♦Passage of the Nivelle.♦
The first intention was to turn this position, by advancing Sir Rowland’s corps from Roncesvalles through St. Jean de Pied-de-Port; this movement would turn the sources of the Nive, threaten Soult’s rear, and compel him, it was thought, to abandon his works, and retire beyond Bayonne; but this plan was given up upon full consideration, Soult’s line being so short, and the road behind it so good, that he might have it in his power to fall upon Sir Rowland with a superior force, or to attack Sir John Hope when it would be difficult to reinforce either; or he might retire untouched, and keep his army in a condition to continue active and harass the allies in their winter quarters. Lord Wellington resolved, therefore, to strike at the centre of his position, strong as it was, and at the same time to attack the heights of Ainhoue, which were its immediate support on the left. With this view Sir Rowland had been ordered, as soon as Pamplona should fall, to move leftward, into the valley of Bastan, and the cavalry to close up his rear in readiness for supporting the right of Beresford’s corps at Maya.
The enemy, fully expecting an attack, were always under arms at daybreak, and remained in their redoubts till nightfall; and they improved every day’s delay, which the state of the weather afforded them, in strengthening their works, strong as the labour of three months had already made them. The rain, indeed, continued so many days, and so heavy, that many persons began to fear it would be impossible for them to move; and Lord Wellington, with all his just confidence in himself and in the troops which he commanded, could not but feel how easily human strength and military skill might be baffled by the elements. The weather cleared on the 4th; and on the 7th he met Sir Rowland, Marshal Beresford, and all the chiefs of the right and centre at Urdache, from whence he reconnoitred Ainhoue closely, and pointed out the mode by which that part of the position was to be attacked. The object was to force their centre, and establish the army in rear of their right; and the attack was to be made by columns of divisions, each led by the general officers commanding it, and each forming its own reserve. Sir Rowland directed the movements of the right, consisting of the 2d and 6th divisions, under Sir William Stewart and Sir Henry Clinton, Sir John Hamilton’s Portugueze, and Morillo’s Spanish division, Colonel Grant’s brigade of cavalry, a brigade of Portugueze artillery under Lieutenant-Colonel Tulloh, and three mountain guns under Lieutenant Robe. Marshal Beresford directed the right of the centre, with the 3rd, 7th, and 4th divisions, under Major-General Colville, Camp-Marshal Le Cor and Sir Lowry Cole. Giron was to act on his immediate left with the Andalusian army of reserve. Baron Alten’s light division, with three mountain guns, and Longa’s corps, was to attack La Petite Rhune; Sir Stapleton Cotton to follow the movement of the centre, with General Alten’s brigade of cavalry, and three brigades of British artillery. Freyre, with the Galician army, was to move from the heights of Mandale toward Ascain, prevent the enemy from detaching troops from thence to the support of others, and take advantage of any movement which they might make from their right toward their centre; and Sir John Hope was to act along the remainder of their line to the sea.
The 8th was the day intended for the attack, but the state of the roads prevented the artillery and some of Sir Rowland’s brigade from coming up; it was postponed therefore till the 10th. This opened with so clear and beautiful a moonlight morning, that it was scarcely perceptible when daylight began to predominate; and men who had served in India were reminded of an Indian sky. Lord Wellington was on horseback at five, and reached the point of attack at six: he found Sir Lowry Cole’s division at its post, with 18 pieces of cannon at the head of the column: it was on a sloping ridge, which ends in a high point above the village of Sarré; and on that point was the redoubt which he was to attack, and which had been made with the greatest care, having a deep ditch, an abattis in front, and trous de loup, so named from their resemblance to the pit-falls in which wolves are taken. Giron was close on his left, and Le Cor on the right, both in valleys. Lord Wellington, Beresford, Sir Lowry, General Colville, and other staffs, were in a little grove, which covered them, about 600 yards from the redoubt, walking about till it was light enough to commence the attack. Sir Lowry then drove in the enemy’s piquets, and the horse artillery were enabled to gain the ridge, and open in front of the grove within 400 yards of the redoubt: their fire in return rattled through the branches: Colonel Ross dashed forward, and opened six guns within 300 yards, which riddled the curtain: the French, however, stood firm, till after about an hour’s firing they saw the Spaniards moving to their rear, and the infantry advancing with ladders to escalade them; they then leaped over the parapet and ran: ... they were about 300, of whom some twenty were taken in the ditch, and not more than eight or ten killed. The artillery was then rapidly advanced against the next redoubt on the right, and that cost only about a quarter of an hour, for it was abandoned with discreditable precipitation.
