Their fire threw the latter into serious confusion and he had already decided to attack with his nearest division (de Cissey) in the direction of the steeple of Vionville, when his attention was caught by the outbreak of heavy firing in the copses below him, and the entry of fresh Prussian guns into action.
Corps and of the 40th brigade, which latter had been at once ordered into the Tronville copses to check portions of Tixier's division of the French 3rd Corps, which under cover of these copses had gradually worked round the Prussian flank.
The bush is grouped in copses on meadows, which produce a coarse tall grass.
The rich undulating pasture-land with clumps of trees and copses resembles a park.
The French who had thrown themselves into houses, copses, &c., picked off the officers, and the flanks of the long Prussian lines swayed and got into confusion.
