Page:Decisive Battles Since Waterloo.djvu/383

Rh, but, nevertheless, it would be useful in protecting the German left flank, and serving as a support in case the time of the movement should be protracted. It was unfortunate for the French that they had no strong corps of observation southward to Vitry. Had they possessed such a corps from 80,000 to 100,000 strong, the German "wheel around" would have been a very risky performance. In place of such a corps there were only a few badly organized bodies of militia, which the Prussians naturally regarded with the greatest contempt. The Crown Prince did not deign to give them the least attention, and so with the 6th corps covering his left, he swung in upon Sedan.

The ground near Sedan which the French occupied and defended is nearly five miles in extent from south to north, and about two miles from east to west, running into a narrow point toward the south. The fortress of Sedan, which has a small citadel on its northeasterly front, is situated in low ground near the Meuse. On the right bank of the river its walls extend to the first slopes of the higher ground where the old entrenched camp was located. Southeast of Sedan, and forming a suburb of it, is the village of Bazeilles. It is on the right bank of the Meuse, and on low ground. After passing Bazeilles to the north and east, we find ourselves on rising ground. The slope is at first gentle, but as we go toward the north it becomes steeper, and thus continues to the summits of the Ardennes, which are covered with wood. The broken ground on the north, where the battle was fought, embraces a deep valley or ravine that has steeply sloping sides, and a general direction from north to south. In this valley are the villages of Moncelle, Givonne, and Daigny. To the northwest this same broken ground is bordered by the valley of the Illy, a small rivulet along whose banks are the villages of Illy and Floing. On the right bank of the Meuse there is a strip of low ground, about 6,000 feet broad,