CHAPTER VII. VON MOLTKE KEEPS THE WHIP HAND. The French Propose to Move—The Battle of Colombey-Nouilly—Von Golz Dashes In—The End of the Battle—The French Retreat—The Germans Cross the Moselle—The Cavalry Beyond the Moselle—Orders for the Flank March—The Emperor Quits the Army 145 CHAPTER VIII. THE FRENCH RETREAT THWARTED. Vionville-Mars la Tour—The Vionville Battlefield—The French are Surprised—The Third Corps Strikes In—Arrival of Bazaine—Bredow’s Brilliant Charge—The Fight becomes Stationary—Arrival of the Tenth Corps—The Great Cavalry Combat—End of the Battle 167 CHAPTER IX. PRESSED BACK ON METZ. Marshal Bazaine—The Battlefield of Gravelotte—The German Plans—The Battle of Gravelotte—Prince Frederick Charles at the Front—Steinmetz Attacks the French Left—Operations by the German Left Wing—General Frossard Repels a Fresh Attack—The Last Fights near St. Hubert—The Prussian Guard on the Centre and Left—The Capture of St. Privat 188 CHAPTER X. THE STATE OF THE GAME, AND THE NEW MOVES. The King Marches Westward—The Cavalry Operations—The Emperor at Chalons and Reims—MacMahon retires to Reims—The Chalons Army Directed on the Meuse 228 THE GRAND RIGHT WHEEL. The Cavalry Discover the Enemy—Movements of the French—The Marshal Resolves, Hesitates, and Yields—Movements of the Germans—Effects of MacMahon’s Counter-orders—German and French Operations on the 29th—The Combat at Nouart—The State of Affairs at Sundown—The Battle of Beaumont—The Surprise of the Fifth Corps—The Flight to Mouzon 244 CHAPTER XII. METZ AND STRASBURG. The Battle of Noisseville 276 CHAPTER XIII. SEDAN. German Decision—Confusion in the French Camp—The Movements of the Germans—The Battlefield of Sedan—The Battle of Sedan—MacMahon’s Wound and its Consequences—Progress of the Battle on the Givonne—The March on St. Menges—The Eleventh and Fifth Corps Engage—The Condition of the French Army—The French Cavalry Charge—General de Wimpffen’s Counter stroke—The Emperor and his Generals—King William and his Warriors—How the Generals Rated Each Other—The Generals Meet at Donchery—Napoleon III. Surrenders—The French Generals Submit—The End 285 APPENDICES.