n unofficial mandate to
infuse vigour into the counsels at headquarters, and was entrusted with
a secret written order to take over the supreme command if anything were
to happen to MacMahon. On taking command of the 5th corps on the 30th,
de Wimpffen found it demoralised by the hurried retreat through Mouzon;
but neither this fact nor the exhaustion of the whole army abated the
determination of this stalwart soldier to break through towards Metz.

Early on September 1 the positions held by the French formed, roughly
speaking, a triangle resting on the right bank of the Meuse from, near
Bazeilles to Sedan and Glaire. Damming operations and the heavy rains of
previous days had spread the river over the low-lying meadows, thus
rendering it difficult, if not impossible, for an enemy to cross under
fire; but this same fact lessened the space by which the French could
endeavour to break through. Accordingly they deployed their forces
almost wholly along the inner slopes of the Givonne brook and of the
smaller stream that flows from the high land about Illy down to the
village of Floing and thence to the Meuse. The heights of Illy, crowned
by the Calvaire, formed the apex of the French position, while Floing
and Bazeilles formed the other corners of what was in many respects
good fighting-ground. Their strength was about 120,000 men, though many
of these were disabled or almost helpless from fatigue; that of the
Germans was greater on the whole, but three of their corps could not
reach the scene of action before 1 P.M. owing to the heaviness of the
roads[45]. At first, then, the French had a superiority of force and a
far more compact position, as will be seen by the accompanying plan.

[Footnote 45: Maurice, _The Franco-German War_, p. 235.]

We now resume the account of the battle. The fighting in and around
Bazeilles speedily led to one very important result. At 6 A.M. a
splinter of a shell fired by the assailants from the hills north-east of
that village, severely wounded Marshal MacMahon as he watched the
conflict from a point in front of the village of Balan. Thereupon he
named General Ducrot as his successor, passing over the claims of two
generals senior to him. Ducrot, realising the seriousness of the
position, prepared to draw off the troops towards the Calvaire of Illy
preparatory to a retreat on Mezieres by way of St. Menges. The news of
this impending retreat, which must be conducted under the hot fire of
the G