ACTIONS OF THE PYRENEES. 28th. July to 2nd. August, 1813.
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After the decisive battle of Vittoria, the British commander blockaded the fortress of Pampeluna, besieged St. Sebastian, and took up a position with the covering army in the Pyrenees. On the 17th. of July the blockade of Pampeluna was entrusted to the Spaniards. The whole frontier of the Pyrenees, from the pass of Roncesvalles to the mouth of the Bidassoa river, was now occupied by the second, seventh, and light divisions, with some Portuguese brigades in the front line; and by the third, fourth, and sixth divisions as supports, covering the blockade of Pampeluna, and the siege of St. Sebastian, then going on under Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Graham. The British army, after years of toil and conflict, procured liberty for the oppressed inhabitants of the Peninsula, had forced the intrusive monarch of Spain from his throne, and stood triumphant on the lofty pinnacles of the Pyrenees; but another mighty struggle was at hand, in which the innate valour and hardihood of British soldiers were about to be tested, and the French Army, having been re-organized by Marshal Soult, was pushed boldly forward to drive them from the mountains.
Marshal Soult having arrived at Bayonne on the 13th. of July, to command, as “Lieutenant of the Emperor,” the united French army of Spain, on the 25th. of that month attacked with about forty thousand men Major-General Byng’s 152post at Roncesvalles. Lieutenant-General the Honourable Sir Lowry Cole moved up to his support with the fourth division, and these officers were enabled to maintain their post throughout the day; but the enemy having turned it in the afternoon, Sir Lowry deemed it advisable to withdraw during the night, and marched to the neighbourhood of Zubiri. A detachment of the 20th. evinced signal gallantry in its attacks on the head of a French column, but was forced back by superior numbers. The Marquis of Wellington stated in his despatch, that “in the actions which took place on this day, the 20th. regiment distinguished themselves.”
Lieutenant-General Sir Rowland Hill’s position in the Puerto de Maya, at the head of the valley of Bastan, was also attacked by two divisions of the centre of the French army in the afternoon of the same day. The brunt of the action fell upon Major-Generals Pringle’s and Walker’s brigades in the second division, under the command of Lieutenant-General the Honourable William Stewart. These troops were at first compelled to give way, but having been supported by Major-General Barnes’s brigade of the seventh division, they regained that part of their post, which was the key of the whole, and would have enabled them to re-assume it, had circumstances permitted it.[52] Sir Rowland Hill, having been apprised of the necessity that Sir Lowry Cole should retire, considered it advisable to withdraw his troops also to Irurita, and the enemy did not advance on the following day beyond the Puerto de Maya.
153During the seven hours these brave troops were engaged but little advantage was acquired by the French, notwithstanding the numerical superiority of the latter. All the regiments charged with the bayonet, and the conduct of the 82nd., which moved up with the brigade under Major-General Barnes, was particularly reported. Lieutenant-General the Honourable William Stewart was slightly wounded.
These events were not known to the Marquis of Wellington until late in the night of the 25th. and 26th., whereupon his lordship adopted immediate measures to concentrate the army to the right, at the same time making provision for the siege of St. Sebastian, and for the blockade of Pampeluna.
The hill on the right of the fourth division, which was occupied on the 27th. of July by one battalion of the 4th. Portuguese regiment, and by the Spanish regiment of Pravia, was attacked; but these troops defended their ground and drove back the enemy. This height being important to the British position, the 40th. was ordered to reinforce it, and this corps, with the Spanish regiments of El Principe and Pravia, succeeded in holding it, despite the repeated efforts made during the 27th. and 28th. by the enemy to obtain possession. On the morning of the 28th. the sixth division joined, and it was ordered to form across the valley in rear of the fourth. Scarcely had they taken their position when they were attacked by a very large force; their front was however so well defended by the fire of their own light troops from the heights on their left, and by that from the heights occupied by the fourth division and Brigadier-General Campbell’s Portuguese brigade, that the foe was soon driven back with immense slaughter.
To extricate their troops from the difficulty in which they were placed, the enemy attacked the height on which the left of the fourth division stood, which was occupied by the 7th. Caçadores, and succeeding in obtaining a momentary possession. They were again attacked by this regiment, supported by Major-General Ross, at the head of his brigade of the fourth division, and were driven down with great loss.
Now the battle became general along the whole front of the heights occupied by the fourth division, and in every part was in favour of the allies, excepting where one battalion of the 10th. Portuguese regiment of Major-General Campbell’s 154brigade was posted. This battalion having been overpowered, and compelled to give way immediately on the right of Major-General Ross’s brigade, the French established themselves on the British line, and that general was obliged to withdraw from his post.
The 27th. and 48th. regiments were then ordered to charge, first that body which had established a footing on the height, and next the portion on the left. Both attacks succeeded, and the enemy was forced down with immense loss; and the sixth division having moved forward at the same time to a situation in the valley of Lanz, nearer to the left of the fourth, the attack upon that front entirely ceased, and was continued but faintly on other points of the line.
During this hard-fought action the following regiments were specially noticed by the Marquis of Wellington, who observed in his despatch:—“In the course of this contest the gallant fourth division, which has so frequently been distinguished in this army, surpassed their former good conduct. Every regiment charged with the bayonet,—the 40th., 7th., 20th., and 23rd., four different times. Their officers set them the example; and Major-General Ross had two horses killed under him. The Portuguese troops likewise behaved admirably, and I had every reason to be satisfied with the conduct of the Spanish regiments, El Principe and Pravia.”
As soon as it was ascertained that Lieutenant-Generals Sir Thomas Picton and Sir Lowry Cole had moved from Zubiri, that post not being considered tenable for the time during which it would have been necessary to wait therein, Lieutenant-General Sir Rowland Hill received orders to march by Lanz upon Lizaso, and Lieutenant-General the Earl of Dalhousie from San Estevan to the same place, where both arrived on the 28th. of July, and the seventh division came to Marcalain.
