Annals of a Fortress Part 19

The possession of Saint-Jean-de-Losne, which he supposed was already in the hands of his troops, was still more important to the Imperialists than that of La Roche-Pont. For Saint-Jean-de-Losne secured to the Germans the pa.s.sage of the Saone; but if this town held out they might be cut off by the Prince de Conde, who, on raising the siege of Dole, or taking that place, would fall upon the rear of the Imperial army.

Galas was therefore much embarra.s.sed. To raise the siege of La Roche-Pont, and to march with all his forces against the Prince de Conde, was perhaps the wisest part to take, but this would have interfered with the plan of the campaign on which the Imperialists founded the most brilliant hopes; it would have been to abandon that conquest of Burgundy which a few days before Germany had regarded as certain; it would have been a manifest check at the very commencement of the campaign.

Galas therefore adopted a middle course, which in war is always the least desirable; he resolved to leave before La Roche-Pont sufficient troops to invest it closely, knowing that the place had not provisions sufficient to last long, and to finish the siege of Saint-Jean-de-Losne.

This place fallen, he might resume his original plan.

On the evening of the 9th of November, after having appointed a commander for the troops remaining before La Roche-Pont, and leaving his instructions, he quitted the camp to go and rejoin the army before Saint-Jean-de-Losne.

These instructions were in substance as follows--the establishment of a line of investment around the place and the continuance of the attack on the northern salient, under good protection and taking the time necessary for the works. He had also a plan made out for a battery of bomb mortars. He had sent for four of these engines to bombard the town.[54] Galas's lieutenant was of Italian origin, and was named Forcia: he was an impetuous man, serviceable for a bold stroke, a great talker, a fairly skilful engineer, but wanting in persistency and perseverance, and continually changing his plans. By dint of flattery and the admiration he manifested on all occasions for the military talents of Galas, Forcia had succeeded in persuading him that no one was better fitted than himself to act for the general, to enter into his designs, and put his plans in execution. Forcia, we say, had appeared to appreciate the wisdom of Galas's designs, and had promised to follow his instructions implicitly and to the letter. But where is the flatterer, however astute, who does not leave in the mind of the person flattered--however wanting in judgment--a feeling of mistrust.

Accordingly Galas in quitting the camp of La Roche-Pont, had instructed a young lieutenant who acted as his secretary, and whom he left with Forcia, to take note of all that transpired and to keep him informed of the minutest details by frequent messages.

Rincourt allowed his troops the night of the 9th for repose, as half the garrison had been engaged the night before. On the morning of the 10th one of the spies whom he was careful to employ in the country, and even in the camp of the enemy, came to inform him that Galas had departed the evening before with an inconsiderable escort, and that the Imperialist troops were placed under the command of one of his lieutenants. This news set the governor gravely thinking; he knew that Saint-Jean-de-Losne was still holding out, and he gained a glimpse of the real state of affairs. Devoted to the Count de Rantzau, he felt it his duty more than ever to give the enemy so much to do as to render it impossible for him to think of reducing the number of troops a.s.sembled around La Roche-Pont, to reinforce those engaged in the siege of Saint-Jean-de-Losne.

The garrison was full of confidence and determination; and the militia of the town asked to share in the sorties. This militia consisted of a body of about twelve hundred men, which Rincourt had divided into companies of one hundred men each, commanded by ten subalterns and a captain. He had divided these companies into two battalions of six hundred men each. The first was composed of the robuster men who had had some experience in arms; the second was composed of the householders, men of mature age inexperienced in war. These latter were especially employed as guards of the ramparts, as a daily and nightly patrol, and as a police for the town. With the regular troops, therefore, the governor had at his disposal, even after the losses he had sustained, and after leaving in the town artillerymen enough to man the guns, about two thousand two hundred men.

The women of Roche-Pont had also offered their services. Rincourt formed them into brigades of ten; and their duty was to bring ammunition, prepare the provisions, repair military accoutrements, and make fascines and bags.

