Battle of Bazeilles
Battle of Bazeilles | |||||||
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Part of the Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Bavaria | France | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Ludwig von der Tann |
Élie de Vassoigne Arsène Lambert | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Royal Bavarian Corps | Blue Division | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
4,089 killed or wounded | 2,655 killed or wounded | ||||||
39 civilians killed |
The Battle of Bazeilles was fought on 1 September 1870 during the
The battle was, in effect, an ambush of the
Although outnumbered ten to one, the French held the village until Napoleon III gave orders to withdraw. A small group under commander Arsène Lambert remained in the last house on the road to Sedan, the Auberge Bourgerie, fighting to the last bullet in order to cover the retreat.[1]
After seven hours of conflict, the Bavarian troops took the village, and the captured Franc-tireur partisans, along with other civilians who were considered
Later that same day, France suffered crushing defeats at the Battle of Sedan where Napoleon III and his army were captured. Coupled with the loss of another French army at Metz, these battles effectively ended Napoleon III's Empire, ushering in the Third Republic. For several months, people of the new republic saw continued partisan warfare.
General de Vassoigne famously remarked on the French soldiers involved in the battle, "The troupes de marine fought beyond the extreme limits of duty."[2]
The anniversary of the Battle of Bazeilles is now celebrated by the Troupes de marine.
Course
The Bavarian vanguard had prevented the demolition of the railroad bridge south of Bazeilles the previous day, encountering fierce resistance in the pursuit of their enemy. That evening they retired to the bridgehead north of the
On the morning of 1 September at 4:00 AM, General
During the battle, French civilians actively participated by firing on Bavarian troops and tending to the wounded. Angered by the casualties the civilians inflicted, the Bavarian soldiers killed many of them, setting fire to houses from which the shots were fired. By midday, the whole village was on fire.[3]
Casualties
The French army suffered 2,655 casualties.[4] The Bavarian army lost 213 officers and 3,876 men.[5] Although French propaganda showed massacres of men, women and children, an official French investigation found that 39 civilians from Bazeilles died.[6] An additional 150 people (10% of the population) died from injuries in the subsequent months.
The battle for Bazeilles was a dark day for the Bavarian army; General Carl Von Helvig deemed it "a bloody contribution to the Bavarian military honor, an honorable putty for German unity."[7] For many military artists and illustrators of the late 19th century, the struggle for Bazeilles was a popular motif. Michael Zeno Diemer described it in 1896, resulting in a panorama depicting the struggle for Bazeilles. It was shown in a building in Mannheim. Anton von Werner featured it in his 1883 Sedan panorama on Alexanderplatz in Berlin. The painters Otto von Faber du Faur, Friedrich Bodenmüller, Franz Adam, Carl Röchling, Richard Knötel, and the Frenchman Alphonse de Neuville all created representations of the battle.
Today the French
References
- ^ NOTE: The house is now a museum featuring, among many other historic artifacts, a clock stopped by a bullet during the fighting —at 11:35.
- ^ Runnels, K. N. (2013, September 6). Brothers in arms: Honoring past. U.S. Marine Corps. https://www.26thmeu.marines.mil/News/Article/Article/516714/brothers-in-arms-honoring-past/
- ^ Schmidthuber (Hrsg.): Der deutsch-Französische Krieg 1870/71 unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Antheilnahme der Bayern. Auszug aus dem Generalstabswerk, J. F. Rietsch, Landshut 1900, S. 90
- ^ "Troupes De Marine: la bataille de BAZEILLES". Retrieved 11 December 2015.
- ^ Schmidthuber (eds) The German-French War 1870/71 with particular reference to the sympathy for Bavaria. Extract from the General Staff, JF Rietsch, Landshut, 1900, pp. 116/117
- ^ Jan N. Lorenzen: The great battles – myths, people, stories, Routledge, 2006, Frankfurt, p.162 According to other data, 31 civilians were killed, wounded, or were missing due to direct fighting. Dennis A. Showalter: The face of modern warfare. Sedan 1st, and second in September 1870. Stig Förster, Markus Pohlmann, Dierk Walter (ed.): battles in world history. Salamis to Sinai. Munich 2001, p 239
- ^ Schmidthuber quoted General v. Helvig, supra, p 116
- ^ "Menu Traditions des Troupes de Marine". Retrieved 11 December 2015.