the main forces of the French army in Alsace. Railway
accommodation, however, was so inadequate that in the first instance
it was only possible to carry 100,000 men to Strassburg; 150,000 had
to leave the railways near Metz, and remain there till they could be
moved up. Fifty thousand men were encamped at Chalons as reserves,
115 battalions were ready to march as soon as the National Guard had
taken their places in the interior. The various corps were distributed
as follows:

Imperial Guard, General Bourbaki--Nancy.

Ist Corps, Marshal MacMahon--Strassburg.

IId Corps, General Frossard--St. Avold.

IIId Corps, Marshal Bazaine--Metz.

IVth Corps, General Ladmirault--Diedenhofen.

Vth Corps, General Failly--Bitsch.

VIth Corps, Marshal Canrobert--Chalons.

VIIth Corps, General Felix Douay--Belfort.

Thus there were only two Corps in Alsace, and five on the Moselle;
and, on the day of the declaration of war, one of these, the IId
Corps, was pushed forward close to the German frontier, near St. Avold
and Forbach. This IId Corps, however, received instructions not to
engage in any serious conflict.

The regiments had marched out of quarters incomplete as to numbers,
and insufficiently equipped. Meanwhile the reserves called out to fill
their place had choked the railway traffic; they crowded the depots,
and filled the railway stations.

The progress to their destination was delayed, for it was often
unknown at the railway stations where the regiments to which the
reserves were to be sent were at the time encamped. When they at last
joined they were without the most necessary articles of equipment. The
Corps and Divisions had no artillery or baggage, no ambulances, and
only a very insufficient number of officers. No magazines had been
established beforehand, and the troops were to depend on the
fortresses. These were but ill-supplied, for in the assured
expectation that the armies would be almost immediately sent on into
the enemy's country they had been neglected.

In the same way the Staff-officers had been provided with maps of
Germany, but not of their own provinces. The Ministry of War in Paris
was inundated with claims, protestations, and expostulations, and
finally it was left to the troops to help themselves as best they
could. _On se debrouillera_ was the hope of the authorities.

When the Emperor arrived at Metz, a week after the declaration of war,
the regiments were not yet complete, and it was no