The German Army crossing the Loire at Orleans, 1871. Engraving of a sketch by ...Mr. Landells, who left Versailles a few days to visit the scenes of the late battles in the neighbourhood of Orleans...[showing] the German advance upon that city, when the French Army of the Loire fell back. It was on the 5th December [1870], after a weeks hard fighting, in the latter days of which the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg was relieved and supported by Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia with a portion of the army from Metz, that the French commander, General Aurelle des Paladines, was forced to abandon the city before daylight, and the Prussian troops immediately entered it. They continued to pass through Orleans during several days, crossing the Loire by the fine stone bridge shown in our Artists sketch, on their way to the road to Blois, down the left bank of the river, with a view to cut off the remnant of the French army from Tours. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.