CHAPTER VIII.
1813. June. The basin into which the king had now poured all his troops, his parcs, convoys, and encumbrances of every kind, was about eight miles broad by ten in length, Vittoria being at the further end. The river Zadora, narrow and with rugged banks, after passing very near that town, runs towards the Ebro with many windings and divides the basin unequally, the largest portion being on the right bank. A traveller coming from Miranda by the royal Madrid road, would enter the basin by the pass of Puebla, through which the Zadora flows between two very high and rough mountain ridges, the one on his right hand being called the heights of Puebla, that on his left hand the heights of Morillas. The road leads up the left bank of the river, and on emerging from the pass, on the left hand at the distance of about six miles would be seen the village of Subijana de Morillas, furnishing that opening into the basin which Reille defended while the other armies passed the defile of Puebla. The spires of Vittoria would appear about eight miles distant, and from that town the road to Logroño goes off on the right hand, the road to Bilbao by Murgia and Orduña on the left hand crossing the Zadora at a bridge near the village of Ariaga; further on, the roads to Estella and to Pampeluna branch off on the right, a road to Durango on the left, and between them the royal causeway leads over the great Arlaban ridge into the mountains of Guipuscoa by the formidable defiles of Salinas. But of all these roads, though several were practicable for guns, especially that to Pampeluna, the royal causeway alone could suffice for the retreat of such an encumbered army. And as the allies were behind the hills forming the basin on the right bank of the Zadora, their line being parallel to the great causeway, it followed that by prolonging their left they would infallibly cut off the French from that route.
Joseph felt the danger and his first thought was to march by Salinas to Durango, with a view to cover his communications with France, and to rally Foy’s troops and the garrisons of Guipuscoa and Biscay. But in that rough country, neither his artillery nor his cavalry, on which he greatly depended, though the cavalry and artillery of the allies were scarcely less powerful, could act or subsist, and he would have to send them into France; and if pressed by Wellington in front and surrounded by all the bands in a mountainous region, favourable for those irregulars, he could not long remain in Spain. It was then proposed if forced from the basin of Vittoria, to retire by Salvatierra to Pampeluna and bring Suchet’s army up to Zaragoza; but Joseph feared thus to lose the great communication with France, because the Spanish regular army, aided by all the bands, could seize Tolosa while Wellington operated against him on the side of Navarre. It was replied that troops detached from the army of the north and from that of Portugal might oppose them; still the king hesitated, for though the road to Pampeluna was called practicable for wheels, it required something more for the enormous mass of guns and carriages of all kinds now heaped around Vittoria.
One large convoy had already marched on the 19th by the royal causeway for France, another, still larger was to move on the 21st under escort of Maucune’s division; the fighting men in front of the enemy were thus diminished and yet the plain was still covered with artillery parcs and equipages of all kinds, and Joseph shut up in the basin of Vittoria, vacillating and infirm of purpose, continued to waste time in vain conjectures about his adversary’s movements. Hence on the 19th nothing was done, but the 20th some infantry and cavalry of the army of Portugal passed the Zadora to feel for the allies towards Murguia, and being encountered by Longa’s Spaniards at the distance of six miles, after some successful skirmishing recrossed the Zadora with the loss of twenty men. On the 21st at three o’clock in the morning Maucune’s division, more than three thousand good soldiers, marched with the second convoy, and the king took up a new line of battle.
Reille’s army reinforced by a Franco-Spanish brigade of infantry, and by Digeon’s division of dragoons from the army of the south, now formed the extreme right, having to defend the passage of the Zadora, where the Bilbao and Durango roads crossed it by the bridges of Gamara Mayor and Ariaga. The French division defended the bridge; the Franco-Spanish brigade was pushed forward toSee [plan 8.] Durana on the royal road, and was supported by a French battalion and a brigade of light horsemen; Digeon’s dragoons and a second brigade of light cavalry were in reserve behind the Zadora, near Zuazo de Alava and Hermandad. The centre of the king’s army, distant six or eight miles from Gamara, following the course of the Zadora, was on another front, because the stream, turning suddenly to the left round the heights of Margarita descends to the defile of Puebla, nearly at right angles with its previous course. Here covered by the river and on an easy open range of heights, for the basin of Vittoria is broken by a variety of ground, Gazan’s right extended from the royal road to an isolated hill in front of the village of Margarita. His centre was astride the royal road, in front of the village of Arinez; his left occupied more rugged ground, being placed behind Subijana de Alava on the roots of the Puebla mountain facing the defile of that name, and to cover this wing a brigade under general Maransin was posted on the Puebla mountain. D’Erlon’s army was in second line. The principal mass of the cavalry with many guns, and the king’s guards formed a reserve, behind the centre, about the village of Gomecha, and fifty pieces of artillery were massed in the front, pointing to the bridges of Mendoza, Tres Puentes, Villodas, and Nanclares.
