Owing to de Failly's absence MacMahon had not enough men to hold the whole of the position marked out by Nature for defence.
Conscious of its strength, the Prussian Crown Prince ordered the leaders of his vanguard not to bring on a general engagement on August 6, when the invading army had not at hand its full striking strength[38].

But orders failed to hold in the ardour of the Germans under the attacks of the French.

Affairs of outposts along the Sauerbach early on that morning brought on a serious fight, which up to noon went against the invaders.

At that time the Crown Prince galloped to the front, and ordered an attack with all available forces.

The fighting, hitherto fierce but spasmodic between division and division, was now fed by a steady stream of German reinforcements, until 87,000 of the invaders sought to wrest from MacMahon the heights, with their woods and villages, which he had but 54,000 to defend.