The Prussians invade Normandy...150 years ago today...the stones speak, along with an eyewitness...
| Friday, January 15, 2021
Dear Friend,
Ah! Si les pierres pouvaient parler! If stones could speak, at least we’d have some animation on this cold and sunny winter day in Alençon. Roman legions, conquering Normans, medieval crowds, church bells announcing plague, war, and royal births…and, much to our surprise, the occupation of the city by the Prussian Army of Kaiser Wilhelm I on this very day, 150 years ago.
"Le re-confinement" has snuffed out the usual life in this lively provincial town, capital of our département of the Orne. But “à quelque chose malheur est bon,” as the proverb goes. It’s an ill wind that blows no good. The enforced silence of these cobbled streets allows history to speak – and for us to listen. It’s a surprisingly little-known chapter of history, but in the winter of 1871, our part of Normandy was invaded by the Prussian Army.
The almost forgotten end of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 took place in the countryside and towns around Chateau de Courtomer. It was the first time since the end of the Hundred Years War in 1470 that hostile foreign soldiers had trodden Norman soil. Unfortunately, as we know, it would not be the last.
The War of 1870 was ill-advised, short and embarrassing. It began with a trumped-up telegram and dreams of Napoleonic grandeur. It ended with a coup d’état, the humiliating loss of French national territory, and the bloodshed of the Paris Commune.
La Dernière Cartouche, by Alphonse de Neuville, shows the heroic defence -- still commemorated -- by the "Marsouins," the soldiers of the Marine, at the battle of Bazeilles on September 1, 1870. They held out to the last bullet. Note the African soldier at left; France called upon colonial troops and commanders as its regular armies became overwhelmed.
But to let the stones of Alençon speak…
“Train de plaisir pour Berlin, payé par le père Guillaume ! »
“Bound for Berlin, ticket paid by Father William…”
So claimed the slogan written on the gaily decorated wagons, as they headed down the main street of Alençon. Old Father William was Kaiser Wilhelm, the king of Prussia. Berlin was his capital.
It was the summer of 1870, war with Prussia had been declared, and as Marechal Leboeuf had declared:
“Nous sommes prêts et archiprêts, il ne manque pas à notre armée un bouton de guêtre. »
“We are ready, super-ready, our army lacks nothing – not even a boot button.”
As well as every last boot button, the French infantry was armed with the new Chassepot rifle, superior in aim and range to any firearm in Europe. Unfortunately, the Prussian Army was equipped with the new Krupp 6-pounder. This piece of artillery could fire heavy projectiles farther and faster than any cannon in Europe -- and with accuracy. Further, the standing Prussian-German army was easily twice as large as the French army. Finally, the Prussian high command was ready for war – just four years earlier, it had successfully crushed the Austrians in the Seven Weeks’ War of 1866. It took the Prussians only six weeks to defeat France after war was declared on July 19, 1870.
Few on the main street of Alençon, on that sunny July day, suspected such a speedy fall.
“Prussiens! Vous fuirez, battant la retraite,
Devant nos drapeaux
Et nos Chassepots !...
Zim la la, zim la la, les beaux militaires
Zim la la, zim la la, ces Prussiens-là ! » sang the crowds cheering the troops.
Prussians ! You will flee, beating a retreat,
In front of our flags
And our Chassepot rifles!
…oh, those Prussians!
Louis de Turenne d'Aynac in uniform; the Turenne d'Aynac had inherited Chateau de Courtomer through the daughter of the last Marquis de Saint-Simon de Courtomer
Normandy, like the rest of France, rallied behind the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 with insouciant optimism. The 27-year-old comte Louis de Turenne d’Aynac left Chateau de Courtomer for the army of the Rhine on July 22. He was an officer of the elite Guides de la Garde Impériale.
Alas, neither Marechal Leboeuf nor the songwriter was any prophet.
The Emperor Napoleon III, once slim, dashing, and debonair, was now middle-aged and stout. He suffered from kidney stones. Painfully, he had joined the old hero of the Napoleonic Wars, General Mac-Mahon, for the battle of Sedan. It went badly. As General Ducrot remarked,
« Nous sommes dans un pot de chambre et nous y serons emmerdés. »
“We are in a chamber pot and we are going to be “seriously annoyed”” [speaking figuratively].
The Prussians captured the army and the Emperor. Our Louis de Turenne had already been captured after the catastrophic capitulation of Metz a month before.
But if France was defeated, the mood in Paris was ebullient. This was an excellent opportunity to shake off the shackles of the monarchy and declare a new republican government of National Defense!
As the writer Jules Goncourt witheringly observed,
“The whole of the rue de Rivoli…is covered with men and women, a big party…a million people who seem to forget that the Prussians are steps from Paris…the troops are singing La Marseillaise and the Garde national is shouting “Vive la République!”
Paris refused to cede victory. The Prussian army laid siege. Meanwhile, the tatters of the French army and military reservists gathered in the Loire Valley at a safe distance from the attackers. Gambetta, a 30-year-old lawyer and politician and the new Republic’s leader, escaped from Paris in a hot-air balloon to take command. He sent a new army from the Loire to relieve Paris. In its path was Lower Normandy – and a Prussian army. Our local towns and Courtomer itself were occupied by l’ennemi. With horror, the local population awaited the coming combat…scheming to avoid it…
Cheerfully waving Gambetta "bon voyage" as he escapes from besieged Paris
I stumbled upon this bit of local and national history by accident, while thumbing through old periodicals in the Archives of Alençon. A memoir, “L’Occupation d’Alençon par les Prussiens, en 1871,” written by a certain Henri Beaudouin, had been published in the Bulletin of the Société historique et archéologique de l’Orne in 1896.
It is a lively account of how a light-hearted entry into war shook to pieces the certainties of daily life, as recounted by an eye witness. I’ve taken the liberty of paraphrasing it in English for you, mes amis…
The Prussian Army Occupies Alençon in 1871
as told by Henri Beaudoin
Extraordinaire! The quiet provincial capital of Alençon…set in open country at the confluence of two rivers, known for its lace and medieval architecture…a target of the mighty Prussian army? Comment ça!...
To be continued next week...
A bientôt, du Chateau de Courtomer,
P.S. We are taking reservations for this season and for 2022 and 2023. Please don't hesitate to call or write, as Heather and Béatrice are happy to answer your questions about rentals. Meanwhile, Monsieur Xavier is hard at work. He's taking advantage of these quiet times to make repairs and improvements to the Chateau, Farmhouse, Orangerie and grounds, so that your stay will be even more enjoyable.