10 
GERMAN MANOEUVRES. 
Kuhlmay commanding the Western Force received the following order 
from his Commander-in-Chief at Epfenbach :— 
The enemy's force which has advanced from Gundelsheim by 
Wollenberg has halted at Bargen, and appears to be about to bivouac 
there and at Ingelheimerhof. The West Corps (imaginary) has occu¬ 
pied Helmstadt and has gone into bivouacs; his main body being 
across the Helmstadt-Epf'enbach road, west of the Warterschaft-Bach ; 
Head-quarters at Epfenbach; the Aglasterhausen-Diedesheim road 
will be reconnoitred by the West Corps, leaving you to watch to¬ 
wards the Neckar from Eberbach to Zwingenberg. To-morrow morn¬ 
ing I intend, in conjunction with the XV. Army Corps (imaginary) 
which has reached Neckarbischofsheim to attack the enemy at Ingel¬ 
heimerhof and Bargen. Simultaneously with this attack you will 
advance from your bivouacs at 7 a.m., attack the portion of the enemy's 
forces which have been driven back to-day on Neunkirchen and drive 
him across the Neckar." 
(Signed) General Commanding, 
Western Army. 
At 7 a.m. on the 11th the Western Force advanced from their 
rendezvous in front of Reichartshausen upon Neunkirchen, where the 
enemy were in a strong position with his artillery, now reinforced to 
six batteries, in front of the village. The artillery of the former was 
brought into action in front of some woods west of Aglasterhausen, 
and at about 2700 yds. the artillery duel commenced: the number of 
guns were equal on both sides, which makes the situation very difficult 
for the umpires to decide as to which side has the preponderance. 
The infantry advanced, the main strength being with the right wing. 
When the infantry of the first line had advanced well beyond the guns, 
and when the second line reached them they limbered np and came into 
action about 1700 yards from the enemy's guns ; in this advance, be¬ 
fore the fire of the enemy's artillery had been kept under, it was 
decided that they would have lost heavily. The left wing of the 
infantry advanced to about 800 yards and poured in a heavy fire to 
occupy the attention of the defender, while the right worked round to 
turn his left through the woods east of Unter Schwarzach; the com¬ 
mander of the Eastern Force had been kept well informed of this 
movement by his cavalry, and as the columns of the Western Force 
emerged from the woods and the ground between them, he delivered a 
counter attack in great strength by means of masses of troops which 
he had drawn under cover to his left. The cavalry of the Western 
Force then charged to delay this attack, but they were met by that of 
the Eastern Force, whose charge, coupled with the fire of infantry, was 
decided to have driven them off the field. The attack of the Western 
Force was decided to have failed. There can be no doubt but that the 
decision was correct, as the two forces were practically equal, and the 
artillery of the Eastern Force was in a very well selected position and 
equal in numbers to that of the attack. The great advantage that the 
defence possesses over the attack, when the numbers and quality of the 
