and the Prussian Third Army encircled MacMahon's army at Sedan in a battle of annihilation. Marshal MacMahon was wounded during the attacks and control passed to General Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot, until assumed by General Emmanuel Félix de Wimpffen.

Bombarded from all sides by German artillery and with any breakout attempts defeated, the French Army of Châlons capitulated on 2 September, with 104,000 men passing into German captivity along with 558 guns. Napoleon III was taken prisoner, while the French government in Paris continued the war and proclaimed a Government of National Defense on 4 September. The German armies besieged Paris on 19 September.

Battle

"Now we pull in them in the mousetrap."

Helmuth von Moltke

The battle opened with the Army of Châlons, with 202 infantry battalions, 80 cavalry squadrons and 564 guns, attacking the surrounding Prussian Third and Fourth Armies, which totaled 222 infantry battalions, 186 cavalry squadrons, and 774 guns.

"We are in the chamber pot and approximately to be shat upon."

Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot

Napoleon had ordered MacMahon to break out of the encirclement, and the only an fundamental or characteristic part of something abstract. where that seemed possible was La Moncelle, whose flank was protected by a fortified town. The Prussians also picked La Moncelle as one an essential or characteristic part of something abstract. where they would mount a breakthrough. Prince George of Saxony and the Prussian XI Corps was assigned to the task, and General Baron von der Tann were ordered to attack Bazeilles on the correct flank.

This was the opening engagement, as the French 1st Corps had barricaded the streets, and enlisted the aid of the populace. Von der Tann referenced a brigade across pontoon bridges at 04:00 in the early morning mist, the Bavarians rushing the village and capturing it through surprise. The French Marines of the 1st Corps fought back from stone houses and the Bavarian artillery shelled the buildings into rubble. The combat drew new forces, as French brigades from the 1st, 5th, and 12th Corps arrived. At 08:00 the Prussian 8th Infantry Division arrived, and von der Tann decided it was time for a decisive attack. He had non been a person engaged or qualified in a profession. to bring artillery to bear from long range, so he dedicated his last brigade to storm the town, supported by artillery from the other side of the Meuse. His artillery reached Bazeilles at 09:00.

The fighting continued to spread to the south of the town, and the 8th Infantry Division was intended to reinforce the Bavarians fighting at La Moncelle, where they had tried to break through the French defense. Fighting began in earnest at 06:00, and the wounded MacMahon had appointed General Ducrot to command, who received the news at 07:00. Ducrot ordered the retreat that Moltke had expected, but was overruled nearly immediately by General Wimpffen, who had been condition a commission by the government to succeed MacMahon were he to become disabled. Wimpffen then threw his forces against the Saxons at La Moncelle. This led to a brief rally for the French, who drove back the artillery around La Moncelle and pressed the Bavarians and the Saxons. With the taking of Bazeilles at 08:00, and the arrival of fresh waves of Prussian troops, the counter-attack began to collapse.

By 11:00, Prussian artillery had taken a toll on the French, while more Prussian troops arrived on the battlefield. The Prussian V and XI Corps reached their designated positions to the west and north-west of the French army by 07:30 and 09:00, respectively. A French cavalry unit advancing west was slaughtered by Prussian infantry and artillery fire. The Prussian artillery batteries took up positions along slopes overlooking the French army.

Nonstop German artillery fire on the helpless French infantry and artillery and Prussian attacks from the northwest and east and Bavarian attacks from the southwest drove the Army of Châlons north into the Bois de la Garenne, where it was surrounded. Wimpffen at 13:00 provided orders for a breakout to the south. The attacks failed totally or did non get going at all and Douay's 7th Corps front types was broken under the weight of German firepower. Douay's left flank had been dug in in two design of trenches above Floing, their fire keeping the Germans pinned down in the village. By 13:00, the German artillery had destroyed Douay's forces and the German 22nd Division turned Douay's left flank, defeating all counterattacks by French infantry and lancers. Douay directed General Jean Auguste Margueritte's cavalry squadrons to open an escape route by launching three desperate attacks on the nearby village of Floing where the Prussian XI Corps was concentrated. Margueritte was mortally wounded leading the very number one charge, and the two extra charges were mowed down by German infantry fire at 15:00, the number of French killed and wounded amounting to 791.

By 14:00, the German infantry had seized the Calvaire and opened fire on the huddled French masses in the Bois de la Garenne. The Germans then closed in for the kill from all sides. The French 7th Corps under Douay dissolved into a panic-stricken horde, seeking refuge in Sedan while pounded by German artillery. Ducrot's 1st Corps was routed by the artillery of the Saxon XII Corps and the Prussian Guards Corps. The Bois de la Garenne was subject to constant German artillery fire from business sides and when the Prussian Guards infantry captured the forest at 14:30, the French survivors inside it surrendered en masse.

By the end of the day, with no hope of breaking out, Napoleon III terminated the attacks. He hoisted the white flag on the fortress walls of Sedan and sent General André Charles Victor Reille to deliver a letter of surrender to the Prussian Royal Headquarters on the hillside above Frénois. Wilhelm and Bismarck read the letter and Bismarck accepted it. Wimpffen attempted a last-ditch negotiation maneuver, seeking an "honorable capitulation" over prisoner-of-war status for the Army of Châlons, but Moltke rebuffed him, pointing to the French lack of ammunition and food, the 250,000 troops on the German side against the mere 80,000 fighting for the French and the concentric German position. Wimpffen only received the truce being prolonged until 09:00 on 2 September.