page_title: Battle of Sedan
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Sedan / Battle
caption_attribution_description: English: The Prussian guards at the battle of Sedan (1870) Italiano: La Guardia reale prussiana in marcia per chiudere l'accerchiamento alla battaglia di Sedan (1 settembre 1870)
context_page_description: The Battle of Sedan was fought during the Franco-Prussian War from 1 to 2 September 1870. Resulting in the capture of Emperor Napoleon III and large numbers of his troops, it effectively decided the war in favour of Prussia and its allies, though fighting continued under a new French government.
  The 130,000 strong French Army of Châlons, commanded by Marshal Patrice de MacMahon and accompanied by Napoleon III, was attempting to lift the Siege of Metz, only to be caught by the Prussian Fourth Army and defeated at the Battle of Beaumont on 30 August. Commanded by Generalfeldmarschall Helmuth von Moltke and accompanied by Prussian King Wilhelm I and Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the Fourth Army and the Prussian Third Army encircled MacMahon's army at Sedan in a gigantic battle of annihilation. Marshal MacMahon was wounded during the attacks and command passed to General Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot, until it was taken over by General Emmanuel Félix de Wimpffen.
context_section_description: The battle opened with the Army of Châlons, with 202 infantry battalions, 80 cavalry squadrons and 564 guns, attacking the surrounding Prussian Third and Fourth Armies, which totaled 222 infantry battalions, 186 cavalry squadrons, and 774 guns.
  Napoleon had ordered MacMahon to break out of the encirclement, and the only point where that seemed possible was La Moncelle, whose flank was protected by a fortified town. The Prussians also picked La Moncelle as one point where they would mount a breakthrough. Prince George of Saxony and the Prussian XI Corps was assigned to the task, and General Baron von der Tann were ordered to attack Bazeilles on the right flank.
  This was the opening engagement, as the French 1st Corps had barricaded the streets, and enlisted the aid of the population. Von der Tann sent a brigade across pontoon bridges at 0400 hours in the early morning mist, the Bavarians rushing the village and capturing it through surprise. The French Marines of the 1st Corps fought back from stone houses and the Bavarian artillery shelled the buildings into blazing rubble. The combat drew new forces, as French brigades from the 1st, 5th, and 12th Corps arrived. At 0800 the Prussian 8th Infantry Division arrived, and von der Tann decided it was time for a decisive attack. He had not been able to bring artillery to bear from long range, so he committed his last brigade to storm the town, supported by artillery from the other side of the Meuse. His artillery reached Bazeilles at 0900 hours.
  The fighting continued to spread to the south of the town, and the 8th Infantry Division was sent to reinforce the Bavarians fighting at La Moncelle, where they had tried to break through the French defense. Fighting began in earnest at 0600, and the wounded MacMahon had appointed General Ducrot to command, who received the news at 0700. Ducrot ordered the retreat that Moltke had expected, but was overruled almost immediately by General Wimpffen, who had been given a commission by the government to succeed MacMahon were he to become disabled. Wimpffen then threw his forces against the Saxons at La Moncelle. This led to a brief rally for the French, who drove back the artillery around La Moncelle and pressed the Bavarians and the Saxons. However, with the taking of Bazeilles at 0800, and the arrival of fresh waves of Prussian troops, the counter-attack began to collapse.
  By 1100 hours, Prussian artillery took a toll on the French, while more Prussian troops arrived on the battlefield. The Prussian V and XI Corps reached their designated positions to the west and north-west of the French army by 0730 and 0900, respectively. A French cavalry unit advancing west was slaughtered by Prussian infantry and artillery fire. The Prussian artillery batteries took up positions along slopes overlooking the French army.
  Nonstop German artillery fire on the helpless French infantry and artillery, Prussian attacks from the northwest and east and Bavarian attacks from the southwest drove the Army of Châlons north into the Bois de la Garenne, where it was surrounded. Wimpffen at 1300 gave orders for a breakout to the south. The attacks failed completely or did not get going at all and Douay's 7th Corps front line was broken under the weight of German firepower. Douay's left flank had been dug in in two lines of trenches above Floing, their fire keeping the Germans pinned down in the village. By 1300, the German artillery had destroyed Douay's and the German 22nd Division turned Douay's left flank, defeating all counterattacks by French infantry and lancers. Douay directed General Jean Auguste Margueritte's cavalry squadrons to open an escape route by launching three desperate attacks on the nearby village of Floing where the Prussian XI Corps was concentrated. Margueritte was mortally wounded leading the very first charge, and the two additional charges were mowed down by German infantry fire at 1500, the number of French killed and wounded amounting to 791.
  By 1400, the German infantry had seized the Calvaire and opened fire on the huddled French masses 
caption: The Prussian Guards at the battle.
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