While the king was making conjectures, Wellington was making various dispositions for the different operations which might occur. He knew that the Andalusian reserve would be at Burgos in a few days, and thinking that Joseph would not fight on the Zadora, detached Giron with the Gallicians on the 19th to seize Orduña. Graham’s corps was at first destined to follow Giron but finally penetrated through difficult mountain ways to Murguia, thus cutting the enemy off from Bilbao and menacing his communications with France. However the rear of the army had been so much scattered in the previous marches that Wellington halted on the 20th to rally his columns, and taking that opportunity to examine the position of the French armies, observed that they seemed steadfast to fight; whereupon immediately changing his own dispositions, he gave Graham fresh orders and hastily recalled Giron from Orduña.
The long expected battle was now at hand, and on neither side were the numbers and courage of the troops of mean account. The allies had lost about two hundred killed and wounded in the previous operations, and the sixth division, six thousand five hundred strong, was left at Medina de Pomar; hence only sixty thousand Anglo-Portuguese sabres and bayonets, with ninety pieces of cannon, were actually in the field, but the Spanish auxiliaries were above twenty thousand, and the whole army, including serjeants and artillery-men, exceeded eighty thousand combatants. For the French side, as the regular muster-roll of their troops was lost with the battle, an approximation to their strength must suffice. The number killed and taken in different combats, from the Esla and Tormes to the Zadora, was about two thousand men, and some five thousand had marched to France with the two convoys. On the other hand Sarrut’s division, the garrison of Vittoria, and the many smaller posts relinquished by the army of the north, had increased the king’s forces, and hence, by a comparison with former returns, it would appear, that in the gross, about seventy thousand men were present. Wherefore deducting the officers, the artillery-men, sappers, miners, and non-combatants, which are always borne on the French muster-rolls, the sabres and bayonets would scarcely reach sixty thousand, but in the number and size of their guns the French had the advantage.
The defects of the king’s position were apparent both in the general arrangement and in the details. His best line of retreat was on the prolongation of his right flank, which being at Gamara Mayor, close to Vittoria, was too distant to be supported by the main body of the army; and yet the safety of the latter depended upon the preservation of Reille’s position. Instead of having the rear clear, and the field of battle free, many thousand carriages and impediments of all kinds were heaped about Vittoria, blocking all the roads, and creating confusion amongst the artillery parcs. Maransin’s brigade placed on the heights above Puebla was isolated and too weak to hold that ground. The centre indeed occupied an easy range of hills, its front was open, with a slope to the river, and powerful batteries seemed to bar all access by the bridges; nevertheless many of the guns being pushed with an advanced post into a deep loop of the Zadora, were within musket-shot of a wood on the right bank, which was steep and rugged, so that the allies found good cover close to the river.
There were seven bridges within the scheme of the operations, namely, the bridge of La Puebla on the French left beyond the defile; the bridge of Nanclares, facing Subijana de Alava and the French end of the defile of Puebla; then three bridges which, placed around the deep loop of the river before mentioned, opened altogether upon the right of the French centre, that of Mendoza being highest up the stream, that of Vellodas lowest down the stream, and that of Tres Puentes in the centre; lastly the bridges of Gamara Mayor and Ariaga on the Upper Zadora, opposite Vittoria, which were guarded by Reille, completed the number, and none of the seven were either broken or entrenched.
Wellington having well observed these things formed his army for three distinct battles.