This attempt on the part of the French might be regarded as tentative, and preliminary only to a real effort to break through; perhaps it was so intended. The German troops therefore remained in the positions they had occupied at the close of the fighting, in expectation of renewed hostilities on the morrow.
The forts in fact opened a heavy fire on the farm-buildings early on the 8th, while the German batteries directed their fire on Ladonchamps. Strong columns also advanced along the right bank of the Moselle, but nowhere attempted a serious attack. The Prussian troops therefore presently retired to their quarters.
The artillery duel was carried on for the next few days, but with diminished energy. Constant rain made all field operations very difficult, and increased the sufferings of the men on both sides. In Metz the lack of victuals was becoming very painfully felt. So early as on the 8th the commandant had announced that his stores would not last longer than for twelve days. A council of war, held on the 10th, was, however, of opinion that the greatest service the Army of the Rhine could do to France was to hold out as long as possible, since it thus continued to detain a hostile army under the walls of Metz.
The Marshal now sent General Boyer to negotiate at Versailles, but his instructions were to demand a free exit for the army and explicitly to refuse the terms of the Sedan capitulation.
The state of affairs in Metz was perfectly well known to the Germans. The number of men who were taken willing prisoners while digging potatoes increased every day. They reported that disturbances had broken out in the city, in which even part of the soldiers had taken part, and that the commander-in-chief had been compelled to proclaim the Republic. And since the Empress had declared that she would never give her consent to any diminution of French territory, no further political negotiations were possible with the chiefs of the Army of the Rhine.
On the 20th the distribution of stores came to an end within the fortress, and the troops thenceforth for the most part subsisted on horseflesh. The original stock of 20,000 horses was reduced by a thousand a day. The want of bread and salt was severely felt, and the soaked, deep ground made living in camp almost unendurable.
After the failure of the negotiations at Versailles, the imperative necessity of entering into negotiations with the Headquarter of the besieging army was recognized by a council of war held on the 24th.
The first interview had no result, as the Marshal still stipulated for free egress on condition of withdrawing to Algiers, or the alternative of an armistice with the reprovisioning of Metz. On the German side the surrender of the fortress and the march out of the garrison as prisoners of war were insisted on, and on these conditions the capitulation was signed on the evening of the 27th of October.