As part of the opening battles 
near the German-French fontier, 
this battle involved the French 
1st Corp under Marshal MacMahon 
versus both the 2nd Baverian 
Coprs and 5th Prussian Corps.  
The French occupied an excellent
defensive position along a 
ridge, with woods securing both 
flanks.  MacMahon belived he 
could hold the ridge as long as 
he got support from nearby 
elements of the French Army.

The Baverian 4th Division 
started off the first assaults 
at 10:30 a.m. near Sulzbach on 
August 6th, 1870.  For two hours
the Baverian tried to clear the 
woods and nearby town of the 
French but were unable to do 
so.  The deadly fire from the 
French Chassepot rifles 
inflicted heavy losses. 
Later in the morning, the 
Prussian 5th Corps launched a 
series of attacks along the 
ridge and near the village of 
Worth. Again the French rifle 
fire devasted the lead ranks of 
the Prussians, forcing them to 
withdraw.

By noon, the French 1st Corps 
had been fighting two enemy 
corps without support - by 
sheer numbers alone the Germans 
were begining to wear out the 
French.  As the Germans 
continued to call upon more 
units to drive the French out, 
Marshal MacMahon had no support 
at all.  Meanwhile the Prussian 
artillery were raking the 
ridige with heavy fire - this 
was the first time the French 
faced the deadly breech loading 
Krupp guns. 

In time, a combination of 
massive artillery fire and 
sheer manpower would drive the 
French off the ridge.  Lacking 
any support from nearby French 
units, the 1st Corp lost the 
battle and had to withdraw.