Soon after midnight the divisions were assembled behind the outposts, and the trains were sent back first. At noon the troops were able to follow over the bridges at Neuilly, Bry, and Joinville. Only one brigade remained in position to cover the passage. The retreat was very skilfully covered by a series of small attacks on the German outposts. The French batteries had opened fire at Le Plant and Bry by daybreak, and the withdrawal of the enemy's army was completely hidden by the thick mist. General Fransecky assembled the Saxon and the Wuertemberg Divisions in a fighting position at Villiers and Coeuilly, the 7th Brigade with the Corps-Artillery of the IInd Corps and two regiments of the VIth at Chennevieres, intending to wait for the expected reinforcement which the VIth Corps had agreed to furnish for the 4th. The 23rd Division also received orders from the Crown Prince of Saxony to cross to the left bank of the Marne, whilst the Guard Corps had meanwhile extended its outposts to Chelles. So remained matters on the 3rd, with the exception of petty frays, and at four o'clock in the afternoon the troops were able to return to quarters. When early on the 4th patrols rode forward towards Bry and Champigny, they found these places vacated, and the peninsula of Joinville deserted by the enemy. The IInd French Army, which had been severely reduced and its internal cohesion much shaken, returned to Paris; on its own report it had lost 12,000 men. The German troops engaged had lost 6200 men, but resumed their former positions in the investing line. This energetic attempt on the part of General Ducrot was the most serious effort that was made for the relief of Paris. It was directed towards what was at the moment the weakest point of the investment, but met with any success only at the outset.[47] FOOTNOTES: [46] Commanding 3rd Infantry Division. [47] A legend was subsequently circulated that the voice of one general in a German council of war had, in opposition to all the others, prevented the removal of the chief head-quarters from Versailles. Apart from the fact that during the whole course of the invasion no council of war was ever held, it never occurred to any member of the King's military suite to set so bad an example to the army. [Moltke.] THE ADVANCE OF THE IST ARMY IN NOVEMBER. The newly-formed levies in northern France were not remaining inactive. Rouen and Lille were their chief centres. In front of the latter place, the Somme with its fortified passages at Ham, Peronne, Amiens, and Abbeville afforded a line equally advantageous for attacks to the front or for secure retreat. Isolated advances had, indeed, on various occasions, been driven back by detachments of the Army of the Meuse, but these were too weak to rid themselves of the continued molestation by pursuit pushed home. We have already seen how, after the fall of Metz, the IInd Army marched to the Loire, and the Ist into the northern departments of France.