♦Assault of Monjuic.♦
Verdier meantime prosecuted the siege, in full expectation of bringing it to a speedy conclusion. ♦1809.
July.♦ The outworks were soon rendered untenable, and the redoubts which covered the front of Monjuic were carried with a facility which made him undervalue his opponents. At ♦St. Cyr, 175.♦ the beginning of July, three batteries played upon three sides of this little fortress: that which was planted against the north front consisted of twenty four-and-twenty pounders; while the French were battering it, the angle upon which the flag was hoisted fell into the ditch; D. Mariano Montorro descended for it in the midst of the fire, brought it up in safety, and replanted it upon the wall. The breach was soon wide enough for forty men abreast. The fire of the garrison had ceased, for they perceived that the French were secured by their trenches, and powder was too precious to be used unless its effects were certain: the enemy, who had not learned the temper of the men with whom they were contending, judged from this silence, that their hearts or ammunition had failed, and in the night between the fourth and fifth they assaulted the breach. But it was for this that the garrison had reserved their fire, and they poured it so destructively upon the columns which approached, that the French retreated with great loss. For three days they continued their fire upon the breach. Between two and three on the morning of the 8th, 6000 men again assaulted it; and at the same time the town was bombarded[4]. D. Blas de Furnas, second in command at Monjuic, was in the thickest of the fight; he strained his voice till from exertion it totally failed, but still his presence and his actions encouraged all who saw him. The enemy came on, filled the fosse, and proceeded to the breach ... “Woe to him,” says Samaniego, the historian of the siege, and himself one of the besieged, “woe to him who sets his foot upon the fosse of Monjuic!” A mortar, which lay masked among the ruins of the ravelin, and discharged 500 musket-balls at every shot, was played full upon the enemy by D. Juan Candy, and the havoc which it made was tremendous. Three times during that day the assault was repeated, with the utmost resolution on the part of the assailants, who were never thrown into confusion, though all their efforts were unavailing, and though they left 1600 of their number slain. The day, however, was disastrous to the Geronans also, though not from any evil which it was possible for strength or courage to have averted. The tower of St. Juan, which stood between the west curtain of the castle, the city, and the Calle de Pedret, was blown up. In what manner the magazine took fire was never known. Part of its little garrison were fortunately employed in active service elsewhere; the rest were buried in the ruins, from whence twenty-three persons were extricated alive amid the incessant fire which the enemy kept up upon the spot. Their preservation was in great measure owing to the exertions of D. Carlos Beramendi. The company of St. Barbara distinguished themselves that day: covered with dust and blood, under the burning heat of July, and through the incessant fire of the batteries and musketry, they carried water and wine to the soldiers, and bore back the wounded.
The severe loss which the French sustained in this second attempt convinced them, that while one stone remained upon another, Monjuic was not to be taken by assault. From this time, therefore, they continued to batter it on three sides; and, practising the surest and most destructive mode of warfare, stationed sharpshooters in their trenches on every side, so that for one of the garrison to be seen was almost certain death. So perilous was the service become, that the centinels were changed every half hour, yet nine were killed in one day at one post, and scarcely one escaped unwounded. It became at length impossible to observe the operations of the enemy, so thick were their marksmen, and with such fatal certainty did they take their aim: no other means remained than that of sending some one into the fosse, who, lifting up his head with the most imminent hazard, took a momentary glance. By the beginning of August the besiegers had pushed their parallels to the edge of the fosse; their labour was impeded by the stony soil, which rendered it necessary to bring earth from some distance; for this, however, they had hands enough, and they had no apprehension to hurry and disturb them, that any army powerful enough to raise the siege could be brought against them.
