_January 22nd._--On this day the advanced guard of the 13th Division marched from Audeux to St. Vit, and after breaking up the railway and plundering a number of loaded waggons, down the riverside to Dampierre. On the way four bridges over the Doubs were found uninjured and were taken possession of. The advanced guard of the 14th Division moved from Emagny to observe Besancon. The IInd Corps closed on Dole and pushed reconnoitring parties across the river. _January 23rd._--The concentric movement of all the bodies of the German army was continued. General Debschitz, approaching from the north, in passing Roches found only the abandoned camping ground of the French XXIVth Corps. The 4th Reserve Division occupied L'Isle without opposition, and met no resistance till it reached Clerval and Baume. On the Ognon the Baden Division drove the French out of Montbozon. In the centre of the army the VIIth Corps pushed the advanced guard of the 14th Division forward on Dannemarie, near Besancon. A fight ensued there in the form only of a cannonade which lasted till night. The 13th Division, again, which had crossed the Doubs at Dampierre, advanced on Quingey. For want of rolling stock it had been possible to forward only one French brigade by railway, and the last trains were received at the Byans station with Prussian shells. These troops were in so bad case that they were unable even to place outposts. They abandoned Quingey almost without a struggle, and their hurried retreat on Besancon and beyond the Loue, stopped the advance of reinforcements already on the way. Thus 800 prisoners and a train of 400 convalescents fell into the hands of the Prussian advanced guard, who at once broke up the railway at Abbans-dessous. On the right wing, the head of the IInd Corps advanced by the valley of the Loue on the southern bank. Several cuttings on this road had been prepared for defence, but were found undefended. It was at Villers Farlay that it first encountered a strong body of the enemy. On the evening of this day, of the French forces the XXth Corps was on the north and the XVIIIth on the west of Besancon, at the distance of about four miles. Cavalry, artillery and the train were passing through the town or encamped on the glacis of the fortress. The XXIVth Corps was on the march thither, and the 2nd and 3rd Divisions of the XVth were in possession of the southern bank of the Doubs about Baume and Larnod; but the 1st Division had not succeeded in holding Quingey. Thus the most direct and important line of communications of the French army was cut, and its position, by this fresh mischance, seriously compromised. Impracticable projects and counsels from Bordeaux poured in freely, but did not mend matters; and on the 24th General Bourbaki summoned the superior officers to a council of war.