Today in 1870

 Grenville Bird posted this and gave me the ok to post it on here

The Surrender of the Imperial Guard

A British journalist described the surrender of the Imperial Guard to German forces at Metz on October 29 1870;

At 12.30 precisely his Royal Highness, accompanied by General Stiehle, and a staff of forty officers rode through Corny and Jouy to the place of rendezvous, where the French Guard were to defile before the victorious army. The place was well chosen. To the left of Frascati, between it and the railway embankment, is a level plateau upon which was drawn up the 4th division of the II Army Corps, consisting of two brigades; on the heights above Frescati, between it and Orly, a strong body of infantry, with two batteries of artillery, had taken their position, while the straight road from Tournebride to Jouy was left open for the march of the French troops.

Riding at the head of the first detachment was the town major, a colonel in the French army, attended by a mounted orderly in full uniform, wearing a sword. Approaching General Franseky, he took off his cap, and reported the arrival of the Guard to surrender themselves as prisoners of war...Franseky replied courteously, his Royal Highness being some forty yards off, to the right.

The first regiment then marched by; they were hussars of the guard. The colonel of the regiment, riding up to Franseky and saluting, handed to him the effective strength of his regiment; then he rode off, followed by his officers, all still wearing their swords. The Empress dragoons came next; then a regiment of chasseurs de la garde; then the artillery, all of course on foot.

I never saw more perfect order, or a more quiet soldier like demeanour, than that exhibited by this splendid body of men, as they marched past in perfect silence. All that could be heard was the measured tread of thousands of feet, as they splashed along the muddy road. The officers, some of them with tears in their eyes, some with haughty and bold countenances, silently shook hands with their soldiers; for the order was, that as soon as the officers had marched their regiments to the quarters assigned for their bivouac, they were to ride back to Metz, and there await farther orders.

Immediately following the above-mentioned regiments came the premier grenadiers de la garde, so well-known to Englishmen. The horse artillery and the 4th Voltigeurs of the guard particularly attracted attention, the last regiment that marched past being the Zouaves of the guard, and a truly splendid regiment they were.

The Imperial Guard looked exceedingly well, and by no means in a starved state. I do not know what the other corps may have looked like, but it is a curious enigma, which requires explanation, that Marshal Bazaine, with such an army, could not break through the Prussian lines. It is a question which German officers put to one another, and added ‘If Bazaine had really tried to come out of Metz, we could not have possibly have prevented him.'