♦Succours intercepted.♦
Meantime the Spaniards were preparing for an attempt to introduce succours. For this purpose they threatened the right of the covering army, hoping to draw their attention upon that point, while 1500 men passed through the French line near Llagostera, where General Pino had his head-quarters. They succeeded perfectly in this difficult attempt, through their knowledge of the country, ... but a straggler who lagged behind fell into the enemy’s hand, and upon information which was obtained from him, it was understood that they would direct their course to Castellar de la Selva, and endeavour to pass through the besieging army in the night. There was time to take measures for intercepting them, and being turned aside from thence at nightfall, when they were beginning to debouche, they fell in at daybreak with Pino, who was in pursuit, and scarcely a third escaped: the rest were made prisoners, and sent into France. It was learnt from the prisoners ♦July 11.♦ that the Spaniards did not intend to make any serious effort for raising the siege till the besiegers should be weakened by those diseases which the season would infallibly produce. Reports, nevertheless, were current that such an effort would be made on Santiago’s day, when the patron of Spain might be expected once more to inspire or assist his faithful votaries. The French would have deemed themselves fortunate if this report had been verified; for according to the barbarous system of warfare which Buonaparte pursued, they were left to provide subsistence for themselves as they could; ... the soldiers had to cut the corn, thresh it, and grind it for themselves; and though St. Cyr had given orders that biscuit for four days’ consumption should always be kept in readiness, in case it should be necessary to collect the army for the purpose of giving battle, not more than half that quantity could ever be provided. More than once also ammunition became scarce, great part coming from Toulouse, and even from so remote a point as Strasbourg. ♦St. Cyr, 164.♦ Unhappily the Spaniards were in no condition to profit by the embarrassments of the enemy; and nothing was done by England for Catalonia, where, during the first years of the struggle, so much might have been done ♦Vol. ii. p. 328.♦ with effect. The army which in the preceding autumn had been ordered thither from Sicily, and detained by its general for the protection of that island, was employed at this time in an expedition against Naples, as a diversion in favour of the Austrians; and thus the means which might have saved Gerona were misdirected.
♦The ravelin taken.♦
Meantime the main attacks of the besiegers were directed against the ravelin which was now the main defence of Monjuic. While it was possible to maintain it, the garrison contended who should be stationed there, as at the post of honour. It was repeatedly attacked by night, but the defenders were always ready, and always repulsed the assailants. It was now discovered that the enemy were mining; this was distinctly ascertained by the sounds which were heard in the direction of the fosse. The castle was founded upon a rock, and therefore the officers apprehended no immediate danger from operations of this nature. The purpose of the French was to destroy a breast-work which protected that gate of the castle through which was the passage to the ravelin: the breast-work was almost wholly of earth, and its explosion did no hurt, but it left the gate exposed. A battery, already prepared, began to play upon it, and the communication between the castle and the ravelin was thus rendered exceedingly difficult. A sally was made against this battery, and the guns were spiked; a priest was one of the foremost in this adventure: he received a ball in his thigh, and fell; the enemy pressed on to kill him; one of their officers, at the hazard of his own life, protected him, and in this act of humane interference was slain by the Spaniards, ... ♦1809.
August.♦ a circumstance which their journalists recorded with becoming regret. The success which had been obtained was of little avail, for the French had artillery in abundance: in the course of a few hours they mounted other pieces in place of those which had been rendered useless, and continued their fire upon the gate and the ravelin. At the same time they formed a covered way from their own parapet to the breach of the ravelin; by this, on the night between the 4th and 5th of August they poured a sufficient body of troops through the breach to overpower the forty men who were stationed there; but having won the place, they could not maintain it, exposed as it was to musketry from the castle. It was, therefore, left for the dead who covered it. About forty hours afterwards, a few Spaniards determined to go and bring off the arms which the French had not had time to carry away; they found a lad of sixteen who had lain thus long among the carcasses; he was the only one of his comrades who escaped death or captivity, ... they brought him off, and he was sent to the hospital half dead with exhaustion.
♦Monjuic abandoned.♦
The guns of Monjuic had now been silenced; the enemy were so near, that sometimes the Spaniards knocked them down with stones: it was with difficulty that the governor, D. Guillerme Nasch, could restrain his men: impatient at remaining inactive, they earnestly solicited permission to sally out upon the most desperate attempts. The garrison had held out seven-and-thirty days since a practicable breach was made. A week had elapsed since the ravelin was lost, and three sides of the castle were now entirely in ruins; there was little water left, and that little foul and unwholesome; the number of soldiers was every day diminished by disease as well as by the chances of war. Under these circumstances, the governor deemed it his duty to preserve the men who were still left, that they might assist in the defence of the city. On the evening of the 11th he abandoned the ruins, and retired into Gerona, every man taking with him two hand-grenades and as many cartridges as he could carry. Matches were left in the magazine, and the retreat was effected with only the loss of one man, who was killed by a shell when he had entered the gates.
♦Verdier expects the town to fall.♦