The French occupied in strength the summit of the entirely isolated hill; their batteries faced to eastward against the Bois de Givodeau, whence an assault threatened; but they swiftly changed front to the south and directed a heavy fire on the 93rd and the 2nd Battalion of the 27th, as they charged up on this face while the Fusilier battalion was at the same time pressing forward from the west. Regardless of their losses, the assailants eagerly scaled the ascent, the brigade and regimental commanders at their head. Six French guns were seized while in action, in spite of a brave resistance by the gunners and covering troops, and the enemy was pursued as far as the Roman road. Here four more guns, completely horsed, which had been abandoned by the artillerymen, fell into the hands of the conquerors. The three battalions[19] hurried on towards Mouzon, without waiting for the support of the[20] 14th Brigade following in rear, but they suddenly found themselves threatened by a cavalry-charge. Marshal MacMahon had recognized the fact that the only thing left him now to do was to effect as orderly an evacuation as possible of the left bank of the Meuse; the reinforcements sent across from the right had already been recalled. The 5th Cuirassier Regiment alone still remained. When, a little to the north of the Faubourg de Mouzon, it was reached by the fire of the advancing Prussians, the French regiment hurled itself upon the enemy with a noble contempt for death. The shock struck the 10th Company of the 27th Regiment. The soldiers, without closing their ranks, waited for the word of command of their leader, Captain Helmuth, and then fired a volley at close range, which struck down eleven officers and 100 men, the brave commander of the band of horsemen falling fifteen paces in front of his men. The survivors rushed back towards the Meuse, and, as all the bridges had been removed, they strove to gain the other side by swimming. Considerable masses of the enemy were still in front of Mouzon, and upon these the batteries of the IVth Corps, as one after another they came into action, directed their fire. Two Bavarian batteries brought under their fire the bridge at Villers, lower down the river, and prevented it from being used. Then the suburb was carried after a fierce encounter, and here too the bridge across the Meuse was taken and held. The enemy, deprived of every way of retreat, received with a hot fire the 8th Division emerging from the valley of the Yoncq, but was gradually driven back towards the river. The French troops in front of the Bois de Givodeau were also in a hopeless plight; they were assailed by the 7th Division and XIIth Corps, and were dispersed after an obstinate struggle. By nightfall the French had ceased their resistance on the hither side of the Meuse. Many lagging stragglers were taken prisoners, others hid themselves in the copses and farmhouses, or tried to escape by swimming the river.