♦Clausel retires to Zaragoza.♦
General Clausel’s corps, consisting of part of the army of the north, and one division of the army of Portugal, 14,000 in all, had been recalled from its operations against Mina to join the collected force of the Intruder. Coming in a direction which none of the fugitives had taken, he approached Vittoria the day after the battle, and finding that city in possession of Major-General Pakenham’s division, which had just arrived there, and having no means of communicating with the routed army, he retired immediately towards Logroño. There he halted, hoping to obtain information whereby to direct his movements; and Lord Wellington thinking there was some prospect of intercepting his retreat, moved three divisions towards Tudela, and the 5th and 6th from Vittoria and Salvatierra towards Logroño. Clausel, who was at this time harassed by the indefatigable Mina, and by Don Julian Sanchez with his regiment of cavalry, left Logroño on the 24th, taking with him the garrison of that place, and marching on the left bank of the Ebro, crossed it by the bridge at Lodosa, and reached Calahorra on the following day. On the next he arrived at Tudela; but the Alcalde of that city informed him that the allies were on the road to meet him, upon which he marched toward Zaragoza, taking with him this garrison also.
♦Preparations for the siege of Pamplona.♦
Sir Rowland meantime following the main body of the defeated army on their retreat over the Pyrenees, dislodged them from every point which they attempted to hold, and obtained possession of the passes of S. Esteban, Donna Maria, Maya, and Roncesvalles. It was now Lord Wellington’s intention to besiege Pamplona: with this intent the heavy guns and stores for the siege were brought from Santander to Deba, a little town to the westward of S. Sebastian’s: there they were landed, and cows and bullocks had been collected for transporting them to the trenches: but the intelligence which Lord Wellington received from the Anglo-Sicilian army rendered it necessary to give up this intention, and every thing therefore was reshipped.
CHAPTER XLIV.
OPERATIONS OF THE ANGLO-SICILIAN ARMY. RECOVERY OF ZARAGOZA. SIEGE OF ST. SEBASTIAN. BATTLES OF THE PYRENEES.
♦1813.♦
♦Expedition from Alicante.♦
It was part of Lord Wellington’s plan that Marshal Suchet should be engaged on the eastern coast by the Anglo-Sicilian army, and thus prevented from sending assistance to the French in Aragon and on the upper Ebro. His position upon the line of the Xucar was too strong to be attacked in front by the force under Sir John Murray’s command, or acting in concert with him; and a movement by Requeña and Utiel upon their right flank, and by Tortosa and Lerida towards the rear, seemed as hazardous as it would have been circuitous and difficult. A naval expedition remained for consideration; and if a vigorous attack were made either upon Tarragona or Rosas, Suchet’s attention must necessarily be drawn thither, so that he could give no aid to the armies in the north, and must leave the open part of the kingdom of Valencia to the Spaniards. Tarragona was preferred as the point of attack, and Sir ♦April 14.♦ John was instructed to embark with that view. If he should succeed in his attempt against that place, an establishment would be secured on the coast north of the Ebro, so as to open a communication with the Spanish army in Catalonia: but this was a question of time and means, and if Suchet should be strong enough in Catalonia to frustrate the attempt, Sir John was directed in that case to return immediately, and land as far north in the kingdom of Valencia as he could, ♦June.♦ and there join with the right of the Spanish armies, to assist them in profiting by the opportunity which Suchet’s absence and the withdrawal of a considerable part of his force from the Xucar might be expected to afford.
The expedition was to have been kept secret; but the preparations which were made at Alicante for the embarkation of a considerable corps could not be concealed, and Suchet was speedily informed of them. Already he had apprehended, by a movement of the Spaniards from La Mancha upon Cuenca, and of Villacampa from the frontiers of Aragon upon the upper Guadalaviar, that it was intended by a combined operation to compel him to evacuate Valencia; but as at that time Clausel’s activity relieved him from any inquietude with regard to Mina, he was enabled to withdraw a division from Aragon, and to place Pannetier’s brigade between Tortosa and Valencia, that he might direct it upon whatever point should be threatened, without leaving the line of the Xucar exposed.