The Battle of Gravelotte on 18 August 1870 was the largest battle of the Franco-Prussian War. Named after Gravelotte, a village in Lorraine, it was fought about 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Metz, where on the previous day, having intercepted the French army's retreat to the west at the Battle of Mars-la-Tour, the Prussians were now closing in to complete the destruction of the French forces.
The Cemetery of St. Privat by Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville c. 1881
The "Rifle Battalion 9 from Lauenburg" at Gravelotte, painting by Ernst Zimmer
French and German forces at 14:45.
French Cuirassiers in Metz
The Battle of Mars-la-Tour was fought on 16 August 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, near the village of Mars-La-Tour in northeast France. One Prussian corps, reinforced by two more later in the day, encountered the entire French Army of the Rhine in a meeting engagement and, following the course of battle, the Army of the Rhine retreated toward the fortress of Metz.
Heinrich XVII, Prince Reuß, on the side of the 5th Squadron I Guards Dragoon Regiment at Mars-la-Tour, 16 August 1870. Emil Hünten, 1902.
La ligne de feu, 16 août 1870 by Pierre-Georges Jeanniot (1886). French infantry at the battle of Mars-la-Tour.
The 4th Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 72 storming Maison Blanche in front of Rezonville on 16 August 1870.
Grenadiers of the French Imperial Guard. Detail from Édouard Detaille's painting of the battle of Rezonville.
