Brunswick, who had left Grandpré and was already on the Châlons road, was forced to stop and face Dumouriez. Fearing that Dumouriez, by retreating, would once more escape, the King of Prussia, acting hastily and in opposition to the plans of Brunswick, ordered the march which brought his army to Valmy. On September 20, his army established itself opposite Valmy, five miles west of St. Menehould, on the Lune plateau which crosses the Sainte-Menehould-Châlons road through Auve. [Illustration: THE BATTLE OF VALMY (1792)] The Lune Inn, which then stood by the side of the road near the Lune crossroads, formed by the junction of the Somme-Bionne and Gizeaucourt roads, was pulled down about 1854 and the materials used for building one of the Maigneux farms. Thanks to the clever dispositions of Dumouriez, who directed General Stengel to occupy Mont-Yvon (in order to cover Valmy on the right), and General Chazot to march on the Lune heights (to protect Kellermann’s left), the latter was able to withstand the enemy assault. The Prussians decided to attack Valmy, and towards noon their infantry crossed the valley which lies between the two armies. But the French, drawn up on the ridge between Moulin and Valmy, under the command of Kellermann, hurled themselves on the Prussians and drove them back amidst cries of “Vive la Nation.” Brunswick, disconcerted, stopped the attack. Kellermann pressed on, while General Stengel held the Austrians on the right. About 4 o’clock, General Beurnonville came up with reinforcements, and the battle was won. On the evening of September 20, Dumouriez and Kellermann, agreeing that the position was dangerous, decided to evacuate Yvron and Valmy during the night, to cross the Auve and deploy between Dampierre and Voilemont. On the 21st, Kellermann, in his new position covered by the Auve and the Yevre confidently awaited a fresh Prussian attack, which, however, was never delivered. Discouraged, and anxious as to the health of his troops, the Duke of Brunswick, after ten days of vacillation, decided to retreat. Thanks to his clever negotiations, which misled Dumouriez, he succeeded in saving his army and in regaining the frontier without being pursued; but fatigue, hunger, and dysentery had decimated his forces. Of the 42,000 Prussians who invaded France in the previous August, barely 20,000 recrossed the frontier. The moral effect of the victory of Valmy was considerable. It was the first victory won by the Armies of the Revolution over the Allies. It humbled the pride of the Prussians and gave the French unshakable faith in the future of their arms. The German poet, Goethe, who followed the operations, said, in speaking of Valmy: “On that day and at that place began a new era in the history of the world.” [Illustration: THE FIRING-LINE IN ARGONNE DURING THE FIRST BATTLE OF THE MARNE (1914)]