Arrival of the Tenth Corps.
Surveying the scene from the lofty upland above the wood for a time, he rode off to another eminence near Flavigny, because the stress of battle was then on the left wing, where the rest of the 10th Corps, so long absent from the field, had appeared just in time to encounter the fresh troops which had been led forward by Marshal Lebœuf and General de Ladmirault. When Von Bredow’s Brigade rode against Canrobert’s Corps, Von Barby’s horse were sent to guard the extreme left against a surprise from the masses of French troops gathering on the Doncourt hills. They pushed far northward, and sustained a cannonade from the enemy, who soon forced them to retreat; for Lebœuf, with Aymard’s Division—Bazaine had now called for Nayral’s as well as Montaudon’s—moved down towards the Tronville thickets, and Ladmirault, whose infantry had at length reached him from the Moselle valley, sent Grenier forward in line with Aymard. These two divisions, driving the horsemen back towards Tronville, at once assailed the woodlands, so often named, and combining their attack with that of Tixier, whose division formed the right of Canrobert’s Corps, they expelled the German infantry from the northern section of the wood. Lehmann’s Hanoverians and the wreck of the Brandenburgers gave ground slowly, but, after an hour’s severe bush-fighting, the left of the 3rd Corps was obliged to yield, and nothing restrained the advancing French infantry save the terribly effective fire of the German gunners, upon whom the brunt of the battle fell. As the most forward German guns were retired south of the highway, Grenier sent three batteries over the ravine, and fortune seemed, for the first time, to favour the Imperial soldiers. But, at this trying moment, the 20th Division of the 10th Corps—the men had already marched that day twenty-seven miles—appeared on the heights of Tronville. General von Kraatz, its commander, brought with him eight battalions, four squadrons, and four batteries, an opportune reinforcement, which had been led thither because the summons, given by faint reverberations of a heavy cannonade, heard at Thiaucourt, had been clenched by the arrival of a note written on the field of battle.
The artillery, as usual, took the lead, hastening to the field across country, and, before the infantry could advance twenty-four guns in action north of Tronville, checked the French skirmishers, and obliged Grenier’s batteries to recross the ravine. Then the foot went into the wood, and soon chased the French from all the copses except a patch on the north. At this time, General de Ladmirault, who had been joined by heavy masses of cavalry, had on the heights, near the farm of Greyère, abundance of artillery and De Cissey’s Division. On his right ran a deep and steep ravine towards Mars la Tour; he was about to cross this obstacle, and had, in fact, entered the hollow, intending to sweep down upon the German left, when he became aware that a strong hostile body was approaching from the west. It was General von Schwarzkoppen, commanding a division of the 10th Corps. He brought on to the field the 38th brigade, diminished, however, by detachments to five battalions, two companies of pioneers, twelve guns, and six squadrons of Dragoons of the Guard. General de Ladmirault’s proceedings had been closely watched by some German horse, and his advance-guard of Chasseurs d’Afrique had been driven out of Mars la Tour by the Dragoons of the Guard. Seeing the oncoming enemy, he hastily recrossed the ravine, and placed De Cissey and his artillery in position to resist any attack. The intelligence that an enemy had shown himself on the west had run along the French line, and had induced Grenier and Lebœuf to suspend their apparently prosperous onset, thus diminishing the pressure upon Von Kraatz in the Tronville wood, and also on the artillery, which had been so long engaged near Vionville. General Schwarzkoppen had, during the day, marched to St. Hilaire on his way to the fords of the Meuse; but, hearing the cannonade, he halted, sent out patrols, and finally moved off towards the battle, guided by columns of dust, clouds of smoke, and the deep-toned muttering of the rival guns. When he reached Mars la Tours, Voights-Rhetz, the Corps Commander, rode up. Both he and Prince Frederick Charles, who watched the fight from a hill above Flavigny, were under the delusion that the French right could be taken in flank by an attack from Mars la Tour; and Von Wedell, who commanded the newly-arrived brigade, was ordered to fall on. But, for once, the German Staff did not show their far-famed skill; for they did not reconnoitre the ground, nor had they observed the formidable array of De Cissey’s brigades. Von Wedell’s men dashed forward with alacrity, but found in their path a deep hollow, which covered the French front, as well as flank, on that side. Nevertheless, the battalions, in two lines, hurried down one bank and up the other, and then met an entire French Division. A brief and bloody fight at close quarters—the opposing lines were separated in some places by only fifty yards—ensued; but so continuous and deadly was the French fire that the sturdy Westphalians had to yield. Their dead and dying covered the summit, and filled the hollow way; two-thirds of the 16th Regiment were left on the field, and the whole brigade, shattered into a shapeless crowd of fugitives, hurried to the rear. Then forward to their succour came bounding the 2nd Dragoons of the Guard, Colonel von Auerswald at their head, spurring headlong to the front through the disordered crowd, taking the hedges and ditches in their stride, and galloping furiously into the midst of the pursuing French, who had leaped forward from the right of Grenier’s Division. It was a hopeless charge—a ride to certain death—but the readiness of the Dragoons saved the right of the brigade; yet at great cost, for they left dead on the field their brave Colonel, a Major, and three Captains. Nine officers in all, and seventeen men were killed; four officers and sixty men were wounded; while one officer and five men were captured. Two of Count Bismarck’s sons, privates in this regiment, rode in the charge; the eldest, Herbert, was shot in the thigh, the youngest, Wilhelm, a stout trooper, lifted a wounded comrade on to his horse, and carried him off the field. The charge of the Dragoons enabled the broken battalions to draw off towards Tronville, but the guns in position still held on near Mars le Tour, west of which, towards Ville sur Yron, a horse battery and a squadron of the 2nd Dragoons of the Guard were engaged in a smart skirmish with a body of Chasseurs d’Afrique. This encounter was followed shortly afterwards by