BRONZE MEDAL TO BRITISH GERMAN LEGION FOR PENINSULAR WAR.
SILVER MEDAL TO HANSEATIC LEGION, 1813-15.
PRUSSIAN MEDALS FOR NAPOLEONIC WARS.
On the 28th the British were attacked in position on a mountain ridge between the valleys of the Lanz and the Guy, with Byng's brigade in reserve on the second ridge of Huerta, and the 6th division adjoining; the latter had scarcely got into position, when General Clausel attacked it from the Sorauren side; the fight became general, and 27th and 48th Regiments, charging, "rolled back the enemy in disorder, and threw them headlong down the mountain side." With admirable heroism the French soldiers returned three times to the charge, but their efforts could not avail against the dogged determination of the allied troops. In this affair every regiment in the 4th division, the 40th, 7th, 20th, and 23rd, charged four times, while Major-General Ross had two horses shot under him. On the 29th the rival armies were inactive, Soult apparently considering his plans for the relief of Pampeluna and San Sebastian. He decided to abandon any advance on the former, and proceeded to relieve San Sebastian, but by masterly manœuvres Wellington checkmated his opponent, and compelled him to abandon the endeavour, and on August 2nd the French troops evacuated Spain at all points.
For nine days the armies had confronted one another, and the allies had lost in the different actions no less than 7,096 officers and men killed and wounded, while the aggregate loss of the French is put down at 15,000. At the conclusion of this series of conflicts Sir William Stewart was wounded, and Wellington narrowly escaped being taken prisoner by a French detachment which surprised him whilst studying a map; the French Commander-in-Chief, Soult, also narrowly escaped with his liberty.
St. Sebastian.—While Soult and Wellington had been busily engaged, General Rey, the Governor of San Sebastian, had employed himself in strengthening the city and castle, so that when the second siege was renewed on August 5th, 1813, he was in a position to make a very desperate defence. Many inactive days were spent, to the chagrin of Wellington, who complained of the exceeding inactivity of the navy, which compelled him to lose more than half of August. However, by the 26th he had breaching guns and mortars in position, and with these he opened fire upon the city, and as a result 250 yards of the walls were reduced to ruins; but it was not until the night between August 30th and 31st that the place was assaulted. Then, again, the British soldier gave proof of his cool bearing, not once, but again and again. At 8 a.m. the town was bombarded by all the batteries, and the fire was kept up until 11 a.m., when the order for the assault was given. A storming party of 750 volunteers was asked for from the 1st, 4th, and light divisions, "men who could show other troops how to mount a breach." They successfully passed one danger which destroyed a party of thirteen that had rushed to cut the saucisson of a mine, to die in mounting the great breach. At the sea wall hundreds of the British were killed by the explosion of a mine, and then "began a frightful slaughter," for there was hardly another conflict so desperate and so sanguinary as that which took place at the storming of the great breach; "the appearance of the breach was perfectly delusive; nothing living could reach the summit; no courage, however desperate, could overcome the difficulties, for they were alike unexpected and unsurmountable." The officers encouraged their men by word and action, "crowd after crowd were seen to mount, totter, and to fall, and at length the whole mass sank to the bottom of the breach, but remained stubborn and immovable on this lower part." General Graham, beholding this, resorted to an unparalleled expedient by ordering all the breaching batteries to fire over the stormers' heads on to the inner wall. This daring inspiration saved the situation, for the terrible storm of missiles, passing over the heads of the British troops, did their deadly work by demolishing the defences, and killing or driving away the defenders. Another furious effort was made upon the breach, and when this seemed as though it must fail, explosions occurred all along the enemy's defences, and the British soldiery, breaking into the first traverse, poured through the town, pushed past the barricades, which the defenders could not hold even for a few moments in face of the impetuous stormers, who were, however, compelled to leave the castle unattacked. In this terrible conflict the chief engineer, Sir Richard Fletcher, was killed; Burgoyne, the second engineer, wounded; also Generals Sir James Leith, Oswald, and Robinson. The total loss of the besiegers on the day of the capture was 761 killed, 1,697 wounded, and 45 missing. The castle was pluckily defended, but on the 8th was reduced to ruins, and the garrison, surrendering, were allowed to march out, the brave Rey at their head, with all the honours of war. The siege had lasted seventy-three days, during which time nine assaults had been made. The disgraceful scenes of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz were surpassed at San Sebastian by the addition of revolting cruelty to the excesses of drunkenness, and the crimes of rape and murder.
The regiments engaged in the siege and capture were 200 of the Guards; 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 20th, 23rd, 24th, 27th, 36th, 38th, 40th, 43rd, 47th, 48th, 51st, 52nd, 53rd, 59th, 68th, 82nd, 85th, 87th, 88th, and 95th, but only the Royal Scots, 4th, 9th, 38th, 47th, and 59th Regiments, are permitted to carry ST. SEBASTIAN on their colours.