Even since the enemy's arrival, the governor had been able to get some cattle, grain, and fodder into the town, affording a supply for sixteen days longer.

He had good hopes of getting rid of the Germans before the end of this period. The townspeople, moreover, were rationed like the garrison, and the inhabitants were obliged under pain of death to deposit all the provisions they had in the public storehouses. The two churches of the upper town had been converted into hospitals for the wounded.

If the spirits of the garrison were kept up and even raised, such was by no means the case with the Imperialists. Forcia lost no time in announcing to the German troops that he was appointed commander-in-chief; he called the captains together and thought it inc.u.mbent upon him to address them in a somewhat long and high-flown discourse, accompanied by theatrical gestures.

This had but a slight effect on the minds of the officers, who were for the most part veterans, and who had no great respect for Forcia. They returned to their quarters, therefore, somewhat depressed, and auguring no good for the prospects of the siege. Following the instructions left him by Galas, Forcia gave orders for the complete investment of the place.

Deducting the losses suffered since the beginning of the siege, and the desertions, Forcia when entrusted with the command had little more than five thousand men. The object to be secured was to maintain at the point of attack a body of troops numerous enough to prevent the sorties of the garrison from not being formidable to them, and to distribute around the _cite_ posts sufficiently well connected and defended to cut off all communication between the town and the outside; for it was certain that the inhabitants would be reduced to famine before many days elapsed.

Prudence therefore demanded that a line of contravallation should be established, and provided with artillery, that every point should be efficiently guarded, and that the garrison should be so occupied as to make vigorous sorties impossible. These tactics must infallibly result in the surrender of the town at no distant time. Such were in substance the instructions of Galas. But Forcia had a more ambitious aim; these methods appeared to him tedious and unworthy of him; and he saw himself in imagination master of the place, and sending the news of its capitulation to Galas in a message worthy of ancient Rome.

Still he dared not formally disregard his instructions, but he resolved merely to affect compliance with them, eager to show the army how an engineer of first-rate ability can conduct a siege. He believed that three thousand men would be enough to keep the besieged in awe on the north, to prosecute the approach-works vigorously and to take the place.

With two thousand men he made sure of intercepting all communication between the inhabitants and the outside. Accordingly he established a post of two hundred men along the river on the left bank, two hundred yards from the angle of the curtain K;[1] a second post of two hundred men on the right bank, in front of the destroyed wooden bridge O; a third post of one hundred men, opposite the ancient bridge P; a fourth post of three hundred men, two hundred yards from the stone bridge; a fifth post of three hundred men along the rivulet to the south-east of the escarpment of the castle; a sixth post of two hundred men behind the embankment of the mills on the east; and a seventh post of three hundred men above the pool to the north-east--in all sixteen hundred men. Four hundred men were commissioned to connect these princ.i.p.al posts, or to strengthen them at need. The rampart L[55], prevented the besieger from making his way between the pool and the town, the fifth, sixth, and seventh posts communicated with headquarters only by a long detour, and could not be supported by the posts of the right bank unless a bridge were thrown across below the stone bridge. This was a serious disadvantage. Forcia had no idea of taking possession of the stone bridge by a sudden attack, as this pa.s.sage was commanded by a cavalier and by the bastions of the castle. He preferred throwing a bridge across below to put his posts in communication with each other.

Wishing to keep all his artillery to batter the place and to effect a breach quickly, he did not provide any of these posts with guns, but contented himself with ordering them to erect a strong palisading, and to raise epaulements for shelter. The instructions he gave were wanting in precision, but he often cited Caesar and Vegetius and Frontinus, and some of the great captains who had shed a l.u.s.tre on Italy in the preceding century. While urging vigilance on his captains he merely went with them to reconnoitre the ground, and to determine their posts; but did not trouble himself further to know whether his orders were understood and strictly carried out. The investment was only a concession made to the general-in-chief, and his attention was entirely given to the attack on the north. He could not even avoid observing in presence of his officers that up to that time the works had been feebly conceived and executed; a remark which soon reached the ears of Galas.

