From ten to twelve the surviving men in the ditch, fed by the coming up of the rear battalions of each division, and finally by the reserve, delivered a series of desperate but disorderly attacks on the Trinidad and Santa Maria breaches. It is said that on no occasion did more than the equivalent of a company storm at once--each officer as he struggled to the front with those of his men who stuck to him, tried the breach opposite him, and was shot down nearer or farther from its foot. Very few ever arrived at the top, with its _chevaux de frise_ of sword-blades. The footing among the beams and spikes was uncertain, and the French fire absolutely deadly--every man was armed with three muskets. Next morning observers say that they noted only one corpse impaled on the _chevaux de frise_ of the Trinidad breach, and a few more under it, as if men had tried to crawl below, and had had their heads beaten in or blown to pieces. But the lower parts of the ascent were absolutely carpeted with the dead, lying one on another. More than two hours were spent in these desperate but vain attempts to carry the breaches: it is said that as many as forty separate assaults were made, but all to no effect--the fire concentrated on the attacked front was too heavy for any man to face. At last the assaults ceased: the survivors stood--unable to get forward, unwilling to retreat--vainly answering the volleys of the French on the walls above them by an ineffective fire of musketry. Just after twelve, Wellington, who had been waiting on the hill above, receiving from time to time reports of the progress of the assault, sent down orders for the recall of the two divisions. They retired, most unwillingly, and formed up again, in sadly diminished numbers, not far from the glacis. The only benefit obtained from their dreadful exertions was that the attention of the French had been concentrated on the breaches for two hours--and meanwhile (without their knowledge) the game had been settled elsewhere. The losses had been frightful--over one man in four of those engaged: the Light Division had 68 officers and 861 men killed and wounded out of about 3,000 present: the 4th Division 84 officers and 841 men out of 3,500. The Portuguese battalions which served with them had lost 400 men more--altogether 2,200 of the best troops in Wellington’s army had fallen--and all to no result. But while the main stroke failed, each of the subsidiary attacks, under Picton and Leith, had met with complete success, and despite of the disaster on the breaches, Badajoz was at Wellington’s mercy by midnight. The success of either escalade by itself would have been enough to settle the game.