Page:Decisive Battles Since Waterloo.djvu/393

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BATTLE AND FALL OF SEDAN.
355

village as soon as they took possession, and opened fire with one battery of artillery upon the long lines of the French that were drawn up on the heights to the west. As soon as the fire was opened the French responded with five batteries. In half an hour three other German batteries came up, and the fight became more equal. Immediately following this artillery fight, strong bodies of Zouaves and Turcos from the first French corps attacked the German lines, but were driven back. When the advance of the division L'Artignes were crossing the valley of Daigny, the Saxons were already in possession of the wood. The Saxon supports came up rapidly and gave sufficient strength for an offensive movement. The Saxons steadily pushed on towards the edge of the valley. There was a sharp fight at Daigny, which resulted in the capture of 200 Zouaves, 3 mitrailleuses, and 3 guns. The Saxons halted at Daigny because their ammunition was running low, and the ammunition wagons were too far in the rear to enable them to get a fresh supply immediately. They held on to their position until ten o'clock, when the batteries of the Prussian Guards came up, formed in line with them, and thus gave them relief.

While this was going on, the French were pushing the Bavarians severely, and there was great fear that the French would succeed in breaking through the German lines between Montville and La Moncelle. The Bavarian commander sent a request for the Saxons to come to his aid. The latter complied with the request, and not a moment too soon. Just in time they closed the gap between their own left and the right of the Bavarians. The French made another furious attack, but were repulsed by the artillery and several divisions of infantry that were brought forward by ten o'clock or a little later. The entire valley of the Givonne, the Bazeilles rivulet, and the rivulet between Bazeilles and Daigny, had been given up by the French and occupied by the Saxons and Bavarians.