A history of the Peninsular War, Vol. 3, Sep. 1809-Dec. 1810 : $b Ocaña, Cadiz, Bussaco, Torres VedrasOman, Charles
History
A history of the Peninsular War, Vol. 3, Sep. 1809-Dec. 1810 : $b Ocaña, Cadiz, Bussaco, Torres Vedras
Oman, Charles
Peninsular War, 1807-1814
Meanwhile, on seeing their right brigade opening the combat with
such success, the two other French columns went forward, Marcognet
against the Spanish centre, Anselme of the 25th Léger against the
extreme right. But the ground was here much steeper: Losada’s
Galician division stood its ground very steadily, and Marcognet’s
two regiments made an involuntary halt three-quarters of the way up
the heights, under the full fire of the two Spanish batteries
there placed and the long line of infantry. The officers made several
desperate attempts to induce the columns to resume their advance, but
to no effect. They fell in great numbers, and at last the regiments
recoiled and descended the hill in disorder. Losada’s battalions
pursued them to the foot of the slope, and the Spanish light troops
in the village sallied out upon their flank, and completed their
rout. Marcognet’s brigade poured down into the plain as a disordered
mass of fugitives, and were only stayed when Marchand brought up the
27th and 59th to their rescue. Del Parque wisely halted the pursuing
force before it came into contact with the French reserves, and took
up again his post on the heights.
Meanwhile the 25th Léger, on the extreme French right, had not
pressed its attack home, and retreated when the central advance was
repulsed. Maucune, too, seeing the rout to his left, withdrew from
the heights under cover of his cavalry, carrying off only one of the
Spanish guns that he had taken early in the fight, and leaving in
return a disabled piece of his own on the hill.
The battle was fairly lost, and Marchand retired, under cover of
his cavalry along the Salamanca road. The enemy made no serious
attempt to pursue him in the plain, where his horsemen would have
been able to act with advantage. The French had lost 1,300 or 1,400
men, including 18 officers killed, and a general (Lorcet) and 54
officers wounded[84]. Marcognet’s brigade supplied the greater part
of the casualties; the 76th lost its eagle, seven officers killed and
fifteen wounded: the 39th almost as many. The cavalry and Maucune’s
brigade suffered little. The very moderate Spanish loss was 713
killed and wounded, mostly in La Carrera’s division.
[84] Marchand in his dispatch says 1,300 men in all were lost,
and a gun; he makes no mention of the eagle. His aide-de-camp,
Sprünglin, who has a good account of the battle in his _Mémoires_
(pp. 370-1), gives the total of 1,500. The Spaniards exaggerated
the loss to 3,000.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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