By the battle of the previous day the position of the French before Le Mans had been forced; but they still stood firm behind the Huisnes, and as their left wing had been driven in on their centre, the latter section had been considerably strengthened. There still remained the stream to be crossed, and the steep slope to be climbed, where every row of the vineyards in terraced ascent was held by strong firing lines, and the crest of which was crowned with batteries. The passage of the Huisnes near Ivre, on the left, was covered by entrenchments with special carefulness, and the ground in front of the wood of Pontlieue had been made impassable in many places by abatis. Against such a position the artillery could be of little and the cavalry of no service, while deep snow hampered every movement of the infantry. General von Alvensleben therefore decided on standing for the present on the defensive with his right wing, while he prepared to support the advance of General von Voigts-Rhetz with his left. The troops were roused from their short rest at six in the morning. Two French companies made their way towards the bridge at Chateau Les Noyers with powder-bags, but they were compelled to retreat, leaving the explosives behind them. At eight o'clock the French made a determined attack on the outposts of the 12th Regiment in the wood, and drove them in on Le Tertre. Again a combat raged furiously about this farmstead, which was almost demolished by shell fire. One by one the last battalions of the 10th Brigade were drawn into the struggle, to replace bodies which, their ammunition exhausted, had to retire. Only four guns could be used with effect, but by eleven o'clock the enemy's fire gradually died away, and he was seen to retire on Pontlieue. The battalions of the left wing pursued, and came out on the Parigne road in immediate touch with the Xth Corps. General von Voigts-Rhetz had left two battalions at Mulsanne, for his protection from the direction of Ecommoy; the whole Corps, after many detachments had been unavoidably detailed from it, was assembled by about half-past seven for a further advance on Pontlieue. The main body of the 20th Division closed up by the Mulsanne road on La Tuilerie. Three battalions of the 19th Division massed at Ruaudin to strengthen the sideward detachments in Epinettes, while two battalions with the 14th Cavalry Brigade and the Corps' artillery, which could find no opening in the region further to the left, moved up by the roads from Parigne.