FIGHTING IN THE STREETS.--THE TOWN CARRIED BY ASSAULT.--NARROW
ESCAPES.--THE RED PRINCE ENTERS WITH HIS WHOLE ARMY.
Overcome by fatigue and excitement, I had thrown myself on my bed just
as I was, and never stirred until daylight, when Warren awoke me with
the news that fighting was going on in the streets. I rubbed my eyes and
went to the window, when, to my utter astonishment, I beheld six
Prussians confronting about fifteen Frenchmen. They had come upon the
latter by surprise round a corner, and the French looked at first as if
they were going to fire; but, on seeing a large body of Prussians
advancing under cover of the trees, they lowered their rifles, and
coolly stacked their arms not twenty paces from my window. The six
Germans, meanwhile, quietly stood round them with fixed bayonets. In
another minute they were walking off up a by-street as prisoners.
All this came upon a man who had been just awakened rather by surprise;
but, when I heard some desultory firing in different parts of the town,
I made up my mind that we were to have hot work in the streets. Having
performed a hasty toilette, I sallied forth, eager not to lose the sight
of what was going on. I had not proceeded many yards up the Quai, when I
perceived a body of Prussians stationed near the bridge at the end of
the Rue Royale. Seeing these drawn up in battle array, and finding
myself the only person on the Quai du Châtelet, I paused for a moment or
two, and looked down in the other direction towards the railway bridge.
There I beheld a goodly number of Frenchmen, ranged over against the
church of St. Aignan at the other extremity of the Quai. Thinking that
this looked like business I remarked to Dr. Warren that we were in an
awkward position, and had better retire. The words were no sooner out of
my mouth, and we had only just stepped back into the hall, when a volley
of bullets whizzed along by us in the direction of a French officer, who
was galloping across the bridge at that moment. Some of the balls must
have gone very close to him, for he ducked his head repeatedly behind
his horse's neck and redoubled his speed. Shot after shot went after him
until he lay quite flat on his saddle. How he rushed the guard on the
bridge was a mystery I could never solve; but that he did escape I can
certify.
This was the signal for a general fusilade. The Germans at the end of
the Rue Royale, advancing on the bridge, knelt down behind the parapets,
so that we could see nothing but the spikes of their helmets and the
muzzles of their rifles which glittered in the morning sun. The French
answered from behind the trees on the Quai, and from the corners of the
by-streets. We now perceived that a company of Prussians were advancing
in single file down the Quai towards us, and were entering the houses.
This was more than we could stand. So slipping out of No. 64 up the
nearest lane, we ran out by the rear into our headquarters at No. 66.
Here we found Dr. Parker, who had just been out in another part of the
town, but was very nearly seeing and experiencing more than he had
bargained for. In going up a side street off the Rue Bourgogne, he found
a sharp cross-fire opened from each end of the street, and as the
bullets struck the wall beside him, he had to take refuge in the
doorways, in order to escape them. The company of Prussians, to whom I
have already referred, were still advancing slowly in our direction; and
a brisk return fire was kept up by a small knot of French at the other
end.
The manner of the Prussian advance was peculiar. First went four
sappers, who in one second broke through each of the doors which did not
happen to be open. These carried hatchets, handsaws, jemmies, and
crowbars; and it was marvellous how short a time they took to enter, and
how they made the timber fly like match-wood. Our gate was thrown open,
and in due course a number of men filed in one by one from the next
house. Three of them went through the form of searching the place, while
the remainder, about a dozen in number, were ordered out, two by two, to
kneel on the footway and fire at the enemy. When they had done so, they
withdrew until their turn came round again. The house was speedily
filled with smoke, for the soldiers crouched close into the wall, and
remained almost inside the porch.
The necessity of this proceeding was soon apparent. For in another
minute bullets came hitting the wall beside the door, and sent the
plaster flying into my eyes, while I was craning my neck round the jamb
of the open door to see what was going on. Luckily, they glanced off the
flags a couple of feet away from where I stood.
The leaden pipe, which ran down beside the entrance, was now riddled in
various places; our old English flag, which hung down over the door from
a long pole above the window, was likewise torn; but I have it in my
possession yet.
We were at the highest pitch of excitement while all this was going on.
Prompted by curiosity, I went upstairs, and looking out from one of the
windows, saw standing in the middle of the street, exposed to all the
fire, a German Captain of the Line, coolly giving, or rather shouting,
his orders to the various non-commissioned officers and soldiers, who
lined the walls or manned the doorways above and below us. I expected
every moment to see him fall. Amongst the French, who were replying
persistently from their position at the end of the Quai, I espied one
Zouave in particular, who fired five or six shots at this officer. I
felt satisfied that it was at him he aimed, for he singled himself out
from his comrades, and crept on his hands and knees to the middle of the
roadway, taking a deliberate shot, and we could not perceive that there
was any one else in the direct line of his fire. When the Zouave had
discharged about the sixth shot, a ball from the Prussians tumbled him
over on his back with his legs in the air; but for all that, he was not
killed, as he scrambled away with the aid of a companion. A thud and a
splutter of the plaster on the wall just beside me, suggested the
advisability of curtailing my observations; so I shifted my quarters to
the hall below, where I found Dr. Parker giving some of the Prussians a
nip of brandy,--in order, as he jocosely remarked, to put a twist in
their powder. I knelt down behind one of the men at the doorway, as he
was taking aim at the Frenchmen, and looked over the sight to see where
his game lay. He fired, and, as he did so, a ball struck the pavement
above five yards from where he and I were kneeling.
It was a regular business of sharp-shooting; for a head, or a head and
a pair of shoulders, were all we could see of the enemy.
