General Schultz, captured La Rulle, and insured the junction of the army

of the Meuse with the Royal Guard. Almost at the same minute, with

German precision, the Wurtemburgers seized the bridge of La Platinerie,

and hidden by the Chevalier Wood, the Saxon battalions, spread out into

company columns, occupied the whole of the road from La Moncelle to

Villers-Cernay.

Thus, as we have seen, the awakening of the French Army was horrible. At

Bazeilles a fog was added to the smoke. Our soldiers, attacked in this

gloom, knew not what death required of them; they fought from room to

room and from house to house.[39]

It was in vain that the Reboul brigade came to support the Martin des

Pallières brigade; they were obliged to yield. At the same time Ducrot

was compelled to concentrate his forces in the Garenne Wood, before the

Calvary of Illy; Douay, shattered, fell back; Lebrun alone stood firm on

the plateau of Stenay. Our troops occupied a line of five kilomètres;

the front of the French army faced the east, the left faced the north,

the extreme left (the Guyomar brigade) faced the west; but they did not

know whether they faced the enemy, they did not see him; annihilation

struck without showing itself; they had to deal with a masked Medusa.

Our cavalry was excellent, but useless. The field of battle, obstructed

by a large wood, cut up by clumps of trees, by houses and by farms and

by enclosure walls, was excellent for artillery and infantry, but bad

for cavalry. The rivulet of Givonne, which flows at the bottom of the

valley and crosses it, for three days ran with more blood than water.

Among other places of carnage, Saint-Menges was appalling. For a moment

it appeared possible to cut a way out by Carignan towards Montmédy, and

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The History of a Crime