The fighting had now died out on the right wing of the French army; but the IVth Corps had been enjoined to await the direct advance of the troops of that wing before renewing its attack on the artillery-front and village entrenchments of the line from Servigny to Poix, whose strength had been proved on the previous day. But towards eleven o'clock, after Noisseville had been heavily bombarded, the 3rd Prussian Brigade, supported by the Landwehr, advanced southward of the position, pushed its attack against that point, and compelled the French to withdraw from the burning village. Marshal Canrobert, on the northern front of the sortie, had brought up his batteries at Chieulles by half-past eight, and their fire, seconded by that of the artillery of the fortress, caused a temporary evacuation of Rupigny; but the village was soon reoccupied. Tixier's Division had made two fruitless attempts to seize Failly, and now, on the other hand, the 36th Brigade of the 18th Division came up, and taking the offensive in conjunction with the Reserve Division, at ten o'clock drove the French back over the Chieulles stream. They made still another onslaught on Failly, but the flanking fire made this also a failure. Marshal Le Boeuf, though he still had more than two Divisions to oppose it, held himself obliged to retreat on account of the approach of the Prussian 3rd Brigade on his right flank; and in consequence of the receipt of this intelligence, Marshal Bazaine at mid-day ordered the fighting to be broken off at all other points. The Army of the Rhine which issued from Metz on August 31st, with a strength of 137,000 men,[30] had been successfully opposed by no more than 36,000 Prussians. In this battle for the first time in the war the French were the assailants, the Germans had the role of the defence. That the Germans lost 3400 men against the loss of 3000 by the French, must be attributed to the higher properties of the infantry weapon of the latter. But the superiority of the Prussian artillery was decisively proved, and this it was which rendered possible General von Manteuffel's unshaken resistance. The VIIth Corps remained on the right bank of the Norelle, where the line of investment was now further strengthened by the arrival of the XIIIth Corps under the command of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg. On the left bank the IInd and IIIrd Corps were now able to return to their respective previous positions. On the same day and at about the same hour when the destruction of one French army was completed at Sedan, the other was returning to an apparently more and more hopeless detention in Metz. Thus the issue of the war was already beyond doubt after a campaign of but two months' duration; though the war itself was far from being ended. FOOTNOTES: [28] The IInd and IIIrd Army.