By this time the troops were advancing with great celerity over most difficult ground. Lord Wellington moved on to the first redoubt, from whence he could direct the movements of the Spaniards, and of the 3rd, 7th, and 4th divisions; one of those bursts of cheering which electrify the hearers indicated his presence. Beresford advanced with the 3rd and 7th, while the Spaniards attacked the village of Sarré by its right, and Sir Lowry turned its left. Downie commanded the battalion of Spaniards to whom this service was assigned, while Giron remained in the valley with a brigade which was to support the light division; and as in that situation it might not be seen when the village was carried, Downie, as a signal, said he would send his aide-de-camp to toll the church bell. He made the attack with great spirit: the enemy in front of the village made a show of more determination than they kept up, and they rushed from their second line as if ashamed of having too hastily given up the first; but after some skirmishing they retired to the second, and thence from the redoubts and heights cannonaded the assailants. Downie carried the village most gallantly, and the bell tolled. Sir Lowry meantime attacked and carried the works on the low hills in the rear of Sarré, and there halted for orders.
Baron Alten, meanwhile, was equally successful in his operations. He had formed the light division before daylight, in a ravine separating the great and little La Rhune, and within 300 yards of the intrenchments with which the face of La Petite Rhune was covered. Rushing from thence as soon as the day opened, the troops forced line after line: the enemy did not wait in their redoubts to be assaulted; and the assailants having carried all the works, and formed without farther opposition on the summit of the hill, were crossing the valley to attack the right of the high range behind Sarré, when Lord Wellington reached the point which Sir Lowry had gained. The preliminary attacks having thus succeeded, the whole moved forward against the intrenched range of heights which formed the strongest part of the enemy’s position. The Spaniards on Giron’s left were not sufficiently alert to support the light division: it was not for some time that the guns could be got up over most difficult ground: part of the 95th, who had gained the first high point, were attacked and obliged to retire; and the enemy had the advantage till the Spaniards, quickened by messages from Lord Wellington, came up; the French then gave way, and the lower ridge, in the centre of the position opposite to our two central columns, was immediately occupied. The Prince of Orange, who was with Lord Wellington that day, was then sent to Marshal Beresford, desiring him to attack that part of the high range in his front, while Sir Lowry should at the same time assail it on his side.
It was now about ten o’clock, and before this simultaneous effort could be made there was time to look at the position which was about to be attacked. The mountain extends about twelve miles from Ascain to Mondarin; only one valley intersects it, which is that through which the Nivelle flows; but there are several dips in the range; every higher point had its redoubt, and in the intervals the enemy were formed in great strength, some in lines, some in columns, with sharp-shooters half way down the hills. A friend of Lord Wellington’s said at the time to Sir George Murray, that he should expect a very difficult task here, if he had not seen the amazing superiority of our troops in the attack on Sarré. Sir George replied, “It is impossible to say how that position may be defended; it is very formidable, but we probably shall get it very easily; when the French see the red coats they know we are determined to carry our point, and they never dispute it long.” The troops justified this brave confidence; six columns began to ascend, with a chain of sharp-shooters in their front; and never could greater intrepidity be displayed than that with which the British and Portugueze advanced against strong works, or solid columns at the top of steep ascents, where they were frequently obliged to use their hands as well as feet in climbing. When they approached a redoubt, they halted a few minutes to take breath: a party was sent to turn it: the sharp-shooters went close up, and another party went straight at it in front, with as much confidence as if to charge a regiment on a plain: when they got within twenty or thirty paces, the enemy uniformly fled, and the assailants being out of breath, could overtake but few of them. Most of these redoubts had a glacis, with an abattis in front, which gave them time to get off. From one large one, which was attacked by the 21st Portugueze regiment, the garrison continued to fire till the assailants jumped into the ditch; then the French hastened out at the rear with all alacrity.
Lord Wellington ascended in the interval between the 7th and 4th divisions. Just as he reached the summit of the range at one of its dips, Beresford and Colville, with the 3rd division, had carried a very high hill, crowned with a strong stockaded redoubt, which was, in fact, the key of the position, and looked down upon the whole range on both sides. The 40th suffered here from having pushed on too fast. The allies were now gaining the upper ridge on all sides, and the artillery attempted to follow: Ross’s troop was the only one which succeeded, and that by two hours’ of the utmost exertion, and by partly making a road. Sir Lowry, with the 4th division, reached the top at a lower part: two brigades of the enemy were formed upon a height on his left; and beyond them, on a very high point above Ascain, was a large and strong redoubt, manned by a battalion of infantry. The light division was toiling up the hill to the right of this work, and the Spaniards to the left. Sir Lowry attacked the brigades: there were two generals at their heads; but when the assailants came near, the French fired five or six rounds in rather an unsoldier-like hurry, and then moved hastily off, leaving the redoubt to its fate. Downie, seizing a colour, and waving it as he advanced on horseback at the head of his battalion, led on his men: they went against it gallantly, in spite of their officers, who behaved ill: the light division commenced an attack upon it, in which Colonel Barnard was wounded; and the 52nd lost a good many men here, before Lord Wellington’s orders for desisting and summoning the garrison could arrive. While this attack continued, the troops under Beresford got so far in the rear of the redoubt, that it was impossible for the garrison to retreat. They proved to be the first battalion of the 88th regiment, nearly 600 strong: their colonel had been promoted for his defence of S. Christoval’s, at the first siege of Badajoz: he hesitated, parleyed, and requested to confer with his officers, and subsequently with the non-commissioned officers; but it was in vain to resist, and there was no way to escape; so they surrendered, and laid down their arms on the glacis. Some of the men expressed their indignation in coarse and indecent language at finding themselves prisoners; and one serjeant, in particular, who wore the cross of the Legion of Honour, cursed his fortune, that after being present in the battles of Austerlitz and Wagram, he should now be captured in a redoubt!
