Weissenburg, which lies deep down in the valley of the Lauter,
surrounded by lofty hills. There it surprised a weak French division,
the vanguard of MacMahon's army, commanded by General Abel Douay, whose
scouts had found no trace of the advancing enemy. About 10 A.M. Douay
fell, mortally wounded; another German division, working round the town
to the east, carried the strong position of the Geisberg; and these
combined efforts, frontal and on the flank, forced the French hastily to
retreat westwards over the hills to Wörth, after losing more than
2000 men.

The news of this reverse and of the large German forces ready to pour
into the north of Alsace led the Emperor to order the 7th French corps
at Belfort, and the 5th in and around Bitsch, to send reinforcements to
MacMahon, whose main force held the steep and wooded hills between the
villages of Wörth, Fröschweiler, and Reichshofen. The line of railway
between Strassburg and Bitsch touches Reichshofen; but, for some reason
that has never been satisfactorily explained, MacMahon was able to draw
up only one division from the side of Strassburg and Belfort, and not
one from Bitsch, which was within an easy march. The fact seems to be
that de Failly, in command at Bitsch, was a prey to conflicting orders
from Metz, and therefore failed to bring up the 5th corps as he should
have done. MacMahon's cavalry was also very defective in scouting, and
he knew nothing as to the strength of the forces rapidly drawing near
from Weissenburg and the east.

Certainly his position at Wörth was very strong. The French lines were
ranged along the steep wooded slope running north and south, with
buttress-like projections, intersected by gullies, the whole leading up
to a plateau on which stand the village of Fröschweiler and the hamlet
of Elsasshausen. Behind is the wood called the Grosser Wald, while the