Note 644 — SECTION VIII: CHAPTER IV
Reading edition
This is Napoleon’s own estimate (Nap. Corresp., 14,615). Marshal Jourdan, who was more or less in charge of the whole, as chief of the staff to King Joseph, says that there were in reality only 30,000 men in all (Mémoires Militaires, p. 130). Not only was Victor’s corps short of the division of Lapisse (which the Emperor had carried off), but Lefebvre’s was also incomplete, as two Dutch and one German battalions of Leval’s division were behind in Biscay, garrisoning Bilbao and other points. King Joseph’s Guards had also left some detachments behind, and were not up to full strength (Nap. Corresp., 14,615).