A battle, which also went against the French, was fought
on Thursday week (October 6), in the Vosges mountains, between Raon l'Etape and Saint Die, about thirty miles south-east of Lune- vine, between a French army under General Dupre, consisting of a few regular troops and a large number of Francs-tireurs, and a Badenese army under General Von Gegenfeld, in which the French were defeated and driven back on Rambervillers. According to the German account, the French had double their number of men, some 14,000 to their 7,000, but the Germans had two squadrons of light dragoons and two batteries, "the Moebel and Kunz batteries," and the French, as usual, seem to have been greatly wanting in both artillery and cavalry. It is not yet clear whether the Germans attacked in order to prevent any inroad on their communications with Paris (by the Luneville line), or because they were marching southwards towards Vesoul, and could not do so without dispersing General Dupre's force. As Epinal has since been occupied by the Germans, and New Breisach completely invested and partly bombarded, it would seem to be part of a plan for clearing the department of the Vosges of French troops.
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