No. 8. "The commander of the forces considers Major-General Alten and Major-General Colville, and the commanding officers of regiments under their command respectively, _viz._ Lieutenant-Colonel Cummins, Lieutenant-Colonel Arentschildt, Lieutenant-Colonel Bromhead, Major Ridge, and Colonel Bucella, of the Twenty-first Portuguese, and the officers and soldiers under their command, to be entitled to his particular thanks, and assures them that he has not failed to report his sense of their conduct, in the action of the 25th of September, to those by whom he trusts that it will be duly appreciated and recollected." Further eulogium, or even comment, on the brilliant conduct of the second battalion of this regiment at EL BODON it must be felt, is unnecessary, and would be supererogatory: its loss was five rank and file killed, and Captain Ramus, one serjeant, and twelve rank and file, wounded. The army moved forward on the 26th to occupy other positions, and the battalion, for the remainder of 1811, was posted in the village of Payo, near the pass of Perales. [Sidenote: 1812] The first operation of the year 1812 was the siege of _Ciudad Rodrigo_, in the storming of which fortress, on the 19th of January, the second battalion of the FIFTH had another glorious opportunity of distinguishing itself and earning one more honourable inscription for the regimental colours. On this occasion, moving from its post behind the convent of Santa Cruz, it entered the ditch at the extremity of the counterscarp, then, after escalading the wall and scouring the _fausse braye_ to the great breach, it rushed forward in the face of a thundering discharge of shells, grape, and musketry, which thinned the ranks; yet, continuing its course with unabated fury, it drove the French, with fixed bayonets, behind the entrenchments. Here the enemy rallied, some hard fighting occurred, but at length the British, by a mighty effort, burst through the entrenchment. In the mean time the other attacks had also succeeded. The garrison fought for a moment in the streets; but eventually fled to the castle and surrendered. The Commander-in-Chief, in his despatch to the Earl of Liverpool, dated Gallegos, 20th of January, 1812, says:-- "Major Ridge, of the second battalion, FIFTH regiment, having escaladed the _fausse braye_ wall, stormed the principal breach in the body of the place, together with the Ninety-fourth regiment[41], commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, which had moved along the ditch at the same time, and had stormed the breach in the _fausse braye_, both in front of Major-General Mackinnon's brigade. Thus these regiments not only effectually covered the advance from the trenches of Major-General Mackinnon's brigade by their first movements and operations, but they preceded them in the attack.