20 September 1792, morning
The cannonade
On the morning of 20 September Kellermann draws up his army in a broad arc on the heights west of Valmy, with his left along the road to Châlons, his centre on the hill of an old windmill and his right on Mont Yvron. He has the windmill pulled down so that the enemy gunners cannot use it to aim. Dumouriez’s army stays south-east of Sainte-Menehould, and the troops of Beurnonville stand behind Kellermann.
The rebuilt windmill on the hill of Valmy, with the monument to Kellermann behind it, 2009Wikimedia Commons, Хрюша, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Valmy Windmuehle 01 09.jpg)
The Prussians come out of the woods onto the heights around the inn of La Lune, with their backs towards Paris. Brunswick has about 34,000 men and 54 guns there, Kellermann about 36,000 men and 40 guns. Fog and rain spoil the French fire at first, but a battery near the inn of La Lune stops the Prussian cavalry. A long-range artillery duel follows, in which the French batteries prove superior.
Sources
- T. C. W. Blanning, The French Revolutionary Wars 1787–1802 (1996).
- Owen Connelly, The Wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon (2005).
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