Sir Rowland Hill was followed by the enemy’s force that had been in his front, and which ultimately endeavoured to turn the left of the allies by an attack on his corps. They reinforced with one division the troops that had been opposed to him, and during the night of the 29th. and 30th., occupied in strength the crest of the mountain on the British 155left of the Lanz, opposite to the sixth and seventh divisions, thus connecting their right in their position with the divisions detached for the attack of Sir Rowland Hill’s corps.
Wellington had resolved, however, to attack this position. The Earl of Dalhousie was ordered to possess himself of the top of the mountain in his front, thus turning the enemy’s right; and Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton was to cross the heights, so as to turn his left by the road to Roncesvalles. As soon as the effect of these movements on the flanks should become apparent, the front of the position was to be attacked. Major-General the Honourable Edward Pakenham, who had been sent to take the command of the sixth division on Major-General Pack being wounded, turned the village of Sorauren as soon as the Earl of Dalhousie had driven the foe from the mountain, by which that flank was defended. The sixth division and Major-General Byng’s brigade, which had relieved the fourth division on the left of the position on the road to Ostiz, at once attacked, and succeeded in carrying that village.
The front of the main position was likewise attacked by Lieutenant-General Sir Lowry Cole, with the 7th. Caçadores, supported by the 11th. Portuguese regiment, the 40th., and the battalion under Colonel Bingham, consisting of the 2nd. and 53rd. regiments. These combined operations compelled the enemy to abandon a position pronounced by the British commander to have been one of the strongest and most difficult of access that he had ever seen occupied by troops. In the retreat therefrom the French lost a great number of prisoners.
During the course of these operations, and as their success was observed, troops were detached to the support of Lieutenant-General Sir Rowland Hill, before whom the enemy appeared in his front late in the morning, and commenced at once an extended manœuvre upon his left flank which obliged him to withdraw from the height which he occupied behind the Lizaso to the next range; there, however, he maintained himself, and that general specially praised the 28th., 34th., and 60th. regiments.
At sunset the Marquis of Wellington having continued the pursuit of the enemy, after his retreat to Olague, found himself 156immediately in the rear of their attack upon Sir Rowland Hill, from whose front they withdrew in the night, and on the 31st. of July took up a strong position, with two divisions, to cover their rear in the pass of Donna Maria. This pass was attacked and carried by Sir Rowland Hill and the Earl of Dalhousie, notwithstanding a vigorous opposition, and the strength of the position. On this occasion Lieutenant-General the Honourable William Stewart was wounded. A very thick fog prevented that advantage being taken of the situation of the enemy, which otherwise might have been effected.
Meanwhile the Marquis of Wellington moved with Major-General Byng’s brigade and the fourth division, under Lieutenant-General Sir Lowry Cole, by the Pass of Velate upon Irurita, in order to turn the French position on Donna Maria. Major-General Byng (afterwards Earl of Strafford) intercepted in Elizondo a large convoy and captured several prisoners. The pursuit of the enemy was continued in the valley of the Bidassoa, and many prisoners and much baggage were taken; the latter General possessed himself of the valley of Bastan, and of the position on the Puerto de Maya, so that the British forces on the night of the 1st. of August, occupied nearly the same positions as on the 25th. of July.
The French troops having been considerably reinforced and re-equipped after their recent defeat, made a most formidable attempt on the 28th. to relieve the blockade of Pampeluna with the whole of their forces, excepting the reserve under General Villatte, which remained in front of the British corps on the great road from Irun. This attempt was however entirely frustrated by the operations of a part only of the allied army, and the enemy sustained a defeat, and suffered considerably both in officers and men. They sent off the guns to St. Jean de Pied de Port on the evening of the 28th. of July, which alone ensured their safety.
Again the fourth division was most highly spoken of—the British commander stating that it is impossible to describe its “enthusiastic bravery.”
On the morning of the 2nd. of August, the enemy still continued posted, with a force of two divisions, on the Puerto de Echalar, and nearly the entire army behind the Puerto, when 157the fourth, seventh, and light divisions advanced by the valley, of the Bidassoa to the frontier, it having been determined to dislodge them by a combined attack and movement of the three divisions. The seventh division having, however, crossed the mountains from Sumbilla, had necessarily preceded the arrival of the fourth, and Major-General Barnes’s brigade was therefore formed for the attack, and advanced, before the fourth and light divisions could co-operate, with a regularity and gallantry which the British commander “had seldom seen equalled, and actually drove the two divisions of the enemy, notwithstanding the resistance opposed to them, from those formidable heights.” This exploit was the admiration of all who witnessed it. Major-General Kempt’s brigade of the light division likewise forced a very considerable force from the rock forming the left of the Puerto. The enemy were now in their own territory, and the British troops awaited in the Pyrenees the capture of St. Sebastian and Pampeluna.
In these combats, which have been designated the “Battles of the Pyrenees,” the following regiments were engaged, namely: 2nd., 3rd., 6th., 7th., 11th., 20th, 23rd., 24th., 27th., 28th., 31st., 32nd., 34th., 36th., 39th., 40th., 42nd., 45th., 48th., 50th., 51st., 53rd., 57th., 58th., 60th., 61st., 66th., 68th., 71st., 74th., 79th., 82nd., 91st., and 92nd. Foot.
As may be readily conceived, the loss of the allies during these protracted encounters was great; they had forty-one officers and eight hundred and forty-seven men killed, and three hundred and twenty-eight officers and five thousand one hundred and seventy-two men wounded; many, however, were but slight cases.[53]
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