The French General Cambriels had been at Epinal with about 30,000 men ever since the beginning of October, and under cover of this force numerous battalions of National Guards and Gardes-Mobiles had been formed in the south of France. On the 6th, General von Degenfeld[38] with the advanced guard of the Baden force approached St. Die, marching on both banks of the Meurthe. The weak column was beset on all sides by far superior forces, yet after repeated attacks it succeeded in taking the villages which the enemy had been holding. The struggle, which lasted seven hours, ended with the eccentric retreat of the enemy to Rambervillers and Bruyeres. It had cost the Germans 400 and the French 1400 men. The Baden force bivouacked on the field, and presently found that the French had evacuated St. Die. General Cambriels had, in fact, collected all his available forces in intrenched positions about Bruyeres. The Baden Brigade advanced on these on the 11th, drove the Gardes-Mobiles and volunteers from the outlying villages, climbed the heights on both sides of the town, and forced its way into it with inconsiderable loss. The enemy retired to the southward on Remiremont. From the small resistance hitherto made by the French, though so far superior in numbers, General von Werder assumed that they would hardly make a stand before reaching Besancon, so he immediately countermanded further pursuit, though somewhat early in the day, and concentrated his forces on Epinal, which place was taken possession of by the Germans after insignificant fighting. From thence an etappen-route and telegraph-line were opened to Luneville and Nancy, magazines were formed, and the trains, which were following the Corps from Saverne by Blamont to Baccarat, were brought up. The railway along the Moselle remained, however, useless for a long time, in consequence of injury done to it by the enemy. General von Werder was now anxious, in accordance with his instructions of September 30th, to march on the Upper Seine by Neufchateau, but a telegram from the supreme Headquarter directed him in the first instance to complete the rout of the enemy in his vicinity under General Cambriels.