After a prolonged fire-fight, the French renewed their onslaught at 8.30, but without success; and then the defenders, reinforced from the reserve, retaliated with a vigorous counterstroke. At ten o'clock the enemy retreated to Villejuif. Admiral Pothuau at the same time had moved up the Seine with Marines and National Guards. An outpost at Gare aux Boeufs was surprised and captured, and Choisy le Roi was fired upon by field-guns, fortress artillery, and gunboats which appeared on the Seine. Just as the Grenadiers of the 10th (Prussian) Regiment were on the point of making an attack, General Vinoy broke off the fight. This demonstration cost the French 1000 men and 300 uninjured prisoners; the Prussians, remaining under cover, lost only 140 men. The fortress kept up its fire till mid-day, and then the enemy was allowed a short truce, to remove his numerous wounded. Against the front of the Vth Corps also, a strong infantry force advanced at eight o'clock upon Garches and Malmaison, and drove in part of the outposts. But it soon found itself opposed by closed battalions, and at noon retreated to Valerien. FOOTNOTE: [45] Obvious misprint for 28th. THE ATTEMPT OF THE ARMY OF PARIS TO BREAK OUT. (November 30th and December 2nd.) On November 30th the IInd Paris Army opened the battle which was to decide the fate of the capital. To hinder the reinforcement of the Germans towards the real point of attack, almost every section of their line of investment was again engrossed by sorties. To the duty of pushing an attack against the southern front, General Ducrot assigned Susbielle's Division of his IInd Corps. It reached Rosny so early as three o'clock in the morning, crossed the Marne at Creteil by a field-bridge, and from thence, briskly supported by the nearest forts, opened fire on the outpost line of the Wuertemberg Division, which had been pushed forward to Bonneuil and Mesly. General von Obernitz (commanding the Division) had an extended position to maintain. His 1st Brigade was at Villiers on the peninsula of Joinville, his 2nd at Sucy en Brie, and his 3rd at Brevannes. The Division was placed under the Commander of the Army of the Meuse, who had been instructed from Versailles to reinforce it strongly by the XIIth Corps, or even by troops of the Guard Corps. From the great accumulation of hostile forces on Mont Avron, the Saxon Corps believed itself directly threatened on the right bank of the Marne, and requested to be immediately transferred to the left; the Crown Prince of Saxony gave the order that the whole 24th Division should assemble there on the following day. Thus for the present the only aid that could be rendered to the Wuertembergers was from the wing of the IInd Corps at Villeneuve, of which the 7th Infantry Brigade moved up near Brevannes to Valenton.