Meanwhile, even before the fighting at the great breach was over, the fate of Ciudad Rodrigo had been settled at another point. The storm of the lesser breach by the Light Division had been successful, after a shorter fight and with much less loss of blood. Vandeleur’s brigade here conducted the assault, headed by 300 volunteers from the three British regiments of the division under Major George Napier of the 52nd: Lieutenant Gurwood of the same regiment had the forlorn hope of 25 men. The column did not come under fire for some time after leaving cover, but the assault had been expected, and a keen watch was being kept. Nevertheless the ditch was reached without any great loss, and the stormers leaped in, unaided for the most part by the hay-bags which 150 of Elder’s caçadores were to have cast down for them, for the greater part of the Portuguese were late in arriving[190]. They then began to plant their ladders, but the forlorn hope went wrong in an odd way, for moving too far to the left along the _fausse-braye_ they scrambled up and over a traverse[191] which had been built across it, so finding themselves still on the same level. The head of the main storming party was better directed, and poured up the breach, which was very narrow but clean and clear: the only obstacle at its head was a disabled gun placed horizontally across the gap. Another piece, still in working order, had a diagonal view of the whole slope. The first discharge of this gun, crammed with grape, shattered the head of the column: Major Napier was dashed down with a mangled arm, Colonel Colborne, who was leading the 52nd, got a ball in the shoulder, and several other officers fell. At about the same moment General Craufurd, who was standing on the glacis above the ditch, directing the movements of the supports, received a bullet which passed through his arm, broke two ribs, and finally lodged in his spine. By his mortal hurt and the almost simultaneous wounding of his senior brigadier, Vandeleur, the command of the Light Division passed to Andrew Barnard of the 95th, who was leading the rear brigade. [190] Several narrators accuse them of shirking, but Geo. Napier writes (_Life_, p. 215), ‘Neither Elder nor his excellent regiment were likely to neglect any duty, and I am sure the blame rested elsewhere, for George Elder was always ready for any service.’ Compare George Simmons’s autobiography--possibly he put things out by ordering the Portuguese company to carry the ladders, which he clearly was not authorized to do. [_A British Rifleman_, p. 221.] [191] Some narrators say a low ravelin, but the best authority is in favour of its having been a traverse.