During the charge, the distance between the first and second lines had become greater than at first ordered. When the first line broke in two, the second was still some 300 m. distant from the Prussian infantry and suffered some losses, probably from stray shots, which did not stop the movement however, as the fire soon ceased. German accounts, to be sure, do not mention that the second line could not be seen on account of the powder smoke, and that the fire was discontinued to let the smoke clear away. When the French line was 100 m. away it received the command _chargez_ and the Prussian infantry again resumed its rapid fire, which shattered the attack, the leading troopers breaking down in a ditch about 10 paces in front of the Prussian line. The third line, its cohesion impaired and its advance hampered by fallen horses and riders, was just as little able to reach the Prussian companies. The right wing of the Cuirassiers raced around the left flank of the companies of the 52nd Infantry and encountered the Füsilier Battalion of the 12th Infantry, deployed in a single firing line, dense in the center. Some parts of this battalion formed squares. The charge was definitely stopped by the fire of this battalion. An attempt to rally the Cuirassiers was prevented by Prussian cavalry which now moved out. The French regiment, which had begun its attack with 575 sabers, had lost 22 officers, 208 men (36.2% of its strength), and 243 horses. According to Dick de Lonlay,[314] after this charge, the regiment was able to form only 4 troops (_Eskadrons_) of 62 troopers each, instead of 5 troops (_Eskadrons_) of 115 troopers each, which would mean a loss of 248 men. The first line had suffered the heaviest losses; in the 4th troop (_Eskadron_), which had lost all of its officers and non-commissioned officers, only 18 men were left. [314] _Français et Allemands_, III, p. 84. KUNZ, _Kriegsgeschichtliche Beispiele_, 5, p. 11. The French _Gen. St. W._, II, pp. 301-309, gives the losses as 18 officers, 170 men, and 208 horses. A charge has a better chance of succeeding if it is prepared by artillery fire. During the attack made by two troops (_Eskadrons_) of Landwehr Hussars against the 1st Battalion _Gyulai_ at =Tobitschau=, an Austrian square was broken by shells before the cavalry penetrated it. During the attack of Bredow’s Brigade at =Vionville=, the artillery was able to send its last shells against the enemy immediately past the right flank of the cavalry brigade.