The siege of Toul was the siege of the fortified French town of Toul from 16 August to 23 September 1870 by Prussian, Bavarian and Württemberg forces during the Franco-Prussian War. Toul controlled a railway line leading to Germany and it was vital for the Germans to secure it to resupply and reinforce their armies in northern France. An attempt to seize the fortress on 16 August failed with heavy losses for the Germans. After a blockade of 37 days, the German siege artillery opened fire with 62 guns and howitzers at 0530 on 23 September and the fortress surrendered at 1530. The Germans captured 2,349 French soldiers and 71 fortress guns along with considerable stores of supplies and pushed the German railway terminus in France closer to the German forces besieging Paris. Background During the German campaign in northern France in 1870, and especially after German armies began to advance on Paris to besiege it, it was critical for the German High Command to secure Toul, which controlled a railway line to Germany. Toul, located in a valley between the Marne–Rhine Canal and the Moselle, was protected by nine bastions, some outworks, water-filled ditches, including a -wide main ditch and a system of sluices to inundate the nearby ground. The 125-meter-high Mont St.Michel to the north, the Dommartin-lès-Toul heights to the east, the Choloy plateau to the south-west and the absence of bomb-proof cover rendered the fortification vulnerable to artillery bombardment and the hills and villages nearby made it easy for hostile infantry to advance to its ramparts. Prelude On 14 August, Captain von Trotha's squadron from the 2nd Dragoons of the Guard attacked some chasseurs à cheval near Toul. A melee commenced and the French were driven into the suburbs. They received no fire support from the fortress. Trotha took this as evidence of a weak garrison and sent an officer to the fortress, demanding its surrender. The French commandant, Major Huck, simply told the Germans to go back and the French began shooting at the Germans from the houses and gardens nearby. The German cavalry broke their way out and destroyed the sluices controlling the water in the ditches. Another demand for surrender came on 15 August, this time from Captain von Rosen of the 2nd squadron, 3rd Lancers of the Guard, whose men had advanced on the fortress under fire, though they suffered no losses. The