Henry Spenser Wilkinson

“ Moltke’s plan of operations was that the three armies while advancing should make a right wheel, so that the first army on the right would reach the bank of the Moselle opposite Metz, while the second and third armies should push forward, the third army to defeat the French force near Strassburg, and the second to strike the Moselle near Pont-à-Mousson. If the French army should be found during this advance in front of the second army, it would be attacked in front by the second army and in flank by the first or the third or both. ”

“ MOLTKE, HELMUTH CARL BERNHARD, Count von (1800–1891) , Prussian field marshal, for thirty years chief of the staff of the Prussian army, the greatest strategist of the latter half of the 19th century, and the creator of the modern method of directing armies in the field, was born on the 26th of October 1800, at Parchim in Mecklenburg, of a German family of ancient nobility. ”

“ If the French should attempt to invade south Germany, an advance of the Germans up either bank of the Rhine would threaten their communications. Moltke expected that the French would be compelled by the direction of their railways to collect the greater part of their army near Metz, and a smaller portion near Strassburg. The German forces were grouped into three armies: the first of 60,000 men, under Steinmetz, on the Moselle below Treves; the second of 131,000 men, under Prince Frederick Charles, round Homburg, with a reserve of 60,000 men behind it ”

“ In order to make a large army manageable, it must be broken up into separate armies or groups of corps, each group under a commander authorized to regulate its movements and action subject to the instructions of the commander-in-chief as regards the direction and purpose of its operations. ”

“ He thought the difficulty would be to bring the war to an end, as the Danish army would if possible retire to the islands, where, as the Danes had the command of the sea, it could not be attacked. He sketched a plan for turning the flank of the Danish army before the attack upon its position in front of Schleswig, and hoped that by this means its retreat might be intercepted. When the war began in February 1864, Moltke was not sent with the Prussian forces, but kept at Berlin. ”

“ He foresaw that the march of the crown prince would probably bring him into collision with a portion of the Austrian army; but the crown prince had 100,000 men, and it was not likely that the Austrians could have a stronger force than that within reach of him. The order to advance upon Gitschin was issued on the 22nd of June, and led to one of the greatest victories on record. The Austrians marched faster than Moltke expected, and might have opposed the crown prince with four or five corps ”

“ While it is doubtful whether he can be convicted of any strategical errors, it seems beyond doubt that he never had to face a situation which placed any strain on his powers, for in the campaigns of 1866 and 1870 his decisions seemed to be made without the slightest effort, and he was never at a loss. ”

“ In 1838 he was sent as adviser to the Turkish general commanding the troops in Armenia, who was to carry on a campaign against Mehemet Ali of Egypt. During the summer he made extensive reconnaissances and surveys, riding several thousand miles in the course of his journeys, navigating the dangerous rapids of the Euphrates, and visiting and mapping many districts where no European traveller had preceded him since Xenophon. ”