In the previous volume the fortunes of Soult and the Army of Andalusia were narrated down to the first days of November 1811, when Hill’s raid into Estremadura, after the surprise of Arroyo dos Molinos, ended with his retreat within the borders of Portugal. That raid had inflicted a severe blow on Drouet’s corps of observation, which formed Soult’s right wing, and covered his communications with Badajoz. But its net result was only to restrict the activities of the French on this side to that part of Estremadura which lies south of the Guadiana. Hill had made no attempt to drive away Drouet’s main body, or to blockade Badajoz, and had betaken himself to winter quarters about Elvas, Portalegre, and Estremos. Consequently Drouet was able to settle down opposite him once more, in equally widespread cantonments, with his right wing at Merida, and his left at Zafra, and to devote his attention to sending successive convoys forward to Badajoz, whenever the stores in that fortress showed signs of running low. Drouet’s force no longer bore the name of the ‘5th Corps’--all the old corps distinctions were abolished in the Southern Army this autumn, and no organization larger than that of the divisions was permitted to remain. The troops in Estremadura were simply for the future Drouet’s and Daricau’s divisions of the ‘Armée du Midi.’ The composition of this ‘containing force,’ whose whole purpose was now to observe Hill, was somewhat changed after midwinter: for the Emperor sent orders that the 34th and 40th regiments, the victims of Girard’s carelessness at Arroyo dos Molinos, were to be sent home to France to recruit their much depleted ranks. They duly left Drouet, and marched off northward[99], but they never got further than Burgos, where Dorsenne detained them at a moment of need, so that they became attached to the ‘Army of the North,’ and (after receiving some drafts) were involved in the operations against Wellington in the valley of the Douro. Two regiments from Andalusia (the 12th Léger and 45th Line) came up to replace them in Drouet’s division, but even then the French troops in Estremadura did not exceed 13,500 men, if the garrison of Badajoz (about 5,000 strong) be deducted. This constituted a field-force insufficient to hold back Hill when next he should take the offensive; but all through November and far into December Hill remained quiescent, by Wellington’s orders, and his adversary clung to his advanced positions as long as he could, though much disturbed as to what the future might bring forth. [99] Napoleon to Berthier, Dec. 30, 1811, speaks of the order to march having been _already_ given. The two regiments were in Castile by March: when precisely they left Drouet I cannot say--perhaps as late as February.