The intervening time was not one of rest for Joseph and his army. Their movements require careful attention. When Napoleon hurried the main body of his troops across the Somosierra in pursuit of the British, he left behind him the corps of Victor, shorn of Lapisse’s division, the whole of the corps of Lefebvre[1], and the three independent cavalry divisions of Lasalle, Latour-Maubourg and Milhaud--in all 8,000 horse and 28,000 foot with ninety guns. There was also the Royal Guard of King Joseph, four battalions of foot, and a regiment of horse, beside two skeleton regiments of Spanish deserters, which the ‘Intrusive King’ was raising as the nucleus of a new army of his own[2]. [1] Save two Dutch and one German regiment of Leval’s division, which had been left behind on garrison duty in Biscay and Old Castile. [2] This was done by the Emperor’s orders. The _cadres_ of these regiments, called _Royal-Étranger_ and _Royal-Napoléon_, were formed partly of Frenchmen, partly of Spanish _Afrancesados_. The rank and file of the first regiment were to be raised from the Swiss and Germans who had served in the old Spanish army: some of them had adhered to the French, others, when taken prisoners in the late campaign, had offered to serve King Joseph. The second regiment was to be composed of native Spaniards. See _Correspondance de Napoléon_, 14,531. Of these troops the incomplete German division of Leval (2nd of the 4th Corps) and King Joseph’s guards formed the garrison of Madrid. This force seeming too small, the division of Ruffin (1st of the 1st Corps) was ordered in to reinforce them. The rest of the army lay in two concentric semicircles outside Madrid: the inner semicircle was formed of infantry: there was a regiment at Guadalajara[3], a whole division under Marshal Victor himself at Aranjuez[4], and two divisions of the 4th Corps under Marshal Lefebvre at Talavera[5]. Outside these troops was a great cavalry screen. In front of Victor the three cavalry brigades of Latour-Maubourg’s division lay respectively at Tarancon, Ocaña, and Madridejos, watching the three roads from La Mancha. West of them lay Milhaud’s division of dragoons, in front of Talavera, in the direction of Navalmoral and San Vincente, observing the passes of the Sierra de Toledo. Lastly, as a sort of advanced guard in the direction of Estremadura, Lasalle’s light cavalry had pushed on to the great bridge of Almaraz, behind which the wrecks of the mutinous armies of Belvedere and San Juan were beginning to collect, under their new commander Galluzzo[6]. [3] The 55th, a stray remnant left behind by Dessolles. [4] Division of Villatte. It had one battalion detached, along with the 26th Chasseurs, at Toledo. [5] Division of Valence and Sebastiani. [6] Lasalle’s division (often altered in composition) now consisted of the 10th and 26th Chasseurs, 9th Dragoons and Polish Lancers.