The bridges of Talavera and Arzobispo were, as we have seen, held by the French; and their advanced posts were pushed into the valley of the Tagus, as far as the Barca de Bazagona.
Cuesta’s position extended from Garbin, near the bridge of Arzobispo, to the bridge of Almaraz. His centre being at Meza d’Ibor, a position of surprising strength, running at right angles from the Tagus to the Guadalupe. The head-quarters and reserves were at Deleytosa; and a road, cut by the troops, afforded a communication between that place and Meza d’Ibor.
On the right bank of the Tagus there was easy access to the bridges of Talavera, Arzobispo, and Almaraz; but on the left bank no road existed, except from Almaraz, by which artillery could pass the mountains, and even that was crossed by the ridge of Mirabete, which stretching on a line parallel to the river, and at the distance of four or five miles, affords an almost impregnable position.
The duke of Belluno’s plan was, to pass the Tagus at the bridges of Talavera and Arzobispo, with his infantry and a part of his cavalry, and to operate in the Sierra de Guadalupe against the Spanish right; while the artillery and grand parc, protected Journal of Operations of the First Corps MS. by the remainder of the cavalry, were united opposite Almaraz, having with them a raft bridge to throw across at that point, a project scarcely to be reconciled with the estimate made of Cuesta’s force; for surely nothing could be more rash than to expose the whole of the guns and field stores of the army, with no other guard than some cavalry and one battalion of infantry, close to a powerful enemy, who possessed a good pontoon train, and who might, consequently, pass the river at pleasure.
The 15th, Laval’s division of German infantry, and Lasalle’s cavalry, crossed at Talavera, and, turning to the right, worked a march through the rocky hills; the infantry to Aldea Nueva, on a line somewhat short of the bridge of Arzobispo; the cavalry higher up the mountain towards Estrella.
The 16th, when those troops had advanced a few miles to the front, the head-quarters, and the other divisions of infantry, passed the bridge of Arzobispo; while the artillery and the parcs, accompanied by a battalion of grenadiers, and the escorting cavalry, moved to Almaraz, with orders to watch, on the 17th and 18th, for the appearance of the army on the heights at the other side, and then to move down to the point before indicated, for launching the raft bridge.
Alarmed by these movements, Cuesta hastened in person to Mirabete; and directing general Henestrosa, with eight thousand men, to defend the bridge of Almaraz, sent a detachment to reinforce his right wing, which was posted behind the Ibor, a small river, but at this season running with a full torrent from the Guadalupe to the Tagus.
The 17th, the Spanish advanced guards were driven, with some loss, across the Ibor. They attempted to re-form on the high rocky banks of that river; but, being closely followed, retreated to the camp of Meza d’Ibor, the great natural strength of which was increased by some field works.
Their position could only be attacked in front; and, this being apparent at the first glance, Laval’s division was instantly formed in columns of attack, which pushed rapidly up the mountain; the inequalities of ground covering them in some sort from the effects of the enemy’s artillery. As they arrived near the summit, the fire of musketry and grape became murderous; but, at the instant when the Spaniards should have displayed all their vigour, they broke and fled to Campillo, leaving behind them baggage, magazines, seven guns, and a thousand prisoners, besides eight hundred killed and wounded. The French had seventy killed, and near five hundred wounded.