French Cavalry’s Desperate Counter-Attack

But this magnificent sacrifice of the splendid French cavalry could not change the fate of the day.

Continuing Battle of Sedan,
with a selection from The Franco-German War of 1870-1871 by Helmuth von Moltke published in 1893. This selection is presented in 4.5 easy 5 minute installments. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in Battle of Sedan.

Time: 1870
Place: Sedan, France

On rejoining the Twelfth Corps he found it in full retreat on Sedan, and urgently requested General Douay to dispatch assistance in the direction of Bazeilles. Maussion’s brigade marched thither at once, followed by Dumont’s, as their position in the front had been taken by Conseil Dumesnil’s division.

All these marches and countermarches were executed in the space south of the Bois de Garennes under fire of the German artillery on two sides. The retreat of the cavalry heightened the confusion, and several battalions returned to the doubtful protection of the forest. General Douay, it is true, when reinforced by sections of the Fifth Corps, retook the Calvaire, but was forced to abandon it by two o’clock; the forest, at the back of the Calvaire, was then shelled by sixty guns of the guards.

Liébert’s division alone had so far maintained its very strong position on the hills north of Casal. The assembling in sufficient strength of the German Fifth and Eleventh corps at Floing could be effected only very gradually. At one o’clock, however, part of them began to scale the hill immediately before them, while others went round to the south toward Gaulier and Casal, and more marched down from Fleigneux. These troops became so intermixed that no detailed orders could be given; a fierce contest was carried on for a long time, with varying fortunes. The French division, attacked on both flanks, and also shelled, at last gave way, and the reserves of the Seventh Corps having already been called to other parts of the battle-field, the French cavalry again devoted themselves to the rescue.

General Marguerite, with five regiments of light-horse and two of lancers, charged out of the Bois de Garennes. He fell among the first, severely wounded, and General Galliffet took his place. The charge was over very treacherous ground, and, even before they could attack, the ranks were broken by the heavy flanking fire of the Prussian batteries. Still, with thinned numbers but unflagging determination, the squadrons charged on the Forty-third Infantry Brigade and its reinforcements hurrying along from Fleigneux. Part of the German infantry on the hillside were lying under cover, others were fully exposed in groups. Their foremost lines were broken through at several points, and a detachment of these brave troops forced their way past eight guns, through a hot fire, but the reserves beyond checked their further progress. A troop of cuirassiers, issuing from Gaulier, fell on the German rear, but encountering the Prussian hussars in the Meuse Valley galloped off northward. Other detachments forced their way through the infantry as far as the narrow way by St. Albert, where the battalions holding it gave them a warm reception; others again entered Floing only to succumb to the Fifth Jaegers, who fell on them front and rear. These attacks were repeated by the French again and again, and the murderous turmoil lasted for half an hour with steadily diminishing success for the French. The volleys of the infantry, fired at short range, strewed the whole field with dead and wounded. Many fell into the quarries or over the steep precipices, a few may have escaped by swimming the Meuse; and scarcely more than half of these brave troops were left to return to the protection of the fortress.

But this magnificent sacrifice of the splendid French cavalry could not change the fate of the day. The Prussian infantry had lost but few in cut-and-thrust encounters, and at once resumed the attack against Liébert’s division. But in this onslaught they sustained heavy losses; for instance, the three battalions of the Sixth Regiment had to be commanded by lieutenants. Casal was stormed, and the French, after a spirited resistance, withdrew at about three o’clock to their last refuge, the Bois de Garennes.

When, between one and two o’clock, the fighting round Bazeilles at first took a favorable turn for his army, General von Wimpffen returned to his original plan of overthrowing the Bavarians, exhausted by a long struggle, and making his way to Carignan with the First, Fifth, and Twelfth corps; while the Seventh Corps was to cover their rear. But the orders issued to that effect never reached the generals in command, or arrived so late that circumstances forbade their being carried out.

In consequence of his previous orders, Bassoigne’s division, with those of G020 and Grandchamp had remained idle. Now, at about three in the afternoon, the two last named advanced from Fond de Givonne over the eastern ridge, and the Twenty third Saxon Division, which was marching in the valley on the left bank of the Givonne, found itself suddenly attacked by the compact French battalions and batteries, but with the aid of the left wing of the guards and the artillery thundering from the eastern slope they soon repelled the French, and even followed them up, back to Fond de Givonne. The energy of the French appears to have been exhausted, for they allowed themselves to be taken prisoners by hundreds. As soon as the hills on the west of the Givonne had been secured, the German artillery established itself there, and by three o’clock twenty-one batteries stood in line between Bazeilles and Haybés.

The Bois de Garennes, where corps of all arms had found refuge and were wandering about, still remained to be taken. After a short cannonade the First Division of guards ascended the hills from Givonne, and were joined by the Saxon battalions, the left wing of the Third Army at the same time pressing forward from Illy. A wild turmoil ensued, some of the French offered violent resistance, others surrendered by thousands at a time, but not until five o’clock were the Germans masters of the fortress.

Helmuth von Moltke begins here. Otto von Bismark begins here.

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