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Updated: May 2, 2025
The sole advantage secured by the French that day was that Curten managed to retreat from Chateau-Renault; but it was only on the night of the 10th, when he could be of little or no use to Chanzy, that he was able to reach Chateau-du-Loir, where, in response to Chanzy's urgent appeals, Jaureguiberry had succeeded in collecting a few thousand men to reinforce the troops defending Le Mans.
Some more snow fell on the morning of January 10, when the decisive fighting in front of Le Mans really began. On the evening of the 9th the French headquarters was still without news of Generals Curten, Barry, and Jouffroy, and even the communications with Jaureguiberry were of an intermittent character.
When I returned to Le Mans from Saint Servan in the very first days of January, Chanzy's forces numbered altogether about 130,000 men, but a very large proportion of them were dispersed in different directions, forming detached columns under Generals Barry, Curten, Rousseau, and Jouffroy.
Thus, excepting a brigade of infantry and one of cavalry, detached to observe the isolated Curten, and hold him in check, virtually the whole of the German Second Army marched against Chanzy's main forces. On both sides every operation was attended by great difficulties on account of the very severe weather.
This seriously threatened the retreat of the column under General Curten, which was still at Saint Amand, and, moreover, it was a further menace to Barry himself, as his division was distributed over a front of fourteen miles near Chateau-du-Loir. Jaureguiberry, however, entreated Barry to continue guarding the river Loir, in the hope of Curten being able to retreat to that point.
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