Battle of Mars - la - Tour The Battle of Mars - La - Tour was fought on 16 August 1870 during the Franco - Prussian War near the town of Mars - La - Tour in northeast France . Two Prussia n corps encountered the entire French Army of the Rhine in a meeting engagement , and with the surprise entailed , successfully forced the Army of the Rhine to retreat into the fortresses of Metz . A cavalry patrol , the 1st Squadron of 1st Hanoverian Dragoon Regiment No . 9 , led by Rittmeister [ captain ] Oskar von Blumenthal , discovered that 130 , 000 French troops were attempting to escape from Metz to join with French forces at Verdun , after suffering several defeats at the front . This intelligence prompted General Prince Frederick Charles to send , on 16 August 1870 , a grossly outnumbered group of 30 , 000 men of the advanced III Corps ( of the 2nd Army ) under General Constantin von Alvensleben with orders to cut them off . They located the French Army near Vionville , east of Mars - la - Tour . Despite being outnumbered more than four to one , III Corps routed the French and captured Vionville , blocking any further escape attempts to the west . Once prevented from retreat , the French inside Metz had no choice but to fight a battle that would see the last major cavalry engagement in Western Europe . III Corps , reinforced by X Corps under Konstantin Bernhard von Voigts - Rhetz , was devastated by incessant cavalry charges , losing over half its soldiers , while the French suffered equivalent numerical losses of 16 , 000 soldiers , but still held on to overwhelming numerical superiority . On 16 August 1870 , the French could have swept away the key Prussian defense and escaped . Two Prussian corps attacked the French advance guard , believing that it was the rearguard of the retreat of the French Army of the Meuse . Despite this misjudgment , the two Prussian corps held the entire French army for the whole day . The extraordinary confidence and tenacity of the Prussians prevailed over Bazaine ' s gross indecision . Von Bredow ' s " Death Ride " . The Battle of Mars - La - Tour is also notable for one of the very few successful cavalry charges of modern warfare . Harassed by French artillery each time he redeployed his forces following a French attack , his infantry reserves exhausted and fearing that his shaky left flank was about to be charged by French cavalry , General von Alvensleben sent a message to the commander of the nearby 12th Cavalry Brigade , Major - General Friedrich Wilhelm Adalbert von Bredow , demanding that he silence French General François Canrobert ' s artillery and forestall a French cavalry charge with one of his own . Noting that " it will cost what it will " , von Bredow took his time to organize the brigade , consisting of the 7th Cuirassier s , 19th Dragoon s , and 16th Uhlan s . In what would become known as " Von Bredow ' s Death Ride " the cavalrymen rode out from Prussian lines at 14 : 00 , von Bredow using the terrain and gun smoke to mask movements from French observers until the very last moment . Bursting into view some 1000 meters from the French lines , the Prussian cavalry charged into and broke through the French gun lines , causing widespread panic and scattering Canrobert ' s soldiers in all directions . Two brigades of French cavalry attempted to counter - charge into Bredow ' s flank and rear , but were partially dispersed by Canrobert ' s infantry , who gunned down any cavalrymen they could see without discrimination . Having silenced the French artillery , neutralized the French cavalry , and panicked the French infantry , von Bredow ' s brigade managed to extricate itself and withdrew to their own lines . Of the 800 horsemen who had started out , only 420 returned . Among the wounded from the 12th Brigade was Lieutenant Herbert von Bismarck , son of the Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck . Results . The battle was a strategic victory for the Prussians . Bazaine had failed to make it to Verdun . In a short time , the Prussians trapped Bazaine in the city , and the siege of Metz ensued . Von Bredow ' s death ride " was perhaps the last successful cavalry charge in Western European warfare . " Its success won it renown among military historians that created a myth to the effect that " for some decades ' Bredow ’ s achievement was the norm ' , " that cavalry could still play a decisive role in battle in a modern war between equally equipped forces , and so cavalry units continued to be part of the armed forces of major European powers for the next half century .