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Then one morning came the joyful tidings of the victory at Coulmiers; Orleans was recaptured, the army of the Loire was marching to the relief of Paris, was even then, so it was reported, in camp at Etampes. The aspect of affairs was entirely changed: all they had to do now was to go and effect a junction with it beyond the Marne.
Of Basque origin and born in 1815, he had distinguished himself as a naval officer in the Crimean, Chinese, and Cochin China expeditions; and on taking service in the army under the National Defence, he had contributed powerfully to D'Aurelle's victory at Coulmiers. His upper lip and chin were shaven, but he wore white whiskers of the "mutton-chop" variety.
He and Trochu had hitherto taken little account of the provincial armies, and the success of Coulmiers came to them as a surprise and a revelation. There really was an army of the Loire, then, and it was advancing on Paris from Orleans. The Parisian forces must therefore break out on the south-east and join hands with this army of relief in or near the forest of Fontainebleau.
On November 9, D'Aurelle de Paladines defeated Von der Tann at Coulmiers, west of Orleans. The young French troops behaved extremely well, but the victory not being followed up with sufficient vigour by D'Aurelle, remained somewhat incomplete, though it constrained the Germans to evacuate Orleans.
First Efforts of the National Defence Delegates La Motte-Rouge and his Dyed Hair The German Advance South of Paris Moltke and King William Bourges, the German Objective Characteristics of Beauce, Perche, and Sologne French Evacuation of Orleans Gambetta arrives at Tours His Coadjutor, Charles Louis de Saulces de Freycinet Total Forces of the National Defence on Gambetta's Arrival D'Aurelle de Paladines supersedes La Motte-Rouge The Affair of Chateaudun Cambriels Garibaldi Jessie White Mario Edward Vizetelly Catholic Hatred of Garibaldi The Germans at Dijon The projected Relief of Paris Trochu's Errors and Ducrot's Schemes The French Victory of Coulmiers Change of Plan in Paris My Newspaper Work My Brother Adrian Vizetelly The General Position.
The special messages which the ocean wires bring, doubtless with exquisite terseness and picturesqueness, are most carefully interwritten and diluted; so that, for example, the words "Thiers spoke at Coulmiers" become "M. Adolphe Thiers, president of the French Republic before the accession of the present Chief Executive, Marshal MacMahon, delivered an address, or rather made some remarks partly in the nature of an oration or speech on subjects connected with matters of interest at the present time, at the town of Coulmiers, which is situated" and here follow a dozen lines from the Cyclopædia, but dated at Paris, giving the geography, history, and commerce of Coulmiers.
She even smiled faintly, she whose grim face had never once relaxed since the news of the victory at Coulmiers. "Au revoir," she said, folding her son in her arms. "Finish up your business quickly as you can and come back to us."
It was only after Chateaudun and after the Coulmiers that they met, and it was only in a small affair after all, the attempted recapture of a village taken and hurriedly fortified by the Germans. It was a night-attack. The army of the Loire was rather fond of night-fighting; for the night equalizes matters between discipline and mere bravery.
In the center the victory of Coulmiers, achieved on the 3d of November by the army of the Loire, had resuscitated for a moment the hopes of the country: Orleans was to be reoccupied, the Bavarians were to be put to flight, the movement by way of Etampes was to culminate in the relief of Paris; but on December 5 Prince Frederick Charles had retaken Orleans and cut in two the army of the Loire, of which three corps fell back on Bourges and Vierzon, while the remaining two, commanded by General Chanzy, retired to Mans, fighting and falling back alternately for a whole week, most gallantly.
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