Marshal Soult having arrived at Bayonne on the 13th of July to command, as Lieutenant of the Emperor, the united French army of Spain, amounting to above seventy-eight thousand men, exclusive of garrisons, collected more than sixty thousand of his own left, and advanced on the 25th of July to force the Pass of Roncesvalles. The brigade which had been ordered to occupy the Pass, and of which the THIRTY-FIRST formed a part, kept the French in check for several hours, but was obliged to fall back, on perceiving that a strong body had succeeded in turning the position.
The THIRTY-FIRST had two privates killed, and three wounded, in the action on the 25th of July. On the 28th and 30th of July, the battalion was engaged in the attack made upon the enemy on the heights in front of Pampeluna, and had Captain Girdlestone, Ensign Smith, and Quarter-Master McIntosh, together with thirty-three rank and file, wounded:—two rank and file were killed.
Lieut.-Colonel Leith received a clasp, in addition to his former medal, for his conduct on these occasions.
The THIRTY-FIRST regiment subsequently received the Royal Authority to bear the word “Pyrenees” on the Regimental Colour and Appointments, to commemorate the services of the second battalion in these several combats, which have been designated the “Battles of the Pyrenees.”
On the 31st of July, Major-General Byng’s brigade captured a large convoy near Elizondo, and made many prisoners.
The British troops resumed their position in the Pyrenees, awaiting the capture of St. Sebastian and Pampeluna. St. Sebastian was captured on the 31st of August, and on the 31st of October the French garrison of Pampeluna surrendered prisoners of war.
Pampeluna being captured, the right of the allied army, which had been employed in covering the blockade, became disengaged, and the British Commander looking down from the lofty Pyrenees on the well-guarded territory of France, resolved to carry the war into the heart of that country. The British army, early on the morning of the 10th of November, descended into the valleys on the French side; the division of which the THIRTY-FIRST formed part entered France by the Pass of Maya, having sustained some loss in the capture of one of the enemy’s redoubts. Only one man belonging to the battalion was killed, but Captain Girdlestone and eleven rank and file were wounded. Marshal Soult’s army was driven from his fortified position on the river Nivelle, and several guns and prisoners were captured. The French being pursued on the following day, retired to their fortified camp near Bayonne.
Captain Thomas Samuel Nicolls was promoted to the rank of Major in the army for his conduct on this day, and the THIRTY-FIRST afterwards received the Royal Authority to bear the word “Nivelle” on the Regimental Colour and Appointments, in testimony of the gallantry of the second battalion in that action.
The passage of the river Nive was effected on the 9th of December: the THIRTY-FIRST passed over without the loss of a man, one serjeant only being wounded.
Lieut.-Colonel Leith received an additional clasp for his conduct on this occasion, and Captains Patrick Dowdall and Peter Fearon were promoted to the rank of Majors in the army.