[3] Napoleon wished to win a significant battle on German soil and ordered Marshal Patrice MacMahon to bring up the French I and V Corps.

The German III Army under Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm and his able Chief of Staff, General von Blumenthal, was already moving towards Wissembourg.

At the outbreak of war, General Ducrot, commanding the 6th French Division at Strasbourg, issued orders to withdraw the elements of his forces stationed at Wissembourg and Lauterbourg.

In August, Marshal MacMahon concentrated his effectives at Haguenau with the object of warding off any attempt on the strategic Strasbourg—Haguenau—Bitche—Metz rail lines, and established the following positions: Ducrot's 1st Division broke camp on 4 August and established itself at Lembach in order to secure contact with General Failly's V Corps; Douay's 2nd Division reoccupied Wissembourg, Weiler and the nearby countryside, namely the soft hills by the Col du Pigeonnier.

Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot's familiarity with the terrain earned him the responsibility of overseeing the deployment of the various units in the area, including General Abel Douay's 1st Division.

He told Douay, commander of the 2nd Division, on 1 August, that "the information I have received makes me suppose that the enemy has no considerable forces very near his advance posts, and has no desire to take the offensive.

[8] The battle saw the unsupported division of General Douay of I Corps, with some attached cavalry, which was posted to watch the border, attacked in overwhelming but un-coordinated fashion by the German 3rd Army.

Douay was killed in the late morning when a caisson of the divisional mitrailleuse battery exploded near him; the encirclement of the town by the Prussians threatened the French avenue of retreat.