766 Capture of Mézières and Montmédy. Supplement.

a regular siege expedient, and it was therefore simply invested, from the 25th of June, until the 21st of August; when it was blockaded at all points by troops of the Netherlands, under Prince FREDERICK of Orange.

On the 28th of June, Lieutenant General VON HACKE, who had been appointed to the command of the German Corps, directed the Advanced Guard to move upon Charleville, which lies under the guns of the Fortress of Mézières, and to carry the place by storm. The capture was successfully made by some Hessian Battalions, and tended greatly to facilitate the siege of Mézières. Moveable Columns were detached to observe the Fortresses of Montmédy, Laon, and Rheims. The last named place was taken by capitulation on the 8th of July; and the garrison, amounting to 4,000 men, retired behind the Loire.

Lieutenant General VON HACKE finding that, notwithstanding his vigorous bombardment of Mézières, which he commenced on the 27th of June, his summons to surrender was unheeded by the Commandant, General LEMOINE, undertook a regular siege of the place, and opened trenches on the 2nd of August. On the 13th, the French garrison gave up the Town and retired into the Citadel, which surrendered on the 1st of September.

The efforts of the Corps were now directed upon Montmédy, around which Fortress it had succeeded in placing twelve Batteries in position by the 13th of September. After an obstinate resistance, the garrison concluded a convention on the 20th of September; by which it was to retire, with arms and baggage, behind the Loire.

After the capture of Montmédy, the German Corps d'Armée went into cantonments in the Department of the Ardennes; whence it returned home in the month of November.

Operations of the Army of the Upper Rhine, under the command of Field Marshal His Highness Prince SCHWARTZENBERG.

HIS Army consisted of four Corps d'Armée, and Reserves; composed of troops of Austria, Bavaria, Würtemberg, Saxony, of Hesse Darmstadt, and of the petty Princes.

Its strength was as follows:

According to the general plan of operations projected by Prince SCHWARTZENBERG, this Army was to cross the Rhine in two Columns. The Right Column, consisting of the Third Corps, under Field Marshal the Crown Prince of WÜRTEMBERG; and of the Fourth Corps, or the Bavarian Army, under Field Marshal Prince WREDE, was to cross the Rhine between Germersheim and Mannheim. The Left Column, consisting of the First Corps, under the Master General of the Ordnance, Count COLLOREDO, and of the Second Corps, under General Prince HOHENZOLLERN HECKINGEN, together with the Austrian Reserve Corps; the whole being commanded by General the Archduke FERDINAND, was to

768

The Bavarian Army take Saarbrück. Supplement.

cross the Rhine between Basle and Rheinfelden. The Column formed by the Right Wing was to be supported by the Russian Army, under Field Marshal Count BARCLAY DE TOLLY, which was expected to be collected at Kaiserslautern by the 1st of July. The object of the operations, in the first instance, was the concentration of the Army of the Upper Rhine and the Russian Army at Nancy.

As soon as Prince SCHWARTZENBERG was made acquainted with the commencement of hostilities in Belgium, he gave his Orders for the advance of his Army. The Fourth, or Bavarian, Corps d'Armée was directed immediately to cross the Sarre and, by turning the Vosgian Mountains, to cut off the French Corps under General RAPP, collected in the environs of Strasburg, from its base of operations; and to intercept its communications with the interior of France.

A Russian Corps, under General Count LAMBERT, forming the Advance of the Army of Count BARCLAY DE TOLLY, was united to the Corps d'Armée of Prince WRÈDE; who was to employ it principally in keeping up the communication with the North German Corps d'Armée, under Lieutenant General VON HACKE.

Fourth Corps d'Armée, Prince WREDE.

On the 19th of June, the Bavarian Army crossed the Rhine at Mannheim and Oppenheim, and advanced towards the Sarre. On the 20th, some trifling affairs of Advanced Posts occurred near Landau and Dahn. On the 23rd, the Army having approached the Sarre, proceeded, in two Columns, to take possession of the passages across the River at Saarbrück and Saargemünd.

The Right Column, under Lieutenant General Count BECKERS, attacked Saarbrück; where it was opposed by the French General MERIAGE. The Bavarians carried the suburb

Supplement.

It also takes Saargemünd.

769

and the Bridge, and penetrated into the Town along with the retiring French; of whom they made four Officers and seventy men prisoners, and killed and wounded one hundred men : suffering a loss, on their own part, of three Officers and from fifty to sixty men killed and wounded. Count BECKERS Occupied the Town, posted his Division on the Heights towards Forbach: and detached Patrols along the road to Metz, as far as St Avold; and to the right along the Sarre, as far as Saarlouis.

The Left Column, consisting of the First Infantry Division, under Lieutenant General Baron VON RAGLIOVICH, and of the First Cavalry Division, under His Royal Highness Prince CHARLES of Bavaria, advanced against Saargemünd; at which point the French had constructed a téte de pont on the right bank of the river. After some resistance, this was taken possession of by the Bavarians; whereupon Baron VON RAGLIOVICH marched through the Town, and took up a position on the opposite Heights, commanding the roads leading to Bouquenom and Lüneville.

The Fourth Infantry Division, under Lieutenant General Baron ZOLLERN, advanced towards the Fortress of Bitsch; which, however, the French Commandant, General KREUTZER, refused to surrender.

The Russian Corps, under Count LAMBERT, attached to the Right Wing of Prince WRÈDE's Army, advanced as far as Ottweiler and Ramstein.

On the 24th, Prince WRÈDE occupied Bouquenom; and detached the Cavalry Division under Prince CHARLES towards Pfalzburg, to observe this place. His Second, Third, and Fourth Divisions, and the Reserve, were collected at Saargemünd. The Russian troops under Count LAMBERT occupied Saarbrück; having previously detached the Cavalry, under Lieutenant General CZERNITSCHEFF, as far as St Avold. 151. W.L. Siborne.

8 C

770

Prince Wrède halts at Nancy.

Supplement.

On the 26th, Prince WRÈDE's Head Quarters were at Morhenge; and, on the 27th, his Advanced Posts penetrated as far as Nancy, where he established his Head Quarters on the 28th. From St Dieuze the Prince detached to the left, in order to discover the march of General RAPP; who, however, was still on the Rhine, and whose retreat had thus become cut off by the occupation of Nancy.

Prince WREDE halted at Nancy, to await the arrival of the Austrian and Russian Corps d'Armée. Upon his right, Lieutenant General CZERNITSCHEFF crossed the Moselle, on the 29th, within sight of Metz; and carried by storm, on the 3rd of July, the Town of Châlons sur Marne. The garrison of this place had promised to make no resistance, and yet fired upon the Russian Advanced Guard; whereupon the Cavalry immediately dismounted, scaled the ramparts, broke open the gates, sabred a part of the garrison, made the remainder prisoners, including the French General RIGAULT, and pillaged the town.

After remaining four days in the vicinity of Nancy and Lüneville, Prince WRÈDE received an Order from Prince SCHWARTZENBERG to move at once upon Paris, with the Fourth, or Bavarian Corps; which was destined to become the Advanced Guard of the Army of the Upper Rhine. This Order was given in consequence of the desire expressed by the Duke of WELLINGTON and Prince BLUCHER, that the Army of the Upper Rhine should afford immediate support to their operations in front of Paris. On the 5th of July, the main body of the Bavarian Army reached Châlons; in the vicinity of which it remained during the 6th. On this day, its Advanced Posts communicated, by Epernay, with the Prussian Army. On the 7th, Prince WRÈDE received intelligence of the Convention of Paris; and, at the same time, directions to move towards the Loire. On the 8th,