CHAPTER XXVI.
FIGHTING IN THE PYRENEES.
Soon after the battle of Vittoria the titular king, Joseph, returned to Paris and was replaced in the chief command of the French army of Spain by the Duke of Dalmatia. On July 12th this marshal arrived at Bayonne from Dresden, despatched thence by Napoleon. Soult, inferior to no officer in France (except perhaps the emperor), either in judgment or activity, immediately set about remodelling his army; and to revive their confidence and rouse their drooping spirits, cast down by repeated disasters, he determined to make an offensive movement against the position maintained by the allies. After ten or twelve days passed in continual preparations for carrying out his plans of relieving Pampeluna and if possible raising the siege of San Sebastian, he on July 25th simultaneously attacked the passes of Roncesvalles and Maya; and such was the weight of his columns that he broke through those passes, obliging the allies, after hard fighting and disputing every inch of ground, to retire, which movement continued the whole of that day and part of the night. On the 26th the enemy again came on and a good deal of fighting took place. The allies still retreated and directed their course towards Pampeluna. Soult was close at hand. The 4th Division under General Cole had passed Villaba, within three miles of Pampeluna, in full retreat, early on the morning of the 27th, closely followed by General Picton with the 3rd Division, and both divisions closely followed by Soult. This induced the garrison of Pampeluna to make a fierce sortie; and General O’Donnel, who commanded the blockading troops, seeing Soult rapidly advancing and the two British divisions as rapidly retreating, and becoming naturally much alarmed, commenced spiking his guns and destroying his magazines, when fortunately Don Carlos D’Espana with his division arrived at the critical moment; he immediately drove back the garrison and reassured O’Donnel. Soult now fully expected to relieve Pampeluna in a few hours and appearances were much in favour of his doing so; in fact it was all but accomplished.
ADVANCE OF SOULT.
Picton, now perhaps reflecting that his retreat in the morning, together with that of Cole whom he commanded, was more precipitate than need called for, and perceiving the crisis at hand and all that depended on the affair, suddenly halted and placed his division across the outlets from the valleys of Zubiri and Lanz, thus screening Pampeluna. At the same time he ordered General Cole to occupy the heights between Oricain and Arletta; but that general, observing a hill which stood forward about a mile in advance and commanded the road to Huarte, moved forward to possess it, with the concurrence of Picton who now saw its importance. Soult, who was close at hand, also saw the importance of possessing this hill, which as the armies were then situated was the key of Pampeluna. He immediately pushed forward a strong detachment with accelerated pace to gain the hill; and so exactly simultaneous was the rush of the contending parties that while the enemy were ascending one side Cole’s advanced guard were mounting the other. Two Spanish regiments, part of O’Donnel’s blockading troops, already posted on the hill and seeing the hostile troops approaching the summit, made a furious charge on the enemy’s ascending strong body and gallantly bore them down the hill. Soult lost the key. His heavy columns soon came up, flushed with what they considered a victory, as they had driven before them two British divisions; but their career was suddenly checked on seeing the mountains in their way crowned by ten thousand troops of Cole’s division; and not two miles further back stood Picton with a still stronger force, the 3rd Division, resting on Huarte.
Soult having now his troops in hand commenced a general attack. His first and most vigorous effort was against the Spanish hill immediately on the right of Cole’s division; but the gallantry of the Spaniards was repeated and the enemy thrust down the hill. At this moment Lord Wellington arrived from the valley of Bastan, where he had left General Hill to deal with Count D’Erlon. Although he witnessed the victorious gallantry of the Spaniards, yet perceiving the great loss they sustained and the importance of maintaining the hill, he ordered the 4th English Regiment to their support. A general skirmish now commenced along the whole front, which continued until one of the customary Pyrenean visitors, a dense fog, put an end to the firing for the day. Various movements took place on both sides and throughout almost all the divisions during the night and next morning. About noon the enemy gathered at the foot of the position; and a cloud of skirmishers pushed forward and ascended the hill like the flames and smoke of a volcano that could not be contained. At the same time Clauzel’s division burst forth from the valley of Lanz, and pushing forward rapidly turned Cole’s division, and were doubling in his rear when a Portugese brigade of the 6th Division suddenly appearing checked them in good time; and at the same instant the 6th Division, who came into line that morning, formed in order of battle across the front of the enemy. Thus the French column, who moved forward with intention to turn the left of the allies, now found themselves in a sore predicament; two brigades of the 4th Division attacked them on the left; the Portuguese brigade galled their right; while the whole body of the 6th Division overwhelmed them in front and with a loud cheer and deadly charge sent them headlong off the field, which was strewed with their dead. This part of the fight was thus terminated. But higher up the hills the battle continued with increased fury; every hill was charged, taken and retaken repeatedly; nor were the French less forward than the British in repeating their charges. The 6th Division, in which I served with the 36th Regiment, after having quitted those in the valley, now climbed the rugged steep and lined with the troops above just becoming victorious; and a few more charges decided the fate of the day. The enemy withdrew at all points. They stated their loss to be no more than two general officers and eighteen hundred killed and wounded; but it was generally rated much higher. The allies had upwards of two thousand men killed and wounded.
STUBBORN FIGHTING.
The 29th was respected as a military sabbath by both armies, neither firing a shot throughout the day; but this calm was the immediate precursor of a violent storm. On the morning of the 30th a furious attack was commenced against General Hill’s corps, which led to a battle at Buenza. D’Erlon had twenty thousand men, the allies scarcely half that number. Hill maintained his ground for a long time; but, his left being turned, he retired, losing five hundred men. Being joined by Campbell and Morillo he offered battle; but Soult, who had come up, declined the fight. On the same morning at daylight another combat commenced at Sauroren; and this combat lasted much longer and was far more severe than Hill’s. Here the 6th Division suffered severe loss in charging the enemy, who retired reluctantly, but too far to return. They were now driven from the whole of their position and beaten at all points.
In these battles of the 30th the allies suffered a loss between killed and wounded, including some taken prisoners, of nearly two thousand men. The loss on the enemy’s part was far greater; their killed and wounded alone surpassed that of the allies, besides three thousand made prisoners. Soult now turned his face towards France. At ten o’clock on the morning of the 31st General Hill came up with his rearguard between Lizasso and the Puerto. Turning round, they halted and made good battle; but their position was forced. Fortunately for them a thick fog prevented an effective pursuit. The allies lost about four hundred men and the enemy about the same number. On August 1st and 2nd the enemy were in full retreat for France; and although, wherever encountered they suffered defeat, yet they were never in flight; and on these two days we suffered a loss of at least one thousand men put hors de combat; and we were on the point of suffering another and a more severe loss.
WELLINGTON ALMOST CAPTURED.