Almost at the same time as the attack on Palermo, a new twist took place on the Franco-Prussian battlefield.

The reason why the tempo of the battlefield slowed down so much compared to history was because Prussia was taking the time to integrate South Germany.

Now, after three weeks of adjustment, most of the former Bavarian army has been relegated to the Prussian battle sequence, and Bavarian tools and food have begun to flow to the front.

By this time, the North German Confederation's army on the front line had swelled to 610,000, far exceeding the historical level.

Maintaining such a large army was a heavy burden for the whole of North Germany, so that as soon as the preliminary preparations were made, Prussia launched an impatient attack.

On his side, the French army numbered 320,000, a full 110,000 more than in history.

In addition to the troops trained in Spain, the French army in North Africa had ample time to return home to support because of the prolonged war.

In addition to this, part of the South German army was also exiled to France, where they drew their swords against their former comrades.

However, these 320,000 people are already the limit of France, and more troops are far away in various islands, Africa, and Asia, and it is impossible to catch up with this war.

On 19 September, a large number of North German troops crossed the border and launched a general attack on France, with Wissanburg being the first stop of this Prussian general attack.

Visanburg is just an unremarkable French town, but its geographical location is important for the entire supply of McMahon's army.

For this general offensive, Prussia planned a number of complex and chaotic offensive lines on the German-French border, so that the various armies could simultaneously cross the border and attack the enemy.

The idea was good, but the coordination between the armies became a big problem.

The Prussian Third Army, which led the Battle of Wissanburg, was distressed by this, because the instructions given by the General Headquarters did not give much advice on their marching route.

In other words, they enjoy a very high degree of autonomy.

After much deliberation, Commander Julius von Verdi Duvernoy, the vanguard of the Third Army, decided to attack Wissanburg first, as the troops of the commander of the Third Army, Crown Prince Frederick III, were currently advancing along the side of the Vosges Mountains.

In order to join forces with the crown prince to form a joint operation, the first priority is to defeat McMahon in Wissenburg.

He told Count Leonhard von Blumenthal about his idea, which in turn presented it to the General Command, which Moltke the Elder praised and declared: "The intentions set out in the letter are fully in line with the views and plans of the General Command." The 3rd Army was completely free in carrying out its tasks. ”

Having received the approval, the divisions of the Third Army began to advance towards Wissanburg from all directions.

The first to engage the enemy was the right flank of the army group of Crown Prince Frederick III, the 4th Bavarian Division.

The division, commanded by Count von Botmer, was advancing towards the town of Wissenburg. There were few roads, and the advance was faced by the Bienwald Forest, on the north bank of the Lautel River, which meant that the troops had to traverse this large area of dense forest, and they had to be cautious in order to avoid congestion on the march and affect the speed of the march.

This gave the commander of the 2nd French Division, Abel Douai, an opportunity to anticipate the enemy's opportunity, but due to organizational and bad weather, his march was also delayed and he did not take advantage of this opportunity.

On the night of 21 September, the same day that Palermo was attacked, Duai arrived belatedly and entered Visanburg.

At 4:00 a.m., Duai dispatched an advance reconnaissance force. The cavalry troops advanced in vain for about a mile, and then it became known only from the mouths of the local population that a large number of Prussian troops were approaching.

The cavalry returned to Wissanburg at 7:30 a.m., but the reconnaissance force made no attempt to verify the accuracy and accuracy of this information. Meanwhile, at 6:00 a.m., Dooy received a belated warning from McMahon that a large number of enemy forces were expected to attack.

Duai received orders from McMahon to deploy most of the division's forces in the town of Wisanburg and in the valley of the Lauter River, but such a deployment would be tantamount to exposing his troops to enemy fire, which could be attacked from the heights on the north bank of the Lauter River.

On the other hand, the commander of the 1st and 2nd Divisions under MacMahon's First Army in France was a figure named Auguste-Alexandre Dicro.

Duai received from him a diametrically opposed directive: Duai was required to draw a battalion of troops from the garrison of Wissanburg and its remaining troops to work together to occupy the high ground on the Gaisberg ridge.

In this contradictory situation, by 8:00 a.m., the Bavarian army reached Schwegen and began to advance towards Wolfsburg, and by 8:30 a.m., the artillery fire was already able to attack the French troops, and the French army reacted at this time and fired back at the Bavarian army from Wissanburg.

The North Germans had a favorable terrain and were in a complete position to fire artillery, but the French resistance was quite stubborn, and for a time the French artillery fire was even able to push back the momentum of German artillery fire and further threaten the right flank of the German army.

If the battle continued like this, the Battle of Wisanburg would most likely end in a draw, but the Fifth Army of the Prussian Third Army also arrived on the battlefield at this time, and with their assistance, the Bavarian army rekindled its fighting spirit and launched a new offensive.

Soon after, the Prussian Eleventh Army also joined the battle.

By this time the Prussian army was already several times larger than that of the French, and if it was delayed for a few more hours, Dooy would face an enemy 10 times larger than his own.

Duai is very aware of the situation of his troops, and if they do not withdraw as soon as possible, their retreat will be completely cut off. Unfortunately, just after he had given the order to retreat from Wissanburg, a piece of shrapnel that flew from the explosion of the ammunition hit him, killing Abel Dooy instantly.

General Jean Pellet of the 2nd French Brigade took over the command, but another hour and a half passed when he realized that if he did not evacuate Fort Wissanburg sooner, his troops would be encircled.

Now, no matter what, if there are no reinforcements arriving to cover the withdrawal of the troops, then everything will have to sit back and wait.

Shortly after noon, General Pelle ordered three artillery battalions to be deployed in and around Gaisburg.

The commander of this artillery position, Major Cecil, did his best to defend desperately, but he was well aware that this force would not escape the fate of being surrounded, and he tried to escape, but he was killed just over 40 meters away from the unit.

At 15:00, all the encircled French troops surrendered.