Prince George of Saxony had despatched an advanced guard of seven battalions from Douzy in that direction at five o'clock in the morning. They drove the French from La Moncelle, pressed ahead to Platinerie and the bridge there, and, in spite of a hot and steady fire, took possession of the houses on the other side of the Givonne, which they immediately occupied for defensive purposes. Communication with the Bavarians was now established, and the battery of the advanced guard was drawn up on the eastern slope; but the brave assailants could not be immediately reinforced by infantry.
Marshal MacMahon had been struck by a splinter from a shell at La Moncelle at 6 A.M., and he nominated General Ducrot as his successor in command, passing over the claims of two senior leaders. When General Ducrot received the news at seven o'clock, he issued orders for concentrating the army at Illy and for an immediate retreat upon Mezieres. Of his own corps he despatched Lartigue's division to cover the passage at Daigny; Lacretelle and Bassoigne were ordered to assume the offensive against the Bavarians and Saxons, so as to gain time for the rest of the troops to retire. The divisions forming the second line immediately began to move toward the north.
The Minister of War had appointed General von Wimpffen, recently returned from Algiers, to the command of the Fifth Corps, vice General de Failly, and had also empowered him to assume the chief command in case the Marshal were disabled. General von Wimpffen knew the army of the Crown Prince to be in the neighborhood of Donchery, he regarded the retreat to Mezieres as an impossibility, and was bent on the diametrically opposite course of forcing his way to Carignan, not doubting that he could rout the Bavarians and Saxons, and so effect a junction with Marshal Bazaine. When he heard of the orders just issued by General Ducrot, and, at the same time, observed that an assault upon the Germans in La Moncelle appeared to turn in his favor, he determined, in an evil hour, to exercise his authority. General Ducrot submitted without remonstrance; he was perhaps not averse to being relieved of so heavy a responsibility. The divisions of the second line that were about to march were ordered back; and the weak advance of the Bavarians and Saxons were soon pressed by the first line, who at once attacked them.
By seven in the morning one regiment of the Saxon advanced guard had marched to the taking of La Moncelle; the other had been busy with the threatening advance of Lartigue's division on the right. Here the firing soon became very hot. The regiment had marched without knapsacks, and neglected previously to take out their cartridges. Thus they soon ran short of ammunition, and the repeated and violent onslaught of the zouaves, directed principally against the unprotected right, had to be repelled with the bayonet. On the left a strong artillery had gradually been formed, and by half-past eight o'clock amounted to twelve batteries. But Lacretelle's division was now approaching on the Givonne lowlands, and dense swarms of tirailleurs forced the German batteries to retire about nine o'clock. The gunners withdrew to some distance, but then turned about and reopened fire on the French, and, after driving them back into the valley, returned to their original position.
The Fourth Bavarian Brigade had meanwhile reached La Moncelle, and the Forty-sixth Saxon Brigade was coming up, so the small progress made by Bassoigne's division was checked. The right wing of the Saxon contingent, which had been hard-pressed, now received much-needed support from the Twenty-fourth Division, and they at once assumed the offensive. The French were driven back upon Daigny, and lost five guns in the struggle. Then joining the Bavarians, who were pushing on through the valley to the northward, after a sharp fight, Daigny and the bridge and farmstead of La Rapaille were taken.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”
– Ephesians 2:8-9