Rincourt took advantage of the respite allowed him by the besieger to organize his little garrison more effectually. We have seen that he had six hundred militiamen capable of acting outside the ramparts. He set about equipping these men, who were but imperfectly armed. The castle contained a hundred muskets, which he distributed to those who knew best how to use this weapon, but had not been provided with it. The rest he armed with strong pikes, breach-knives, and partisans. Not counting artillerymen, he had remaining sixteen hundred soldiers--three hundred being hors.e.m.e.n--whom he formed into four bodies of four companies of infantry of eighty men each, commanded by a captain, and three companies of hors.e.m.e.n, one hundred strong.

The town contained thirty-two pieces of ordnance of various calibre.

There were sixteen mounted in the north work; two on the cavalier behind the bridge; one in the bastion of the donjon; two in the bastion F[56]

and one in each of the seven other bastions; in all twenty-eight. Two were placed in the tenaille of the castle, and two were kept in reserve.

The enemy's arrangements were soon made known to the governor, either through spies or the reconnaissances made by his best officers, or himself personally; he took care not to disturb the carrying out of those arrangements, and contented himself with doubling the guard at the bridge, which was raised to two hundred men.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 64.]

During the night of the 11th of November, Forcia had a second breach opened, and marked out the approach-works, as shown in Fig. 64. Besides the two _places d'armes_ A and B, already marked out, he planned a third, C, to be reached by a new trench D, next two batteries at G and F, for two pieces each, and a battery for two mortars H. He had the first trench lengthened at I, with a piece at its extremity sweeping the curtain K. Two pieces mounted in the _place d'armes_ B commanded the battery F, and the surroundings; a piece mounted at E commanded the battery G; and a piece mounted in the _place d`armes_ C swept the outside of the western battery. He thought he should thus provide for every contingency. If the besieged determined to attempt some bold stroke, they could not advance far, and if they succeeded in taking either of the batteries G, F, he could crush them. The two batteries G, F were intended to silence the fire of the north-west salient and of the left half of the tenaille. That done, he could--secure against the right-hand fire--advance as far as the counterscarp, set up a breach battery, and take the place by the north-west salient. Meanwhile, the mortar battery would render the right of the work untenable, crush the defenders of the ancient terraced walls, damage the gates, and prevent the besieged from attempting anything at this point. The plan was not badly conceived; nothing remained but to execute it.

The phlegmatic governor had the gabionades of the work strengthened, and traverses and _pareclats_ raised, especially on the platforms of the two great towers. He had shelter places arranged on the platforms of the earthworks. Moreover he kept up a continual fire on the workmen, so that they could scarcely make any advance except during the night. Sometimes at ten o'clock at night, sometimes at midnight, at two o'clock in the morning, or shortly before daybreak, Rincourt would alarm the enemy's camp by sorties of no importance considered with reference to the final result, but which greatly exhausted the besiegers.

These sorties were effected by one or two companies while the others rested. In this way he exercised the militia, and accustomed them to fighting.

By the 15th of November the besieger's works had scarcely made any progress. However the _place d'armes_ C was made, as also the parallel which connected it with the _place d'armes_ B; and the trenches were commenced which were to lead to the two batteries. The bomb-mortars were mounted, and began to fire towards evening. But they produced more noise than damage to the besieged. Their fire was badly directed, and most of the bombs burst too soon or too late. The besieged became accustomed to them, and kept out of their way when they saw them coming. For a dozen bombs fired the first evening, two men were wounded, and one gun-carriage damaged.

