[507] See Arteche, iii. 321. The fugitives fled so far and wide that Blake rallied 157 of the regiment of Tuy at Leon! Leith Hay found them all over the country-side on November 15.
[508] These corps were the Walloon Guards (3rd batt.), Reina (two batts.), Jaen (two batts.), Corona (two batts.), Irlanda (two batts.)—much the larger half of the original 1st Division of Andalusia, and all old corps (see the lists in Arteche, iii. 496).
[509] The regiment of Cordova (two batts.) and the provincial militia of Alcazar and Toledo.
[510] Two squadrons each of ‘Principe’ and ‘Voluntarios de Madrid,’ one each of Alcantara and Montesa. The whole amounted to no more than 600 sabres.
[511] Napier’s description of the ‘Army of Reserve’ is very incomplete: he says that ‘Belvedere’s army rallied part in the Somosierra and part on the side of Segovia. The troops which had been detained in Madrid from Castaños’ army were forwarded to the Somosierra; those left behind from Cuesta’s levies (the Castilians) went to Segovia’ (i. 259). But, as we have seen, only one regiment of Belvedere’s men went to the Somosierra, and the Castilians (Madrid Volunteers) marched thither and not to Segovia.
[512] One battalion of Walloon Guards, two each of the regiments of Jaen and Irlanda, and three squadrons of the regiments of Montesa and Alcantara, with six guns, all under Colonel Sarden (colonel of the Montesa Regiment).
[513] Seven officers and eighty men, to be exact (see Ségur, Mémoires, iii. 282). It does not seem to be generally known that the Poles were not yet lancers. They were only armed with the lance three months later (see Nap. Corresp., 14,819, giving the order to that effect), and were at this moment properly styled Chevaux-Légers Polonais only. Almost every narrative of the Somosierra that I have read calls them lancers; Napier is an exception.
[514] All this narrative comes from Philippe de Ségur, who must be followed in preference to the 13th Bulletin and all the witnesses who allege that the Poles did reach the battery. He, if any one, knew what really happened (Mémoires, iii. 281-5). His account of the whole business is in close accord with that of De Pradt, who was also an eye-witness.
[515] The frightful proportion of killed to wounded came, of course, from the fact that the casualties were caused by artillery fire.
[516] The real course of events is best given by Ségur (iii. 295), who writes as follows: ‘Pendant que notre charge avait attiré sur elle les feux de l’ennemi, le général Barrois avait profité de cette diversion. Il s’était avancé jusqu’à le rocher, notre point de départ. Là, poussés en avant par l’empereur pour recommencer ma charge, treize de ses grenadiers avaient été abattus par le feu de la redoute. Alors, rétrogradant derrière le roc, il avait envoyé quelques compagnies à l’escalade des hauteurs à notre droite, puis lui-même, à la tête de sa brigade, y était monté.... Les Espagnols, se voyant près d’être abordés, avaient déchargé leurs armes, et, se débandant aussitôt, ils s’étaient mis a fuir à toutes jambes. Au même moment à sa gauche le bruit de la canonnade avait cessé. C’était alors que le régiment entier de lanciers Polonais, recommençant la charge prématurée de notre escadron détruit, avait achevé, sans autre perte, d’enlever la position. Les canons, quelques officiers et 150 à 200 Espagnols seulement purent être atteints, tant la dispersion de l’armée devant les quatre bataillons de Barrois avait été subite et rapide.’