While these operations were going on in the centre, Sir Henry Clinton, with the 6th division, having driven in the enemy’s piquets on both banks of the Nivelle, crossed that river, covered the passage of Sir John Hamilton’s Portugueze division, and ascended the hill in line, scarcely firing a shot. The enemy were formed on the top of the hill, as on a fine parade, in front of their huts, and with strong redoubts on both flanks. The first party in its eagerness pushed on too fast, and was driven back; but as the support came near they dashed forward again; and the enemy, having thrown away their fire, went off in great confusion, abandoning redoubts, camp, and all. Sir William Stewart’s division carried a work on a parallel ridge in the rear. Morillo, by attacking the enemy’s posts on the slopes of Mondarin, and following them towards Itzatce, covered the advance of the whole to the heights behind Ainhoue. Sir Rowland then forced the enemy to retire from those heights towards the bridge of Cambo on the Nivelle; and Sir William Stewart drove a division from Mondarin into the mountains toward Baygorri. By two o’clock the allies had gained possession of the whole of the position behind Sarré and Ainhoue.
The enemy, who had been in front of our centre, were now retiring along the road to St. Pé, a village on the Nivelle, between three and four miles distant. The nature of the country rendered it impossible to cut them off; and Lord Wellington was obliged to wait an hour, that the troops might take breath, and to see that the operations on the right had succeeded; and that the 6th division, after carrying the works in its front, had inclined to the left, and closed upon the third. This having been ascertained, about three o’clock he directed the 7th and 3rd divisions (being the right of the centre) to move by the left of the river upon St. Pé, and the 6th by the right upon the same place; while the 4th and light divisions, with Giron’s reserve, held the heights above Ascain, covering the movement on that side, and Sir Rowland covered it on the other. The Nivelle is from twenty to thirty yards wide, rapid like a mountain stream, and not fordable; there is a stone bridge at St. Pé, a wooden one half a mile lower down, and a stone one about the same distance still lower, at the village of Ayan. The first of these bridges was eagerly contested; but, after some severe skirmishing, the allies effected the passage of all three. Lord Wellington halted upon the heights above St. Pé; and, having occupied the bridges and the villages, waited there for reports from the right and left. During the whole day he could distinctly hear, and generally see, the firing on the right, Sir Rowland’s quarter; but the projecting base of La Rhune entirely prevented him from seeing what passed on Sir John Hope’s side; and a steady breeze, setting towards the sea, prevented any sound from reaching him in that direction. But on that side there could be no anxiety, for it was not intended to be the scene of serious action; and what service was to be performed there, was performed well. The French had constructed a redoubt round the ruins of a small chapel on a hill, and connected it with the defence of Urogne by intrenchments, and a strong abattis. From this work, which formed a sort of advanced post to their right wing, Sir John Hope drove them, and from Urogne, and pushed forward the 5th division to the inundation which covered the intrenchments in front of Ciboure, and those protecting the heights in advance of Fort Socoa. The enemy were kept in expectation here that this position would be assaulted; and they were menaced in their intrenchments, which covered the heights behind Urogne, and extended along the hills in the direction of Ascain: that village they abandoned in the afternoon, and Freyre took possession of it. As soon as Lord Wellington had received the reports, he gave orders for attacking the heights behind St. Pé: they were of difficult access, through vineyards, and were crowned with woods; and the enemy had a considerable force there: during the intervals of severer action, the sharp-shooters had been warmly engaged in the village, and along the river; and shrapnells had been thrown at the heights with visible effect from Ross’s brigade. The 3rd division now crossed near the village, the 6th advanced upon its right, and the 7th attacked the left of the heights; the brunt of the action on this side was borne by this division. The 51st and 68th regiments, light troops, scoured a wood in full cry, like a pack of hounds, and drove out a large body of sharp-shooters, whom they drove up the hills, but with so much eagerness as to leave their support behind. Instantly upon this advantage being presented, a strong column moved from behind the hill, and attacked them: the enemy were led by a general officer on horseback, and behaved with more spirit than they had shown in any other part of the engagement. The two regiments, if they had not been two of the best, must have been cut to pieces; but though they were very weak in numbers, and were driven back, they formed in close order, and in the most gallant manner retook the hill. This was the last business of the day. The three divisions took post on the heights beyond St. Pé; thus establishing themselves in the rear of the enemy’s right; and the remainder of the army rested on the ground which they occupied, the evening being so far advanced that no further movement could be made.