This deliberate acceptance of responsibility really decided the battle, for Schkopp's brigade quietly deployed as a unit and compelled the French right wing to fall back. To cover the French retreat General Michel's brigade of cavalry was ordered to charge. The order was somewhat vague, and in his position under cover near Eberbach-Seltz, General Michel had no knowledge of the actual situation. Thus it came about that, without reconnoitering or manoeuvering for position, the French cavalry rode straight at the first objective which offered itself, and struck the victorious Prussians as they were crossing the hills between the Albrechtshäuserhof and Morsbronn. Hence the charge was costly and only partly successful. However, the Prussians were ridden down here and there, and their attention was sufficiently absorbed while the French infantry rallied for a fresh counterstrike. This was made about 13:20 h. The Prussians were driven off the hillsides between the Albrechtshäuserhof and Morsbronn which they had already won. But the counter-attack turned into disaster when 700 French cuirassiers were trapped inside Morsbronn and massacred within a few minutes by rapid close-range fire. The rest of the French cavalry eventually came under fire from the great artillery mass above Gunstett; von Bose having at length concentrated the main body of the XI corps in the meadows between the Niederwald and the Sauer, the French had to withdraw. Their withdrawal involved the retreat of the troops who had fought all day in defence of the Niederwald. By 15:00 h the Prussians were masters of the Niederwald and the ground south of it on which the French right wing had originally stood, but they were in indescribable confusion after the prolonged fighting in the dense undergrowth. Before order could be restored the French launched another fierce counterstroke. As the Prussians emerged from the north edge of the wood, the French reserves suddenly emerged from behind the Elsasshausen heights and striking due south drove the Prussians back. It was a grave crisis, but at this moment von Schkopp, who throughout all this had kept two of his battalions intact, came around the northwest corner of the Wald, and these fresh battalions again brought the French to a standstill. Meanwhile, von Kirchbach, seeing the progress of the XI corps, had ordered the whole of his command forward to assault the French centre; away to the right the two Bavarian corps moved against the French left, which still maintained its original position in the woods northeast of Frœschwiller.