On 9 January 1871, in deep winter, the French Army of the East under General Charles Bourbaki clashed with General August von Werder's German corps at Villersexel, a small town on the Ognon River in eastern France. The fighting for the town and its château went on from morning until the early hours of the next day. The French held the field, but historians still argue over who gained more, because the battle bought Werder the time he needed to block Bourbaki's road to Belfort.
Bourbaki's march east
By the winter of 1870 the Franco-Prussian War was going badly for France. The emperor's army had surrendered at Sedan, Paris was under siege, and the new republican government was raising fresh armies in the provinces. In the east the fortress of Belfort, besieged by the Germans since November, was still holding out.1
The government sent the Army of the East, part of the Loire army reinforced with franc-tireurs, Garibaldians and new recruits, to relieve Belfort; Engels expected it to strike at the German lines of communication. Its commander was Charles Bourbaki. Friedrich Engels, who followed the war as a military commentator for the London Pall Mall Gazette, listed his army as the 18th, 20th and 24th Corps and called the move the most promising any French general had made in the war, provided it was carried out with full force. Facing Bourbaki was Werder's XIV Corps.2
Fighting for the town and the château
Werder chose to strike the French right flank at Villersexel rather than wait, and on 9 January his troops attacked. The fighting went on from 9 a.m. until about 3 a.m. the next morning, hand to hand in houses and cellars, and the town changed hands several times. In a night battle for the château the Germans set it on fire.3
Accounts of the outcome differ. Many modern accounts, including the history channel Real Time History, describe it as a French success: the Prussians were forced to evacuate the town. Engels, writing on 14 January, noted that both sides claimed the victory and judged it a rearguard action that let Werder get his troops away. A history of Garibaldi's campaign published by the Italian Ministry of Defense argues that Werder got exactly what he wanted, because the fight stopped Bourbaki and made him change his plan.4
We found no casualty figures for the battle in a source that cites its own evidence, so none are given here.
The Lisaine and the retreat
Bourbaki did not resume his march until 13 January. By then Werder had slipped away and, on the 11th, had reached the Lisaine River and placed his troops between the French and Belfort. In mid January the Army of the East fought Werder's corps on the Lisaine, but it did not relieve Belfort.5
When Bourbaki learned that Manteuffel's German army was moving toward Besançon, he decided to retreat toward Lyon, but his disorganized and demoralized troops were pushed toward the Swiss border. Bourbaki attempted suicide and was replaced by General Justin Clinchant, on 26 January according to the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, and Clinchant asked Switzerland for internment.6
Internment in Switzerland
From 1 to 3 February 1871 the army crossed into Switzerland at Les Verrières and other points. The soldiers handed over their weapons, ammunition and equipment at the border. The Historical Dictionary of Switzerland counts 87,000 men and 12,000 horses; the Swiss broadcaster SRF gives more than 87,000 soldiers, about three percent of the Swiss population at the time.7
The internees were spread across the country, in every canton except Ticino, and given food, shelter and medical care. They stayed about six weeks and were sent home in March 1871, and France paid the costs of more than 12 million francs. SRF describes the operation as one of the first humanitarian missions of the young International Committee of the Red Cross. The crossing is still remembered in Lucerne, where a panorama painting of it by Edouard Castres, finished in 1881, is on display.8
