Vassoigne's division contained a number of Marine battalions, and their stubborn resistance completely disconcerted the Ba varians. Deprived of all artillery co-operation owing to the fog, the latter spent themselves in fruitless and disconnected efforts in the gardens and streets of the village. About 6 A.M. the fog lifted, and the German batteries at once intervened. One of the first shells wounded Marshal MacMahon. The next senior officer, General Ducrot, at once assumed command (7 A.m.). But it happened that General Wimpffen, who had only joined the army from Algiers on the night of the 30th, brought with him a secret commission to assume command in the event of the death or disablement of MacMahon. Of this power he did not at first avail himself, since he was a stranger both to the army and the country, whilst Ducrot possessed the confidence of the one and a knowledge of the other. But when about 9 A.M. he learnt that Ducrot proposed to move the whole army under cover of rear guards to the west towards Mezieres, he produced his commission and countermanded the movement, being himself convinced that eastward towards Bazaine at Metz lay the road to salvation. Orders once issued on a battle-field are not easily recalled, and the result of this change of command was dire confusion. The French troops northward of Bazeilles, along the Fond du Givonne, Were already commencing their withdrawal, when the leading troops of the Saxon XII. corps began to arrive about Daigny, and being only opposed by a weak rearguard, easily carried the ridge south of the Givonne-Sedan road, thus threatening the re treat of Vassoigne's division in and about Bazeilles, which then fell into the hands of the Bavarians between z o and I I A.M. At the same moment the Guard corps had begun to form up between Daigny and Givonne, and there being no serious force of the enemy in front of them, the artillery was deploying along the western heights above the valley of Givonne, covered only by weak advanced guards of infantry, when suddenly a great column of French infantry, some 6,000 strong, moving west in pursuance of Wimpffen's orders, came over the eastern border of the valley and charged down at full speed towards the guns. Then followed one of the most dramatic spectacles of the entire war. The whole of the corps artillery of the Guard turned upon these devoted men, and tore the column in half, shrouding it in dense clouds of dust and smoke from the bursting shells, above which could be seen the trunks and limbs of men flung upwards by their ex plosion. The head of the column nevertheless kept on its way, but under the combined fire of the Guard rifle battalion and the flanking fire from other guns its impetus died out and its debris disappeared by degrees under convenient cover. The German Guards were now free to stretch out their right towards the Belgian frontier (where the scouts of the III. Army were already moving) and prepare with all deliberation for the attack on the Bois de la Garenne.
The III. Army had moved off as early as 2.3o A.M., and by 4 A.M. was already crossing the Meuse at Donchery, aided by several pontoon and trestle bridges thrown over during the night. Their right was covered from sight by the peninsula formed by a bend of the river, and the march of the several columns was unopposed till, clearing its northern extremity, they began to deploy to their right between St. Menges and Floing. Here they encountered French outposts, which fell back on their main position on the ridge, to the south of the Floing-Illy road. Against this position the German artillery now pressed forward, and seeing their exposed position, General Gallifet brought forward his brigade of Chasseurs d'Afrique and delivered a most dashing charge. But being unsupported he was compelled to withdraw again behind the cover of the Cazal-Illy ridge.
It was now about II A.M., and, whether moved by the belated impulse of Ducrot's orders or attracted by the apparent weakness of the Prussians within sight, the French infantry now made a brilliant counter-attack out of their position in their usual man ner. But German reinforcements coming suddenly into view, and
their élan having spent itself, they fell back again to their former position.
About noon Wimpffen rode up to General Douay and asked him whether he could hold on to his position. The latter, possibly elated by the success of his recent attack, replied in the affirma tive, pointing out only the importance of maintaining the Calvaire d'Illy to the north. Wimpffen promised him support from the I. corps on the right rear, part of which, hidden in the Bois de la Garenne, had as yet been little engaged, and then rode south to Balan, where he found the XII. corps fighting desperately. He then sent back to Douay for reinforcements, and the latter des patched all he could spare. These, marching south, crossed the troops of the I. corps sent to Douay's assistance. The Prussian shells were already crashing into the woods from all sides, and countless stragglers and riderless horses caused most serious delay. To gain time, Margueritte's division was ordered to charge. Mar gueritte was killed as he rode forward to reconnoitre, and Gallif et took command. "For the next half-hour," says the Prussian official account, "the scene defies description. Gallifet and his squadrons covered themselves with glory, but he had not 2,000 sabres at his disposal. Under the storm of shell and over the broken ground manoeuvring was impossible." It was not until about an hour after this series of cavalry charges that, between 3 and 4 P.M., the Germans at length gathered weight enough to attempt the assault of the French main position, and moved by a common instinct, lines of men almost 2 m. in extent, pressed on, gaining cover from the convex slope of the hill, till at length they were able to storm the stubbornly-defended ridge. Meanwhile, Wimpffen had initiated a fresh counter-stroke from the Fond du Givonne against Balan and Bazeilles. Carried out with mag nificent courage, it swept the Bavarians out of both villages, and for a moment the road seemed open for escape, but Wimpffen did not know that the IV. Prussian corps stood waiting behind the gap.
Riding back to the town to seek the emperor and implore him to place himself at the head of all available reinforcements, he saw a white flag break out from the steeple of the church tower, but almost instantaneously disappear. He did indeed reach the emperor, but, delayed by the appalling confusion, was too late. The flag had gone up again and he knew that further resistance was hopeless. The fighting did not cease at once. The troops he had directed to make the final effort, their eyes fixed on the enemy in front of them, never saw the flag; and until 6 P.M. a series of isolated attempts were made to break the iron circle with which the Germans had surrounded them. The emperor, who during the early hours of the day had fearlessly courted death, at length overcome by extreme physical pain and exhaustion, had ridden back to the town, and about 4 P.M., seeing no hope of success, had sent a parlementaire conveying his personal surrender to the king of Prussia, at the same time ordering the white flag to be hoisted. It was torn down by a Colonel Fauve, but was hoisted again half an hour later, when Prussian troops from Cazal were almost at the western gates of Sedan. It only remained for Wimpffen to make terms for the army, and after a long and gallant effort to avert the inevitable, he at length signed an un conditional surrender, with the sole alleviation (introduced as a tribute of respect for the gallantry shown by his men) that all officers were to retain their swords.
Thus passed into captivity 82,00o men, 558 guns and stores to an immense amount. The price to the victors for this result was in round numbers 9,000. The French killed and wounded numbered about 17,00o. (F. N. M.)