On the morning of the 25th of November the weather, hitherto fine, suddenly changed. About nine a fine snow fell, and was soon after followed by a deluge of rain, accompanied by squalls. During the night of the 15th, the men on guard in the trenches were up to their knees in water; it was impossible to work. The rain continued regular and heavy during the whole of the 16th. Rincourt took advantage of this disagreeable state of the weather. The bridge which had been thrown across the river by the Imperialists, below the stone bridge, consisted of a floor six feet wide, laid partly on trestles, partly on boats collected in the valley and linked together. This was a clumsy contrivance, for the water on beginning to rise lifted the boats proportionately so that it was extremely difficult to maintain the connexion between the floor resting on the boats and that laid on the trestles. Accordingly in spite of the rain the besiegers worked all day on the 16th to prevent the rupture of this bridge. The governor who pa.s.sed all that day in examining the environs, had perceived from the top of the platform of the cavalier the precarious condition of the besieger's bridge, and at night he had some large trunks of trees thrown over the parapet of the stone bridge, which struck against the boats and trestles and impeded the current, which kept on rising. At midnight twenty of these trunks had acc.u.mulated against the boats, and the river continuing to rise, the bridge was carried away. A light appearing for an instant at a certain point of the valley of Abonne apprised Rincourt of the destruction of the bridge. The signal was given by one of the spies.

Secure, therefore, against being cut off on his right by the Imperialists, the governor sent out three hundred militiamen and three companies of soldiers, kept under arms after supper, by the western gate, next to the castle; and another three hundred of the militia, and two companies by the eastern gate. This second troop was commissioned to make for the causeway of the pool, attack the enemy's post established beyond the embankment, outflank it on his right and pursue it hotly along the rivulet. Rincourt commanded the foremost troop of six hundred men. He descended the slope of the bridge, crossed the rivulet by means of planks and trestles which he had ready prepared behind the cavalier, and attacked the post of three hundred men established at two hundred yards below the stone bridge. Finding themselves attacked by a body much more numerous than themselves, they quitted the bivouacs in all haste, and set off along the left bank of the rivulet to join the second post (consisting) of three hundred men established between them and the dam, as the bridge was broken. This was just what Rincourt antic.i.p.ated. At the same time, in an opposite direction the post at the pool embankment was in flight, pursued by the second troop of the besieged,--depending on getting the support of the post at the rivulet and that of the bridge, since they were outflanked on their right. These two posts--that of the bridge and that of the embankment--retreating as fast as the nature of the ground permitted in an inverse direction, to the post at the rivulet, the latter supposed it was an attack, and fired several arquebusades at the two troops of these outposts. They recognised each other with difficulty, and these eight hundred men thus collected, saw themselves attacked on two sides by Rincourt and the second troop of the besieged. The combat did not last long, in consequence of the confusion into which they were thrown as much as through the numerical inferiority. Few resisted, many sought the marshes, and two or three hundred laid down their arms and begged for quarter. Of those who had betaken themselves right and left to the marshes, about a hundred managed to reach the camp in the morning, the others were killed by the peasants.

Forcia, informed in the middle of the night of the attack on his south-eastern posts, got a thousand men under arms. But the weather continued as bad as ever; the captains obeyed with a very ill grace; they had lost all confidence, and it was not until daylight that Galas's lieutenant was able to go down into the valley. His three posts were taken, and he found from two to three hundred men dead or wounded on the banks of the rivulet.

Rincourt had quietly gone up again into the town with his two troops and his prisoners by the castle gate, about three o'clock in the morning. He had not lost more than fifty men, killed, wounded, or strayed. Forcia returned to the camp about ten o'clock in the morning. But from the top of the donjon, at the first glimmering of daylight, the governor had seen the troop of Imperialists defiling in the direction of the posts that had been taken. Without an instant's delay, placing himself at the head of four companies of foot soldiers, fresh and ready for the struggle, and of his three hundred hors.e.m.e.n, and after having fired several volleys on the besieger's works, he courageously sallied forth by the ravelin and rushed impetuously upon the trenches. The enemy, taken by surprise, without a commander, and out of heart, fled, and Rincourt succeeded in spiking the guns of the two foremost _places d'armes_, spiking and throwing down the mortars along the slopes, breaking the gun-carriages, overthrowing the gabionades, and taking a quant.i.ty of workmen's tools.

When Forcia returned, it was to learn this fresh disaster. His captains murmured loudly. He called them cowards and ignoramuses, and they retorted sharply, and abuse was lavished on both sides. Happily for Forcia a messenger came from Galas that evening enjoining him to raise the siege of Roche-Pont and to fall back upon the Saone without an hour's delay.

