[602] See Bessières to Berthier of June 6th, from Valladolid.
[603] I cannot discover which of the passes west of Pajares Castañon used. They are all difficult.
[604] The brigade (119th, 122nd Line) lost fourteen officers on June 23rd, which would argue total casualties of about 300 at the usual rate. But the Spaniards say that they took many prisoners and give the total French loss at 450.
[605] See especially his dispatch to Berthier of June 6: ‘On fait illusion à l’Empereur—tout le monde connaît le mode vicieux de nos opérations, &c.’—it is most free-spoken.
[606] For Thiébault’s character of Dorsenne see his Mémoires vol. iv. pp. 401-2.
[607] See Dispatches, vii. p. 648, for an account of Abadia’s good intentions, and viii. p. 128, for Wellington’s disappointment at their non-fulfilment.
[608] Our old acquaintance of Gamonal and Tamames.
[609] ‘Galicia was helpless, and Dorsenne would have taken Coruña and Ferrol if the arrival of Wellington on the Coa had not alarmed him,’ iii. p. 330. This statement shows a misconception of the situation.
[610] This general is not to be confused with Roguet, the Guard commander, though they were operating in regions close to each other, and often get mixed in contemporary narratives.
[611] From the Memoirs of Sir Howard Douglas, British commissioner with Abadia’s army, pp. 122-3.