Page 380 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

362 GENERAL GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI

took up position and was joined soon afterward by the light Battery; Daix
was occupied.
All the troops of the Army of the Vosges, then, took up arms; Menotti’s
Brigade occupied Talant with a battalion of mobilisés from the Maritime Alps;
the region of the Isère, a battalion of the Saône, the volunteers of the Rhine,
the IInd battalion of Maritime Alps and 6 companies of the Lower Pyrenees
occupied Plombières; the mobile troops of the Aveyron Fontaine.
Menotti ordered to attack Daix but they were driven back; also an over-
flanking movement against Weyrach’s left flank failed, but the snipers
remained in Hauteville on the flank of the Prussians.
Kroseck ‘s column advanced on Plombières and Neuvon and took by sur-
prise a company of mobile troops from Saône-et-Loire, taking them prisoners;
continuing its advance, it was stopped at the town of Plombières, energetically
defended by the companies of the Lower Pyrenees and was forced to withdraw.
At 5 pm General von Kettler concentrated the fire of his two Batteries on
Talant and then he attacked the town; but because it was late, at around 6pm,
the attack was suspended and the two adversaries remained in contact on the
borders of the built-up area. Von Conta’s column clashed in Messigny with
the French troops of the «Enfants perdus de la montagne» and tried to drive
them away, but Ricciotti arrived to strengthen them and, after detaching
three companies in Asnières with the order of remaining there till the end, he
rushed to Messigny.
The relentless fight continued inside the town up to 4 pm; but Ricciotti,
having received the order of withdrawing to Dijon after the progress of the
Prussian central column on the road to Saint-Seine, withdrew with his
Brigade via Ventoux to Daix, and when he arrived there continued the front
of Menotti’s Brigade till night.
In the meantime von Conta had uselessly attacked Asnières, and fearing
of being overflanked on his left flank by the Garibaldians who occupied
Norges-la-Ville, retreated to Savigny-le-Sec without getting in contact with
the central column.
This latter, for security reasons, during the night sent a battalion to
Hauteville; having found it occupied by two 2 Battalions of the 3 rd legion
from Saône-et-Loire, about 1200 men, he attacked and the mobilisés scat-
tered at the first rifle shots.
In all these fights, the Prussians had lost 19 officers and 322 soldiers. The
losses among the Garibaldians were as serious as those of the Prussians: 7 offi-