On the German side it was still expected that the Marshal would strike for Mézières. The Army of the Meuse was ordered to attack the enemy's positions with the object of detaining him in them; the IIIrd Army, leaving only one Corps on the left bank, was to press forward on the right side of the river.
The French position about Sedan was covered to rearward by the fortress. The Meuse and the valleys of the Givonne and the Floing brooks offered formidable obstructions, but it was imperative that those outmost lines should be obstinately held. The Calvary height of Illy was a very important point, strengthened as it was by the Bois de Garenne in its rear, whence a high ridge stretching to Bazeilles afforded much cover in its numerous dips and shoulders. In the event of a retreat into neutral territory in the last extremity, the road thereto lay through Illy. Bazeilles, on the other hand, locally a very strong point of support to the Givonne front, constituted an acute salient, which, after the loss of the bridges across the Meuse, was open to attack on two sides.
FOOTNOTES:
[18] The Army of the Meuse constituted the right wing; the IIIrd Army, the left.
[19] Of 27th and 93rd Regiments.
[20] Read in "rest of the."
[21] Douzy is on the north bank of the Chiers.
[22] Commanding Ist Bavarian Corps.