Battle of Bazeilles

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Das Blutbad in Bazeilles. Germans troops getting ambushed by French hiding in a house

Alphonde de Neuville, Les dernnieres cartouches (The last bullets)

The Battle of Bazeilles was one of the first occasions of modern urban warfare.

During the 1870 Franco-Prussian war, Bazeilles, a small village in the French Ardennes department near Sedan was the theater of an ambush on Bavarians, allies of the Prussians, by a small detachment from the "Blue Division" of Troupes de marine, under the command of general De Vassoigne. Hiding in houses along with local Franc tireurs, the marsouins, the snipers shot with their new quick-firing Chassepot breechloading rifles at the Bavarian unit that outnumbered them by ten to one.

They held the village until Napoleon III gave order to withdraw, which a small group under commander Lambert remaining in the last house on the road to Sedan, the Auberge Bougerie, fighting to the last bullet to cover the retreat. The house is now a museum, showing e.g. a clock hit at 11:35 by a bullet, stopping it.

After 7 hours of urban warfare, the Bavarians were able to take the village. Considering them unlawful combatants, the Franc tireur partisans and other civilians were executed.

Soon, the Battle of Sedan was a crushing defeat of France, with Napoleon III getting captured with his army. Soon, another French army was trapped at Metz, basically ending the war and Napoleon's Empire. Yet, the French, now as a republic, decided to continue for months with partisan warfare.

Having few else to be proud of, General de Vassoigne said about these soldiers: "The troupes de marine fought beyond the extreme limits of duty". The anniversary of the Battle of Bazeilles is now celebrated by the Troupes de marine, as their equivalent to Camerone for the Legionaires.