In the midst of the practice great commotion was caused by an old woman
appearing on the Quai. For a few seconds firing was suspended; an
officer came out into the middle of the street and made signs to her to
retire, which the ancient dame speedily did. What she meant by coming
out thus, it would be vain to conjecture, unless she was stone deaf. She
was clearly no Jeanne d'Arc.
In a short time the French, seeing that they had no hope of making good
their retreat across the bridge, ceased firing. A flag of truce went to
them from the Mairie, stating that the town had been in possession of
the Germans since midnight; and they had better yield. They laid down
their arms; and the town of Orleans, as we had all along anticipated,
was once more in the hands of the Prussians. It was eight o'clock in the
morning of 5th December. An hour passed, and the Prussians came marching
in, the bands playing their most lively strains; and we found ourselves
among our old acquaintance.
The first step which the invaders took was to get together all their
prisoners, numbering 10,000, and shut them up in the Cathedral.
Of course, the minute we were free to do so, we all got off to our work
at Ste. Euverte, where we already found many of our old friends awaiting
us.
The little Captain Schrenk was there; also the young ecclesiastic of
whom I have spoken; and, later on in the day, the giant cuirassier
stalked in, gorgeously arrayed in scarlet and gold, and seeking for his
hidden cuirass. They shook hands with us over and over again, exhibiting
unmistakable satisfaction and pleasure at finding we were still at our
posts, and safe and sound. Surgeon-General Von Nussbaum paid us a visit,
and complimented us on the manner in which we had stood by their wounded
during the French occupation. In fact, congratulations rained down on
all sides; and from this time forward the Germans looked upon us as
their staunch and trusty friends, giving us notice that in due time our
services would be officially remembered. The wounded now began to pour
into the town, and our Hospital church was quickly crowded, together
with every house in the vicinity.
At eleven a.m. we went to our quarters for breakfast; but hearing that
the entry of Prince Frederick Charles's troops had commenced, I snatched
a few mouthfuls, and hurried off to witness the scene from a window in
M. Proust's house, No. 12 Rue Royale, with which I was to be more
intimately acquainted ere I left Orleans.
The troops entered with bayonets set, flags flying, bands playing, and
all the pomp and circumstance which are usual on such occasions, and the
air resounded with a storm of military music. It was noteworthy,
indeed, to see that host pass by, consisting of 130,000 as fine-looking
men as any country in the world could produce; and what was most
astonishing about them was the neatness and cleanliness of their dress,
the brightness of their arms and accoutrements, and their general
well-dressed appearance, reminding me more of our handful of soldiers at
home, as they marched past the Lord Lieutenant in the Phoenix Park on a
field day, than of an army that had been fighting all the past week, and
had endured the privations and hardships of a six months' campaign.
The sun shone through the frosty air, and, as the mist had now cleared
off, the helmets and bayonets of that mighty array flashed and glistened
everywhere. While these sturdy, well-built and well-fed fellows passed
on, I compared them mentally with the regiments I had seen straggling
onward to the bridge. The difference spoke eloquently in favour of that
elaborate and admirable scheme of military organisation which had
brought them to such a degree of perfection. It also elicited from a
British officer who was with me at the time, a remark that, unless we
ourselves take up some more comprehensive system of organising our
forces, we shall be thrashed by this ambitious race of soldiers the
first time we come into conflict with them. Nay, more, it is possible
that they might invade and overrun England in a short campaign, should
they ever become as great adepts in the art of war on the high seas as
they are on land.
Many of the German officers whom I have met were of opinion that such an
enterprise was not beyond the scope of German ambition and German
energy. More than once I heard them anticipating that the result of
their victorious career would be to bring all the nations of Europe
under the wing of their Imperial eagle. And though willing to allow that
England would be the last to come in, since without a mighty fleet they
could not get at her, yet she too must share the fate of her neighbours.
It amused,--perhaps it angered us,--to find these highly intellectual
men of the world holding such views, gravely arguing among themselves
and with us, that such would be the inevitable result of a united
Germany, and that all she wanted to annex Europe, and carry out the
ideas of Alexander the First of Russia, was a little time, and a
favourable opportunity.
The army of Prince Frederick Charles, now marching through Orleans, was
on its road to Blois, and in pursuit of General Chanzy. Turning from
this splendid sight, I went back to St. Euverte; and there spent the
remainder of that day--and a long day it was--in assisting at the
operation-table, and dressing and attending to the wounded who were
brought to us in crowds. As we had only accommodation for 250, we were
obliged to send out into the houses of the Rue de St. Aignan all who
were not seriously wounded; after which we still found it necessary to
lay a number of those who were gravely wounded on the floor, with straw
under them. These latter were not at all so badly off, when we consider
that some half score waggon-loads of men had to remain out in the frost
and snow for a whole night and part of the next day, so greatly did the
demand exceed the supply of accommodation in Orleans just then. To add
to their misfortune--and I am speaking literally of hundreds,--there
followed a great scarcity of bread, which was felt chiefly by the civil
population, and by those quartered on them. It did not affect the
garrison in the least; for their commissariat never failed.
An army entering thus, devours, like a swarm of locusts, in a few hours
everything that is eatable in a town, and leaves the inhabitants nothing
but what they can supply from their secret stores--which, however, they
always manage to reserve. The condition of chronic hunger, from which
the inhabitants of Orleans suffered for several weeks at this period,
was truly distressing to witness.
By noon on the 6th of December, all was quiet again, the garrison had
been billeted in their quarters, the sentries were at their accustomed
posts, and everything in Orleans betokened the return of the old
orderly _régime_, to which we had been so long accustomed. There was an
entire absence of that wild disorder, and noisy confusion, which had
lasted, not for hours but for days, after the French took possession of
the town, and which I have endeavoured to describe, but have not
adequately depicted in the words at my command. And thus began the
second German occupation of Orleans.