General Farre, with his 17,500 men distributed into three brigades, stood eastward of Amiens on the south bank of the Somme, about Villers Bretonneux and Longueau along the road to PÉronne, holding also the villages and copses on his front. Besides these troops there were 8000 Gardes-Mobiles occupying an intrenched position about two and a half miles in front of the city.

In accordance with instructions from the Army Headquarter, General von Goeben (commanding the VIIIth Corps) had given orders for the 27th that the 15th Division should take up quarters at Fouencamps and Sains; the 16th at Rumigny and Plachy and in the villages further back; the Corps-Artillery at Grattepanche. Consequently the VIIIth Corps was to be assembled before Amiens between the Celle and the Noye, at the distance, then, of nearly two and a half miles from the Ist Corps, and divided from it by the latter brook and the Avre. General von Bentheim (commanding the 1st Division, Ist Corps[50]) on the other hand, had sent his advanced guard, the 3rd Brigade, into quarters north of the Luce.

At an early hour that brigade seized the passages of the brook at DÉmuin, Hangard, and Domart. At ten o'clock it moved forward in order to occupy the appointed quarters, and as the enemy were already in possession, a fight began which gradually increased in magnitude.

The wooded heights on the north bank of the Luce were taken without any particular resistance, and maintained in spite of several counter strokes by the French. The artillery pushed forward through the intervals of the infantry. On the left the 4th Regiment seized the village of Gentelles, on the right the 44th Regiment rushed up to within 300 paces of the left flank of the French position, and by a vigorous onslaught carried by storm the earthworks at the railway cutting east of Villers Bretonneux. Soon after mid-day heavy hostile masses drew up at Bretonneux and in Cachy, directly opposite the 3rd Brigade, which was extended along a front of some four miles.

On the left wing of the Germans the 16th Division had by eleven o'clock already reached its assigned quarters, and had driven the enemy out of HÉbecourt, as well as out of the woods north of that village towards Dury. The 15th Division, in compliance with the enjoined assemblage of the VIIIth Corps on the left bank of the Noye, moved westward from Moreuil through Ailly to Dommartin, its advance guard which had been holding Hailles marching direct on Fouencamps. Thus it happened that before noon the roads from Roye and Montdidier between the two Corps were left completely uncovered by troops on the German side, while a French brigade was standing at the fork of these roads at Longueau, though, in fact, it remained absolutely inactive. This interval was at first screened only by the numerous retinue and staff escort of the Commander-in-Chief; and then it was to some extent filled by the battalion constituting the guard of the headquarter. As, however, after ten o'clock the French on their side commenced an attack on the 3rd Brigade, General von Manteuffel ordered the 15th Division to join in the fight as far as possible toward the right wing.

After a staunch defence the companies of the 4th Regiment were driven back out of the Bois de Hangard towards the declivity of the height in front of DÉmuin, and subsequently, having expended all their ammunition, the defenders of Gentelles were driven back to Domart.

General von Strubberg (commanding 30th Infantry Brigade, VIIIth Corps), on instructions from the scene of combat in front of the Luce, had sent four battalions in that direction, which crossed the Avre, but came under such a heavy fire from the Bois de Gentelles that their further advance was prevented, and they had to change front against the wood. Behind them, however, the other detachments of the 30th Brigade pressed forward to St. Nicolas on the right bank, and to Boves on the left, and in co-operation with the 29th Brigade drove the French from the neighbouring Ruinenberg.

Meanwhile a part of the approaching 1st Division came up behind the 3rd Brigade. The artillery positions were considerably strengthened, and the cannon fire was directed against the earthworks south of Bretonneux. As the nearest support the Crown Prince's Regiment went forward, and soon the French were again driven out of the Bois de Hangard. The East Prussians following them up, took cover in front of the earthworks; several detachments of the 4th and 44th Regiments gradually collected there from the neighbouring woods, and the enemy was then driven back from this position. Thirteen batteries now silenced the French artillery, and, after they had fired for some time on Bretonneux, the place was, at four o'clock, seized by the Prussians pouring in from all sides with drums beating. The French in its interior made only a weak defence at isolated points; for the most part they hurried over the Somme at Corbie under cover of the darkness, and with the loss of 180 unwounded prisoners.

When, somewhat later, the French General Lecointe advanced with the reserve brigade on Domart, he found that crossing point already in possession of the 1st Division, and turned back. Cachy only was held by the French till late in the evening.

The troops of the Ist Corps were distributed for the night in the hamlets to the south of the Luce; but the outposts were established on the northern bank of the Somme, and Bretonneux also remained occupied.

On the left wing of the battle-field the 16th Division had advanced to Dury, and had driven the French out of the neighbouring churchyard, but had been forced to withdraw from an attack on the enemy's extensive and strongly defended line of intrenchment. It bivouacked behind Dury.

It was night before General von Manteuffel received information which proved that the enemy had been completely defeated. Early in the morning of the 28th the patrols of the Ist Corps found the region clear of the enemy as far as the Somme, and all the bridges across the river destroyed. At noon General von Goeben entered Amiens, the citadel of which capitulated two days later with its garrison of 400 men and 30 cannon.

One peculiarity of the battle of the 27th November was the disproportionately great extent of the battle-field to the number of the troops engaged. General Farre, with 25,000 men in round numbers, covered a front of about fourteen miles from Pont de Metz south of Amiens to the east of Villers Bretonneux, and with the Somme close on his rear. The Germans attacked on approximately the same breadth of front, with the result that there was a break in the middle of their line. The danger caused by this gap was not taken advantage of during the morning through the inactivity of the enemy, and it was then nullified by the occupation of St. Nicolas.

The superiority of numbers was on the side of the Germans, for, although of the approaching 1st Division only the Crown Prince's Regiment could take part in the fighting, they were 30,000 strong. The 3rd Brigade bore the brunt of the battle, losing 630 men and 34 officers out of a total of 1300. The French also lost about 1300, besides 1000 reported missing. Part of the National Guard threw down their arms and fled to their homes. The main body of the French Corps retired on Arras.

Immediately after the battle the Ist Army was reinforced by the 4th Brigade, which had been brought from La FÈre.

[50] In effect commanding the whole Ist Corps, although nominally Manteuffel was still chief of it, as well as in command of the Ist Army.