Fighting thus with equal skill and success the IIIrd Corps had indeed already lost 450 men; but it had brought in more than 5000 prisoners, and had won many trophies of which it had a right to be proud.
The Xth Corps had started this day from Vancé and Brives, and unobstructed indeed by the enemy, but along very heavy roads, reached Grand Lucé at two o'clock. Here it took up quarters.
Of the XIIIth Corps the 17th Division had continued its advance along the left bank of the Huisne, and found Connerré already deserted by the French. But on the further side of the river the heights of Cohernières, the railway station, and the wood to the north, were occupied by the 2nd Division of the French XXIst Corps. General von Rauch led two battalions to the attack from the south, in which shared the 22nd Division from the east, having crossed the Huisne at Sceaux and taken the direction of Beillé by the right bank. A stubborn resistance was encountered, and the fight swayed to and fro till darkness fell. The Château of Couléon, indeed, and several villages at the foot of the wooded heights were taken, but the French maintained their hold on the heights and their position at Cohernières.
The 17th Division had meanwhile continued its advance along roads frozen as smooth as glass, and reached La Belle Inutile; the 22nd passed the night at Beillé.
This division had in the morning sent a detachment sideward to Bonnétable, whither the 4th Cavalry Division now proceeded. The 12th Cavalry Brigade followed to Bellême. Colonel von Beckedorff then continued his advance to Chanteloup, whence he drove out the French in spite of an obstinate defence.
General Chanzy had determined to risk a decisive battle in front of Le Mans. Curten's Division had not yet reached him, and only a part of Barry's had come up, but on the other hand the army from the camp of Conlie, in strength some 10,000 men, had arrived. The right wing of the French position rested its flank on the Sarthe near Arnaye[67]; it extended for more than four miles along the Chemin aux Boeufs, and continued in a slight curve leftward to the Huisne. Barry's Division, already weakened by previous reverses, and General Lalande's National Guards--undisciplined and badly armed troops--were posted on the extreme right which was the least threatened. Deplanque's and Roquebrune's Divisions, Desmaison's Brigade and Jouffroy's Division, held the centre and left, the last body in the first instance opposite to General von Alvensleben. Behind this line Bouëdec's Division and Colonel Marty's detachment constituted a reserve. In all from 50,000 to 60,000 men under the command of Admiral Jauréguiberry, with full ranks and well commanded, crowded the entrenched front of the most important section of the line--that between the two rivers (Sarthe and Huisne). Five Divisions more, under the command of General de Colomb, lined the right bank of the Huisne for a distance of about eight and a half miles, the Division Paris was at Yvré; Gougeard's Division, also holding the heights of Auvours on the hither side, was northward of Champagné; then came Rousseau's Division at Montfort and Pont de Gesnes, and finally, Collin's Division in hook-formation about Lombron. Besides these Villeneuve's Division, quite on the flank, fronted toward Chanteloup.