It was now about ten o'clock, and the guards had arrived at the Upper Givonne. They had set out before it was light, marching in two columns, when the sound of heavy firing reached them from Bazeilles and caused them to quicken their step. In order to render assistance by the shortest road, the left column would have crossed two deep ravines and the pathless wood of Chevallier; so they chose the longer route by Villers-Cernay, which the head of the right column had passed in ample time to take part in the contest between the Saxons and Lartigue's division, and to capture two French guns.
The divisions ordered back by General Ducrot had already resumed their position at the western slope, and the Fourteenth Battery of the guards now opened fire upon them from the cast. At the same hour (ten o'clock) the Fourth Corps and the Seventh Division had arrived at Lamecourt, and the Eighth at Remilly, both situated below Bazeilles; the advanced guard of the Eighth stood at the Remilly railway station.
The first attempt of the French to break through to Carignan eastward had proved a failure, and their retreat to Mezieres on the west had also been cut off, for the Fifth and Eleventh Corps of the Third Army, together with the Wurtemberg division, had received orders to move northward by that route. These troops had struck camp before daybreak, and at six o'clock had crossed the Meuse at Donchery, and by the three pontoon bridges farther down the river. The advanced patrols found the road to Mezieres clear of the enemy, and the heavy shelling, heard from the direction of Bazeilles, made it appear probable that the French had accepted battle in their position at Sedan. The Crown Prince therefore ordered the two corps that had arrived at Brigne to march to the right on St. Menges; the Wurtembergers were to remain to keep watch over Mezieres. General von Kirchbach then pointed out Fleigneux to his advanced guards as the next objective, to cut off the retreat of the French into Belgium, and maintain a connection with the right wing of the Army of the Meuse.
The narrow roadway between the hills and the river leading to St. Albert, about two thousand paces distant, was neither held nor watched by the French. It was not till the advanced guard reached St. Menges that they encountered a French detachment, which soon withdrew. The Germans then deployed in the direction of Illy, two companies on the right taking possession of Floing, where they kept up a gallant defence for two hours, without assistance, against repeated attacks.
The first Prussian batteries that arrived had to exert themselves to the utmost to hold out against the larger force of French artillery drawn up at Illy. At first they were protected only by cavalry and a few companies of infantry, and as this cavalry managed to issue from the defile of St. Albert it found itself the misleading object of attack, for the Marguerite cavalry division halted on the Illy plateau. General Galliffet, commander of the division, at nine o'clock formed his three regiments of Chasseurs d'Afrique and two squadrons of lancers into three divisions, and gave the order to charge. Two companies of the Eighty-seventh Regiment were the first in the line: they allowed the cavalry to approach within sixty paces, and then fired a volley that failed to stop them. The First Division rode on a little farther, then wheeled outward to both flanks and came upon the fire of the supports established in the copse. The Prussian batteries, too, sent a shower of shrapnel into their midst, when they finally retired to seek protection in the Bois de Garennes, while a trail of dead and wounded marked their way.
About half an hour later, that is, at ten o'clock, and at the same time when the assaults of the French in Bazeilles and at Daigny were being repelled, fourteen batteries of the Eleventh Corps were erected on and beside the hill range southeast of St. Menges; those of the Fifth Corps were soon added to this artillery park.
“A saint cannot do evil before men but he gives opportunity for sinners to speak evil of God. If there be any spots on a Christian's coat, the world will soon spy them.”
–George Swinnock in Works