But General von Goeben was not inclined to give up his position at Bapaume. Under cover of a force in occupation of Favreuil, General von Kummer in the morning assembled the 30th Brigade in front of Bapaume, and behind it the 29th, of which, however, three battalions were left in the villages to left and to right. A reserve was established further to the rear at Tronsloy, whither the 8th Rifle Battalion, with two batteries, was detached; and General von Barnekow received orders to hold three battalions and the 2nd Foot Detachment in readiness at Sailly Saillisel, without raising the blockade. Finally the detachment under Prince Albrecht, jun.—three battalions, eight squadrons, and three batteries—advanced on Bertincourt, near to the subsequent battle-field. In this disposition, in bitterly cold and sullen weather, the attack of the French was awaited.
General Count von der Groeben had already sent the 7th Cavalry Brigade against the enemy's right flank, but it did not succeed in forcing its way through the villages occupied by the hostile infantry.
On the right wing the Division Robin was at Beugnâtre met by so sharp a fire from two battalions of the 65th Regiment and two horse batteries which had joined them from Transloy, that it withdrew again on Mory. The garrison of Favreuil was reinforced by two battalions and two batteries against the approach of the Division Payen, which was marching by the high road to the eastward of that place. The first French gun moving out from Sapignies was immediately destroyed, but several batteries soon became engaged on both sides, and the French forced their way into Favreuil and St. Aubin.
The 40th Regiment advanced on these places at noon from Bertincourt, and after a lively action re-occupied them; but had to evacuate Favreuil again, and took up a position alongside of the 2nd Guard Uhlan regiment and a horse battery sideward of Frémicourt, which secured the right flank of the Division.
On the left, the Division Bessol had driven the weak garrison out of Biefvillers. The 1st Battalion of the 33rd Regiment, which moved forward to retake that place, became hotly engaged; it lost all but three of its officers, and had to retire upon Avesnes. The Division Derroja also took part in this fight. The French now brought up a strong force of artillery, and extended their firing-line to the south nearly as far as the road to Albert.
Therefore, at mid-day, General von Kummer decided to confine himself to the local defence of Bapaume. At the cost of serious loss, the artillery covered the drawing in thither of the infantry. The 1st Heavy Battery, which was the last to withdraw, lost 2 officers, 17 men, and 36 horses; its guns could only be brought out of action with the help of the infantry.
In Bapaume the 29th Brigade now prepared for an obstinate defence of the old city wall, and the 30th assembled behind the place. The French advanced leisurely as far as the suburb. Then ensued a long pause in the fighting. General Faidherbe hoped to take the town by further encompassing it, without exposing it to a bombardment followed by a storm. A brigade of the Division Derroja endeavoured to advance through Tilloy, but met there with stubborn resistance from the Rifle Battalion and two batteries which had come up from Péronne. At the same time twenty-four guns of the batteries which had retired behind Bapaume opened fire on the advancing columns, which then withdrew, at half-past three, across the road to Albert. They soon resumed the attack, and succeeded in entering Tilloy. All the neighbouring batteries now opened fire upon this village. General von Mirus, who on the advance of the 3rd Cavalry Division had been left behind in Miraumont, saw no enemy in his front there, but heard the fighting at Bapaume, and advanced from the west, as did General von Strubberg from the town, to renew the attack. The French did not await their arrival, and were driven back out of the suburb and also Avesnes. The French Divisions spent the night at Grévillers, Bihucourt, Favreuil, and Beugnâtre, thus surrounding Bapaume on three sides. The day had cost the Germans 52 officers and 698 men, and the French 53 officers and 2066 men.
But only by exerting the whole available strength of the VIIIth Corps had it been possible to withstand the preponderating attack of the enemy. It had not yet been possible to replenish the Corps' supply of ammunition, and General von Goeben decided to immediately move back the fighting ground to behind the Somme. This movement was actually in process when the patrols brought information that the enemy was also evacuating the neighbouring villages.
The French troops, as yet unaccustomed to the vicissitudes of warfare, had suffered extremely from the previous day's fighting and the severe cold of the ensuing night. General Faidherbe could perceive that the forces before Péronne had been brought forward to Bapaume, and that the Germans thus reinforced would take the offensive. His chief object, the interruption of the siege of Péronne, had been obtained, and the General thought it best not to endanger that result by a second encounter. He led his Corps back in the direction of Arras. Of the German cavalry detachments following up the retirement the 8th Cuirassiers succeeded in breaking a French square. The 15th Division withdrew behind the Somme, immediately below Péronne, and the Saxon cavalry joined the right wing at St. Quentin.
Fighting on the Lower Seine.—January 4th.—Exactly at the same time the other Corps of the Ist Army was in conflict with the enemy on the Lower Seine. The French had not undertaken any new enterprise on the right bank of the river, but on the left bank they held the wooded heights of Bois de la Londe, which overhang the southern outlet of the Seine after its encircling the peninsula of Grand Couronne. Here General von Bentheim,[71] with a view of gaining room in this direction, had assembled half the Ist Army Corps, and advanced on the 4th of January on Les Moulineaux. Before daybreak Lieut.-Colonel von Hüllessem surprised the enemy's outposts there, stormed the rock-crowned fortalice of Château Robert le Diable, and took prisoners the defenders who had sought refuge amid the ruins of the castle. The heights of Maison Brulet were then scaled under the heavy fire of the enemy, and two of his guns were taken. After a renewed resistance at St. Ouen the French withdrew on Bourgachard in the afternoon, pursued towards six in the evening by a half squadron of dragoons, two guns, and a company carried on waggons, which took from them two 12-pounders posted at the entrance of Rougemontier, killing the gunners and capturing an ammunition waggon.