The 52nd Regiment, having expended all its ammunition, had to retire, but the Grenadier battalions pushed further forward on the cattle-path, where two French guns in action were captured after a bloody mêlée; and the enemy's repeated attempts to recover them were steadily frustrated. A hostile battery which had been brought up westward of the wood was driven back by quick fire.
As the 35th Regiment had to be brought forward from the Gué Perray brook to support the 20th, the French had recovered possession of Les Arches. The 12th Brigade, only three battalions strong, arrived there from Auvours at two o'clock. The 64th Regiment recaptured the château after a short fight. The overwhelming artillery and musketry fire from the heights on the further side of the river prevented the German artillery from coming into action, and it was only with great difficulty and a heavy sacrifice of gunners that the pieces were brought away again; but every attack on the château by the French from Yvré was steadily repulsed.
It was now quite dark, and only the fire of the cannon still lasted. The IIIrd Corps had taken 600 prisoners, but had also lost 500 men. It had fought its way into the heart of the French position, and its outposts were in the closest proximity to the enemy's front. And now strong, though late, reinforcements arrived.
The Xth Corps had marched from Grand Lucé to the westward in the morning, to gain the high road from Tours to Le Mans, but slippery roads again delayed its march, so that it only reached Teloche in the afternoon.
The cannon thunder heard to the northward left no doubt that General von Alvensleben was engaged in arduous fighting. The orders sent at noon from the Army Headquarter in St. Hubert sped to General Voigts-Rhetz; but that officer rightly judged that his appearance would now have a more telling effect on the enemy's flank than on the field where the IIIrd Corps was engaged. So in spite of the exhausted state of his men, who had had no opportunity to cook on the way, he at once pushed forward without halting.
To protect himself against Curten's Division on the watch for him from Château du Loir, he despatched a battalion to Ecommoy. It was received with firing from the houses, surrounded on all sides in the darkness, and compelled to withdraw from the place; but it then kept the road clear in the rear of the corps.