CAMPAIGN OF 1870-1871Operations of The First Army under General von Manteuffel, Comprising the Period from the Capitulation of Metz to the Fall of Peronne. Compiled from the Official War Documents of the HQ of the First Army

2016 N & M Press reprint (original pub 1873). SB. vii + 227 pp + 2 colour MapsPublished Price £12.50 First published in English in 1873, Campaign of 1870-1871: The Operations of the First Army Under General von Manteuffel is an important contemporary account of the Franco-Prussian War, written by Prussian staff officer Count Hermann von Wartensleben and translated by Colonel C. H. von Wright. Based upon official documents from First Army Headquarters, it provides a detailed record of German operations during the critical closing months of the conflict.The narrative begins following the capitulation of Metz in October 1870, when the surrender of Marshal Bazaine's army released substantial German forces for operations elsewhere. General Edwin von Manteuffel's First Army was directed towards northern France, where newly raised French forces continued determined resistance to the German invasion.Wartensleben follows the subsequent campaign through Picardy and the Somme, recording the movements, operational decisions and engagements of the First Army. Particular attention is given to the fighting around Amiens, Buchy and Bapaume, together with the operations culminating in the siege and fall of Pà ronne in January 1871. Throughout, the account reveals the practical workings of nineteenth-century warfare at army and headquarters level, including troop movements, communications, supply, logistics and the implementation of strategic decisions in the field.Its contemporary authorship and close relationship to official Prussian military records give the work particular importance. Rather than a retrospective narrative constructed long after the event, it presents the campaign through the documentation and military perspective of those closely involved in directing operations.For students of the Franco-Prussian War, German military organisation and nineteenth-century operational warfare, this is a valuable primary-source study. Detailed and strongly focused upon command and operations, it provides an illuminating Prussian perspective on the campaign that transformed the balance of power in Europe and led directly to the establishment of the German Empire.…