Page:EB1911 - Volume 28.djvu/860

Rh WORTH, CHARLES FREDERICK (1825-1895), the famous dressmaker, was born at Bourne, Lincolnshire, in 1825. His father, a country solicitor, having lost his money in speculation. Charles was sent to London as an apprentice to Swan & Edgar, drapers. Thence, in 1846, he went to Paris, without capital or friends, and after twelve years in a wholesale silk house he began business as a dressmaker in partnership with a Swede named Dobergh. His originality and skill in design won the patronage of the empress Eugenie, and, through her, of fashionable Paris. After the Franco-German War, during which he turned his house into a military hospital, his partner retired, and Worth continued the business, which employed 1200 hands, with his two sons John and Gaston—both naturalized Frenchmen. For more than thirty years he set the taste and ordained the fashions of Paris, and extended his sway over all the civilized and much of the uncivilized world. He died on the 10th of March 1895.

WÖRTH, a village of Alsace, on the Sauer, 6 m. N. of Hagenau, which gives its name to the battle of the 6th of August 1870, fought between the Germans under the crown prince of Prussia and the French under Marshal MacMahon. The battle is also called Reichshoffen and Fröschweiler.

The events which led up to the engagement, and the general situation on the 6th are dealt with under. During the 5th of August the French concentrated in a selected position running nearly N. and S. along the Sauer Bach on the left front of the German III. army which was moving S. to seek them. The position is marked from right to left by Morsbronn, the Niederwald, the heights W. of Worth and the woods N.E. of Fröschweiler. E. of the Sauer the German III. army was moving S. towards Hagenau, when their cavalry found the French position about noon. Thereafter the German vedettes held the French under close observation, while the latter moved about within their lines and as far as the village of Wörth as if in peace quarters, and this notwithstanding the defeat of a portion of the army at Weissenburg on the previous day. The remnant of the force which had been engaged, with many of its wounded still in the ranks, marched in about noon with so soldierly a bearing that, so far from their depressing the morale of the rest, their appearance actually raised it.

About 5 P.M. some horses were watered at the Sauer, as in peace, without escort, though hostile scouts were in sight. A sudden swoop of the enemy's hussars drove the party back to camp. The alarm was sounded, tents were struck and the troops fell in all along the line and remained under arms until the confusion died down, when orders were sent to fall out, but not to pitch the tents. The army therefore bivouacked, and but for this incident the battle of the next day would probably not have been fought. A sudden and violent storm broke over the bivouacs, and when it was over, the men, wet and restless, began to move about, light fires, &c. Many of them broke out of camp and went into Wörth, which was unoccupied, though Prussians were only 300 yds. from the sentries. These fired, and the officer commanding the Prussian outposts, hearing the confused murmur of voices, ordered up a battery, and as soon as there was light enough dropped a few shells into Wörth. The stragglers rushed back, the French Unes were again alarmed, and several batteries on their side took up the challenge.

The Prussian guns, as strict orders had been given to avoid all engagement that day, soon withdrew and were about to return to camp, when renewed artillery fire was heard from the S. and presently also from the N. In the latter direction, the II. Bavarian corps had bivouacked along the Mattstall-Langensulzbach road with orders to continue the march if artillery were heard to the S. This order was contrary to the spirit of the III. army orders, and moreover the V. Prussian corps to the S. was in ignorance of its having been given.

The outpost battery near Wörth was heard, and the Bavarians at once moved forward. Soon the leading troops were on the crest of the ridge between the Sauer and the Sulzljach, and the divisional commander, anxious to prove his loyalty to his new allies—his enemies in 1866—ordered his troops to attack, giving the spire of Fröschweiler, which was visible over the woods, as the point of direction. The French, however, were quite ready and a furious fusillade broke out, which was multiplied by the echoes of the forest-clad hills out of all proportion to the numbers engaged. The Prussian officers of the V. corps near Dieffenbach, knowing nothing of the orders the Bavarians had received, were amazed, but at length when about 10.30 a.m. their comrades were seen retiring, in some cases in great disorder, the corps commander, General von Kirchbach, decided that an effort must at once be made to relieve the Bavarians. His chief of staff had already ordered up the divisional and corps artillery (84 guns in all), and he himself communicated his intention of attacking to the XI. corps (General von Bose) on his left and asked for all available assistance. A report was also dispatched to the crown prince at Sulz, 5 m. away.

Meanwhile the XI. corps had become involved in an engagement. The left of the V. corps' outposts had over night occupied Gunstett and the bank of the Sauer, and the French shortly after daylight on the 6th sent down an unarmed party to fetch water. As this appeared through the mist, the Prussians naturally fired upon it, and the French General Lartigue (to whose division the party belonged), puzzled to account for the firing, brought up some batteries in readiness to repel an attack. These fired a few rounds only, but remained in position as a precaution.

Hearing the firing, the XI. corps' advanced guard, which had marched up behind in accordance with the general movement of the corps in changing front to the west, and had halted on reaching the Kreuzhecke Wood, promptly came up to Spachbach and Gunstett. In this movement across country to Spachbach some bodies appear to have exposed themselves, for French artillery at Elsasshausen suddenly opened fire, and the shrapnel bursting high, sent showers of bullets on to the house roofs of Spachbach, in which village a battalion had just halted. As the falling tiles made the position undesirable, the major in command ordered the march to be resumed, and as he gave the order, his horse ran away with him towards the Sauer. The leading company, seeing the battalion commander gallop, moved off at the double, and the others of course followed. Coming within sight of the enemy, they drew a heavy shell fire, and, still under the impression that they were intended to attack, deployed into line of columns and doubled down to the river, which they crossed. One or two companies in the neighbourhood had already begun to do so, and the stream being too wide for the mounted officers to jump, presently eight or ten companies were across the river and out of superior control. By this time the French outposts (some 1300 rifles), lining the edge of the Niederwald, were firing heavily. The line of smoke was naturally accepted by all as the objective, and the German companies with a wild rush reached the edge of the wood.

The same thing had happened at Gunstett. A most obstinate struggle ensued and both sides brought up reinforcements. The Prussians, with all their attention concentrated on the wood in their front, and having as yet no superior commanders, soon exhibited signs of confusion, and thereupon General Lartigue ordered a counter attack towards the heights of Gunstett, when all the Prussians between the Niederwald and the Sauer gave way. The French followed with a rush, and, fording the Sauer opposite Gunstett, for a moment placed the long fine of German guns upon the heights in considerable danger. At this crisis a fresh battalion of the XI. corps arrived by the road from Surburg to Gunstett, and attacked the French on one flank whilst the guns swept the other. The momentum of the charge died out, and the French drifted backwards after an effort which compelled the admiration of both sides.

In the centre the fight had been going badly for the V. corps. As soon as the 84 guns between Dieffenbach and Spachbach opened fire the French disappeared from sight. There was no longer a target, and, perhaps to compel his adversary to show himself, von Kirchbach ordered four battalions to cross the river. These battalions, however, were widely separated, and coming under fire as soon as they appeared, they attacked in two groups, one from Worth towards Fröschweiler, the other from near Spachbach towards the Calvary spur, E. of