The Battle of Melun: April 1861
The Franco-Prussian front heated up once late February hit Europe. The Prussian Push came on March 3rd, where the I. Armee and the Armee Group Sud, recently relieved from the Hanoverian Front, made a direct drive into the French heartland. The gallant French, leaded personally by Napoleon III, decided to take a measured withdrawal from the front-line of Alsace-Lorraine. Along the way, they did rally the French Peasants to join his army to defend their homelands, making it seem like his army was disorganized and in retreat. [+30,000 Conscripts to the French Empire.]
The Prussian Armies, however, wasted no time, and with no battles taking place, they charged forwards across the French countryside, establishing rail connections for supplies with the heartland of Prussia. The Prussian Army finally stumbled into the outskirts of Paris, where they where met by an impressive set of partially constructed trenches, and a well-armed, well-supplied French Army to face them.
The battle started, with it looking like a decisive victory for the French, until the IX. Corps of the I. Armee broke through the trenches, and worked to quickly fill them in to allow the army to cross through them. The casualties on the Prussian side were horrendous, but there was now a clear path into the city of Melun. [-1,000 Conscripts from France. -10,000 Regulars from Prussia.]
The fighting inside the city quickly became bloody and fierce. The defending French were determined to beat the Prussians back out of the city, in order to protect their national capitol and because this bridge into the city represented a breech of their trench lines, which could be used by the Prussians to envelop and trap the French army in their trenches - taking all of them prisoner.
1. French Soldiers fighting during the Battle of Melun.
The French Emperor decided that the street to street fighting in Melun was too much. Staying on the frontline, he ordered his entire army to abandon the half-established trenches for the more fortified French Capitol, whose defenses were enormous compared to those in Melun. Unfortunately for the Emperor, the Prussians succeeded in their goal. As half his army melted away into Paris, Emperor Napoleon III was forced to surrender the remainder of his Army after the Prussians enveloped and surrounded the remains of the French Army.
Upon his surrender, the Emperor made it clear that he was simply surrendering himself and his army, not his nation. He reasoned that France would continue to fight on, no matter who their leader is. Although a huge setback, he believed the French Army would still remain victorious in the end. [-60,000 Regulars from France.]
2. Emperor Napoleon III talked with Otto von Bismarck after the Emperor surrendered in the Battle of Melun.
Even with the Emperor captured, the moral of the French Army didn't sink all that much. Although now plagued by inefficient and horrid leadership, the French were determined to win this war. As the Prussians stand from their pedestal of Glory, the French War Machine has finally begun to arise. Thousands of French all across the countryside are starting to make their way to Paris, or their local cities, to band together to fight the Prussians. [Emperor Napoleon III removed from France. +200,000 Conscripts to France.]