On the south Colonel von Ostrowski on December 13th had carried the French positions of Adelnans and the wooded heights of Le Bosmont and La Brosse. On the eastern point of the latter two batteries, and on its northern skirt four additional batteries had been thrown up, not without great difficulty arising from thaw having made the ground a swamp. On January 7th, fifty guns opened fire. The superiority of the artillery of the attack was soon manifest. Fort Bellevue suffered severely, and notably the fire from Basses Perches was entirely silenced. But it was of grave importance that the village of Danjoutin, strongly garrisoned and intrenched by the enemy, stood in the way of a further advance. During the night of the 8th January seven companies attacked this position, and also from the northward at the same time took possession of the railway-embankment. With empty rifles the Landwehr hurled themselves against the enemy in the face of a hot fire, and charged along the village street up to the church. The supports hastening from the fortress were driven back at the railway-embankment, but the fight about the buildings in the southern quarter of the village lasted till towards noon. Of the defenders, twenty officers and 700 men were taken prisoners. Typhus and small-pox had broken out in Belfort; and in the besieging force also the number of the sick reached a considerable figure, caused by arduous work in inclement weather. Most of the battalions could only muster 500 men, and this weakness led General von Tresckow to devote half his force to the lighter duty of protecting the investment from without, principally towards the south. * * * * * Trustworthy intelligence estimated the French strength at Besancon at 62,000. Although hitherto entirely inactive, this force now seemed in strong earnest to press on to the relief of the hard-pressed fortress by the line of the Doubs. On this line was the fortified chateau of Montbeliard, held by one German battalion, and armed with heavy guns. Between the Doubs and the Swiss frontier about Delle stood General Debschitz with eight battalions, two squadrons, and two batteries, and General von Werder concentrated the XIVth Corps at Noroy, Aillevans, and Athesans, to oppose with all his strength any interruption of the siege of Belfort. From January 5th onwards there ensued a series of engagements in front of Vesoul, as the result of which the enemy advanced from the south and west to within four miles of that town. There could be no doubt that very considerable forces were engaged in this advance. East also of the Ognon, the enemy's posts were advanced beyond Rougemont, although in lesser force. In these actions 500 prisoners were made; and it was at once evident that besides the XVIIIth, the XXIVth and XXth Corps also formed part of Bourbaki's army; a circumstance which threw a sudden light upon a totally changed phase of the war.