ABSTRACT
Napoleon, in a third-class railway carriage, reached the Chalons on the evening of 16th August, and there, as he expected, he found his second army in course of formation. By 21st August, when it set out on its brief and disastrous campaign, the Army of Chalons, under the command of the MacMahon, totalled 130,000 men, with 423 guns; a remarkable testimony to the traditional powers of improvisation of which the French army was justly so proud. On 30th August, in accordance with Moltke’s orders, the two Bavarian corps began to move on the Sommauthe, and von Kirchbach’s V Corps on Stonne; and on the right XII and IV Corps advanced through the thick woods that led to Beaumont. MacMahon’s sole object in falling back on Sedan was to gain time–a day or so to reorganise and re-equip his scattered, demoralised forces and consider his next move.
