(Eskadron) following as a reserve. Although hampered in its movements and thrown into disorder by abandoned baggage wagons and other camp litter that covered the ground, the regiment nevertheless made the charge with superb gallantry.
The charge struck the 6th and 7th Companies of the 52nd Infantry, under Captain Hildebrand. These companies, rifles in hand and their leader in front, awaited the French cavalry, which came into view at a distance of 1200 m. The first echelon (6th and 4th Troops) was received with rapid fire at 250 paces. On the right, the 6th Troop (Eskadron) approached to within 60-80 paces of the Prussians, but a part then turned to the rear while a few troopers turned to the left. It is said, that of the leaders only one officer and one non-commissioned officer remained in the saddle, and that only twenty cuirassiers were rallied after the charge. The left troop (Eskadron) missed its objective completely. The Prussian rear rank faced about and fired on some French troopers who attempted to make an attack from the rear and who now also received fire from other units of Prussian infantry.
During the charge, the distance between the first and second lines had become greater than at first ordered. When the first line broke in two, the second was still some 300 m. distant from the Prussian infantry and suffered some losses, probably from stray shots, which did not stop the movement however, as the fire soon ceased. German accounts, to be sure, do not mention that the second line could not be seen on account of the powder smoke, and that the fire was discontinued to let the smoke clear away. When the French line was 100 m. away it received the command chargez and the Prussian infantry again resumed its rapid fire, which shattered the attack, the leading troopers breaking down in a ditch about 10 paces in front of the Prussian line. The third line, its cohesion impaired and its advance hampered by fallen horses and riders, was just as little able to reach the Prussian companies. The right wing of the Cuirassiers raced around the left flank of the companies of the 52nd Infantry and encountered the Füsilier Battalion of the 12th Infantry, deployed in a single firing line, dense in the center. Some parts of this battalion formed squares. The charge was definitely stopped by the fire of this battalion. An attempt to rally the Cuirassiers was prevented by Prussian cavalry which now moved out. The French regiment, which had begun its attack with 575 sabers, had lost 22 officers, 208 men (36.2% of its strength), and 243 horses. According to Dick de Lonlay,[1] after this charge, the regiment was able to form only 4 troops (Eskadrons) of 62 troopers each, instead of 5 troops (Eskadrons) of 115 troopers each, which would mean a loss of 248 men. The first line had suffered the heaviest losses; in the 4th troop (Eskadron), which had lost all of its officers and non-commissioned officers, only 18 men were left.
- ↑ Français et Allemands, III, p. 84. Kunz, Kriegsgeschichtliche Beispiele, 5, p. 11. The French Gen. St. W., II, pp. 301-309, gives the losses as 18 officers, 170 men, and 208 horses.
