[12] The goal of the Armée de l'Est (Army of the East) under division general Charles-Denis Bourbaki was to reach the Colonel Denfort-Rochereau in the besieged Belfort, and take the German forces from behind.

From Verseilles-le-Haut, General de Moltke asked the XIV Army Corps, posted around Dijon, to put an end to raids on supply units and destroy the railways that linked Besançon and Belfort to the rest of France.

On the morning of 16 December General Arbellot, in command at Langres, was warned of the arrival of the Prussians and brought in reinforcements — 1,500 men from the line and the mobiles.

The main road had been made impassable by abatis and cuts, so the Prussians marched around it, one column through Verseilles-le-Bas, and another Cohons, against the wings of the position, and dislodged the mobiles, from whom they took a cannon.

Pursued by Prussian shells, they tried in vain to make a stand a third time near the village of Bourg and finally returned to Langres, having lost 150 men, including the commanders Koch[14] and Régel, 80 prisoners, two pieces of artillery and two caissons.

The next day, he bypassed Langres to the west and established himself north of the city, between the Marne and Suize [fr] rivers, a position from which he covered the supply lines of the 2nd Army.

The Guide to the Monuments of the War of 1870-1871 states: “Régel's family intends to honor the memory of the commander by building, as was done at the time, a cross on the place where he died.