Saint-Jean-de-Losne had held out and had suffered no damage; the Imperialists, surprised by the inundations, and fearing to be cut off by the French army, determined on returning home.

If that French army had been led by a Rantzau and a Rincourt, not a German would have repa.s.sed the frontier; but the Duke of Weimar and the Cardinal de la Valette, who might have destroyed the invaders, were by no means energetic in the pursuit. The Imperialists, however, lost in this expedition, by which they hoped to gain the most brilliant advantages, all their baggage, a good part of their artillery, and a third of their force.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 52: See Fig. 59.]

[Footnote 53: See Fig. 59.]

[Footnote 54: Bombs, invented by the Dutch in the beginning of the seventeenth century, were already used in sieges.]

[Footnote 55: See Fig. 59.]

[Footnote 56: See Fig. 59.]

CHAPTER XV.

_THE TOWN OF LA ROCHE-PONT IS FORTIFIED BY M. DE VAUBAN._

Born at Saint-Leger de Foucheret, in the middle of Burgundy, Vauban, who loved and was well acquainted with this beautiful province, had occasion to visit Roche-Pont several times. The situation of the fortress and its strategical position attracted his notice, and suggested a plan connecting this little town with a line starting with Besancon, pa.s.sing through Dole, Auxonne, La Roche-Pont, Langres, Neufchateau, Toul, Pont-a-Mousson, Metz, Thionville, Longwy, Montmedy, Sedan, Mezieres, Rocroy, Avesnes, Maubeuge, Valenciennes, Lille, and ending at Dunquerque. The date was 1680; it was a second line. Would to Heaven it had always been maintained by works accommodated to the means of attack!

but if the French know how to take, they are but remiss in keeping what they have taken.

The fortress of La Roche-Pont was exposed to attack only from the northern plateau, and the artillery of Vauban's time could make a serious impression only on that side, as the town was protected on its two sides, east and west, by escarpments and two water-courses.

Batteries placed on the hills east and west were either dominated by the artillery of the town or must have been placed at a distance of eighteen hundred yards--_i.e._, out of range--to attain the level of the ramparts. Vauban decided therefore to construct outside the ancient town a large work on the north, which should command the plateau. At the same time--for he was economical of the money of the state--he thought he might avail himself of part of Errard's works, especially the bastions which that engineer had raised on the east and west fronts, and improve the defence of the castle, which would then become a good stronghold.

Besides this he planned works, only revetted at the base, along the river, to protect the lower town. On the rivulet side, in like manner, he planned a flanked front for musketry, to secure that side from approach, and to keep some land useful either for the cultivation of vegetables in case of siege, or for pasturage. A weir placed at the mouth of the rivulet, with a flood gate, allowed the inhabitants to inundate the meadows situated on the east of the escarpment.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 65.--VAUBAN'S DEFENCES.]

Fig. 65 presents the general plan of the works laid out by Vauban. At first he had thought of making on the north, before the front fortified by Errard de Bar-le-Duc, a horn-work before a demi-lune; but he could not thus effectually sweep the divergent points of the plateau. He determined, therefore, on the plan given in Fig. 65, making use of a part of the northern revetments of Errard de Bar-le-Duc. In advance of the northern front, in lieu of the narrow and contracted defences of Errard,[57] he made a great demi-lune, A (Fig. 65), with a tenaille behind, and next the bastioned work, B, which swept the whole plateau.

As to the rest of the town, making use of the old bastions, he strongly flanked them and disposed the stronghold as shown by the plan, D. The roads of the upper town were widened and improved, and the houses detached from the ramparts. The ancient bridge at C had been destroyed by a swelling of the river, and was not rebuilt; but at P, in 1675, a new stone bridge was built, with a _tete du pont_ of earthwork. At O a foot-bridge still existed in 1680. The town had again extended along the left bank, and the importance of the _cite_ above was diminishing.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 66.--VAUBAN'S OUTWORK.]