Duke of Brunswick's face instantly turned even paler than the messenger officer's.
He stood frozen for a full two or three minutes before his mind finally seemed to accept the fact. He looked dejectedly at the staff officer beside him. "Order the Dernberg Corps to block the enemy north of Wiltz. Everyone else will turn north and retreat, falling back from Prüm to Geldern."
Dernberg was the commander of the Bavarian Army. He still had more than eleven thousand soldiers under his command, enough to delay the French Army for a while.
What Duke of Brunswick did not know was that, two days earlier, Massena had already ordered Saint Hilaire to lead seven thousand soldiers to fortify the Uhr River, cutting off the Allied Forces' retreat.
[Note: The Uhr River, Sauer River, and Zel River were actually the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the same river, given three different names. They lay respectively along the borderlines of the Ardennes Plateau, and north and south of Luxembourg and Trier.]
Central-northern Ardennes Plateau.
Duke of York stared at the narrow French Army line on the distant hillside, nearly consumed by impotent fury.
He had just received news that Trier had been attacked and Duke of Brunswick defeated, yet there was nothing he could do.
His forces had been bogged down near Burgplatz Peak for an entire week.
Those damned French troops had relied on the advantage of the high ground, never confronting him head-on. They merely kept withdrawing their lines to buy time.
And he could no longer afford to be delayed.
Once the French Army had thoroughly crushed Duke of Brunswick, they would concentrate their main force against him.
Duke of York summoned two Austrian commanders and briefly explained the situation. Then, with a grim expression, he ordered, "We