St Quentin, Battle of

During the Franco-Prussian War, French defeat by the Prussian army 19 January 1871, 150 km/95 mi northwest of Paris. The defeat effectively ended the citizen Army of the North under General Louis Faidherbe; the survivors were distributed through the remaining French fortresses in the north, and organized resistance to the Prussians in western France ended.

Background By the beginning of 1871, the French position in the siege of Paris was becoming desperate. The provisional government demanded that Faidherbe use his forces to draw the Prussians away from Paris in order to allow the mass of troops in Paris to make a sortie through the Prussian lines. Faidherbe considered his options and felt that a thrust to the east, toward St Quentin and the Oise valley, would cause the maximum commotion and threaten the German lines of communication, and that he might be able to make a round tour and return to his stronghold without actually having to fight. The Prussian commander, General August von Goeben, was informed as soon as the French began to move, and his infantry held the French at the River Oise; Faidherbe realised his only course was to fall back on St Quentin and make a stand.

Battle The French far outnumbered the Prussians, but their morale was poor after a week of trudging through the rain and mud; orders went astray and the deployment was not what Faidherbe planned; on top of all this, desertion was weakening his army by the hour. Nevertheless, the first Prussian attack was held off by the French 22nd Corps, which had taken up a sound defensive position on a hill. On the other flank, though, the 23rd Corps collapsed rapidly, and by sending Prussian reserves to the aid of the wing that had been held off, Goeben was able to push the 22nd Corps out of its position so that by the afternoon all resistance had gone and the French were streaming back through St Quentin. Faidherbe bowed to fate and ordered a retreat, the remains of his force pulling clear under cover of night. The Prussians had become disorganized and were in no condition to pursue. Leaving behind 3,000 killed and wounded and some 11,000 prisoners and deserters, Faidherbe got his troops clear but knew that they were no longer an army.