The French troops, as yet unaccustomed to the vicissitudes of warfare, had suffered extremely from the previous day's fighting and the severe cold of the ensuing night. General Faidherbe could perceive that the forces before Peronne had been brought forward to Bapaume, and that the Germans thus reinforced would take the offensive. His chief object, the interruption of the siege of Peronne, had been obtained, and the General thought it best not to endanger that result by a second encounter. He led his Corps back in the direction of Arras. Of the German cavalry detachments following up the retirement the 8th Cuirassiers succeeded in breaking a French square. The 15th Division withdrew behind the Somme, immediately below Peronne, and the Saxon cavalry joined the right wing at St. Quentin. FIGHTING ON THE LOWER SEINE.--_January 4th._--Exactly at the same time the other Corps of the Ist Army was in conflict with the enemy on the Lower Seine. The French had not undertaken any new enterprise on the right bank of the river, but on the left bank they held the wooded heights of Bois de la Londe, which overhang the southern outlet of the Seine after its encircling the peninsula of Grand Couronne. Here General von Bentheim,[71] with a view of gaining room in this direction, had assembled half the Ist Army Corps, and advanced on the 4th of January on Les Moulineaux. Before daybreak Lieut.-Colonel von Huellessem surprised the enemy's outposts there, stormed the rock-crowned fortalice of Chateau Robert le Diable, and took prisoners the defenders who had sought refuge amid the ruins of the castle. The heights of Maison Brulet were then scaled under the heavy fire of the enemy, and two of his guns were taken. After a renewed resistance at St. Ouen the French withdrew on Bourgachard in the afternoon, pursued towards six in the evening by a half squadron of dragoons, two guns, and a company carried on waggons, which took from them two 12-pounders posted at the entrance of Rougemontier, killing the gunners and capturing an ammunition waggon. After a slight skirmish the enemy was also driven out of Bourgtheroulde and thrown back in the direction of Brionne. The French right wing at Elbeuf during the night hastily withdrew from a position rendered precarious by the wavering of the other detachments. The affair cost 5 officers and 160 men. The loss of the French must have been equal, besides which they lost 300 prisoners and 4 guns. General Roye posted his troops behind the Rille on the line Pont-Audemer--Brionne, but the Germans now held Bourgachard, Bourgtheroulde, and Elbeuf strongly garrisoned, with three battalions at Grand-Couronne in readiness to furnish support. The other troops returned to Rouen. An attempted advance of the French on the same day by the northern bank of the Seine had been arrested in front of Fauville, whence they again withdrew towards Harfleur.