It was now ten o'clock at night. The 1st Division had kept its ground against an enemy of superior strength; but the French had penetrated into the unoccupied gap between the 3rd and 4th Brigades, and were a standing menace to the German flank at Servigny from their position at Noisseville. _September 1st._--The 18th Division, by a night-march, crossed from the left to the right bank of the Moselle at four o'clock in the morning, and reinforced with a brigade both flanks of the line Malroy--Charly--Bois de Failly. The 25th Division was now able to fall back from Antilly to St. Barbe, where, with the 6th Landwehr Brigade, it formed a reserve for the Poix--Servigny position. On the morning of the 1st of September a thick mist still shrouded the plain when all the troops stood to arms. Marshal Bazaine now again indicated to his generals the seizure of St. Barbe as the prime objective, since that alone could render possible the march to the north; and he added, "In the event of failure, we shall maintain our positions." This expression could only indicate the intention, in the event specified, of remaining under shelter of the cannon of Metz, and evinced but little confidence in the success of the enterprise now engaged in.[29] So early as five o'clock the 3rd Brigade had deployed on the Saarlouis road to prevent the further progress of the enemy on the left flank of the 1st Division. It swept the slopes in the direction of Montoy with the fire of twenty guns, and when Noisseville had been well plied for a considerable time by the fire of the artillery of the 2nd Brigade, about seven o'clock the 43rd Regiment carried the village by storm. A fierce fight ensued in and about the houses: two French brigades struck into the combat, and after a long whirl of fighting the German regiment was driven out again. Battalions of the 3rd Brigade came up just as the fight was over, but the attack was not renewed. Now that the direction of the French effort to break out was no longer doubtful, the 28th Brigade had started from Courcelles at six in the morning to reinforce the Ist Corps. Its two batteries silenced those of the French at Montoy, and then directed their fire on Flanville. The enemy soon began to abandon the burning village, which, at nine o'clock, the Rhinelanders entered from the south and the East Prussians from the north. Marshal Le Boeuf again sent forward Bastoul's Division on Montoy, but the extremely effective fire of the Prussian artillery compelled it to turn back. The 3rd Brigade had meanwhile taken up a position on the upland of Retonfay, where it was now joined by the 28th. The 3rd Cavalry Division was reinforced by the Hessian Horse Brigade, and these troops with the artillery mass made up presently to 114 guns, formed a rampart against any further progress of the IInd and IIIrd French Corps.