20 September 1792, afternoon
The Prussian advance halts
The Prussian infantry makes a cautious advance under fire across the open ground between the heights. It covers about 200 yards before the French guns halt it, while the French infantry moves forward only a few hundred feet. Prussian shot blows up three French ammunition wagons, and Kellermann steadies his infantry by bringing up more guns.
As the Prussians waver, Kellermann raises his hat and cries “Vive la Nation”. The cry passes along the whole French line, and the troops sing “La Marseillaise” and “Ça ira”. Brunswick breaks off the action. In the evening he meets King Frederick William II and his officers near the inn of La Lune and, by one account, says “Hier schlagen wir nicht”, here we do not fight. The losses are about 300 French and 200 Prussians.
François Christophe de Kellermann, later Marshal and Duke of Valmy, portrait after Antoine Ansiaux, 1834Wikimedia Commons, After Antoine Ansiaux, Public domain (Marechal-Kellermann.jpg)
After the battle Kellermann moves his troops south of the Châlons road and leaves the Prussians a clear way back. Dumouriez, now in command of both armies, negotiates with Brunswick, who withdraws towards Germany on 30 September without being attacked. On 21 September the National Convention abolishes the monarchy, and on the next day the French Republic is proclaimed.
Sources
- T. C. W. Blanning, The French Revolutionary Wars 1787–1802 (1996).
- Owen Connelly, The Wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon (2005).
- Munro Price, The Fall of the French Monarchy (2002).
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