The New York herald., 1870-12-10


the whole sprang into life. Prom the farm build
ings about Tremb!ay and from St. Maur ard
louisville poured out vast bodies. The French
troops were deploying t double line.
which seemed to extend from the right
atnwart to the neck OF the LOOM what
happened az Champigny, l knew not from personal
observation, but / have been informed that the
Wurtemburgers after desperate fighting ha1 driven
the French out not long after eight to be In turn
subjected to violent attack and partial expulsion.
The tirailleurs dashed into the thicKets lining the
foot OF the rise and scrambled through the vine-
yards.
HOW THE FRENCH CROSSED THE RIVER.
Troops behind them followed In serried column
Whence had they come They had crossed dur
ing the night and occupied the loop. Their
bridges must have been between Joinville and
Nogent, and the nullifcation OF Bre enabled them
to use at later hour another bridge somewhere
between Brie and the railway viaduct
MOVEMENT TOWARDS vILLIERs
The Bois de Grace. lying in front OF the Champs
Afforded favorable cover for detour into the rear
of viers, which was evidently the point for which
the French advance was intended. That force Il
refer exclusively to the section which threatened
Villiers) must have been at least 10000 strong.
How large was the force with which the
Wustemburgers had to deal towards Champi.
gny, have no means Of knowing. In THESE
dense columns standing in support under Nogent
there could not have been less than 10000 men, and
In front of these were 10000 Of the left advance
with whom 10000 Sax0ns had to cope, ana not
with them alone, but with those terrible projectes
storm Of whoh necessarily dashed into the upper
ground, where stands villers. and into the glades
behind
ASPECT or THE FRENCH LINE.
The French skirmishers came up with as much
regularity as If the days work had been peaceful
parade. The deployment sprang up with immense
ropidity and seeming discipline but there appeared
considerable looseness in formation and q
total want Of interval and, indeed, In some
places, an overlapping OF pattalions. Had
there been nothing else to do by the
Saxons but repulse an assault on vnliers,
directed solely against It, the task would have been
comparatively simple and not very bloody. Not
withstanding an artillery fire by the French threat
ening, as it did, to sweep to right on overlapping
villiers, up to the space between that place and
Noisy and SO get through upon Cnaups, which
could only serve as position on which to lean the
Saxon left.
cOUNTER-ADvANCE BY THE sAxoNs.
II became necessary to meet the French in open
field. From behind villiers several regiments came
out to the right brow, under shell nre. As the
French came up there was general activity. The
gums Of the forts continued playing without inter-
ruption. So narrow was the margin that question
much whether q q shell or two did not find
its billet In the French ranks. / stood by
the losth regiment. As 1t quilted the pos,.
tion In which it found some shelter two
Lieutenants gaiy shook hands with the hussar
aide-de-camp, who had just ridden up with an
erder, as they passed him 60 out into the battle
On went the regiments in their dense columns O.
companies, shells now crashing into the ranks
and now exploding at intervals. A line wal
formed in the rear, files marching up in double
and In twinkling less than fifty yards separated
the combatants. First came volley, then followed
the venemous file firing. The French broke and
gave ground only back to the next dip, to let the
guns OF the fort 60 TO work again
The Saxons had to find what cover they
could. When the regiment came back
they had not been gone twenty minutes-thrty d We
out Of forty five officers had gone down. Neither OF
the blithe lieutenants was to the fore. Now came
lull In the musketry, as few minutes bofore
there had been lulng OF the cannonade The
saxons could not get their artillery into action with
advantage. The ground itself was unfavorable while
the fire from the forts must have speedily silenced
by the field guns. Therefore, this great advantage
was lost to them.
THE LAST FIGHTING.
All this took place before noon. After little the
artillery fire from the forts glackened consider
erably. The French infantry made no de-
monstraton on the German left. However about
Champigny 1t was evident that hard fighting
was going on. About one P. M. the French made
another advance, having received considerable re-
Inducements. The Saxon infantry confronted them
with the old result; but different policy was
this time to be adopted, 1t was plain, If
they only escaped from the thunderbolts that fell
IN their way In getting into close quarters with the
French infantry, unless indeed, retrograde move.
movement was to be made, and that was not to be
thought Of. SO, when the French fell back, the
Saxons followed, as If they wantee to settle the
question with bayonets. 1t was the old motto For
soayts fnlmer Joyoarts. But the ferwarts was
very slow.
DRAWN BATTLE.
What happened in the next hour / could only
guess by the constant cracking OF small arms.
The forts confined themselves seemingly, for the
most part, to firing into and over Cnampagny