Tardiness in the preparations for opening the campaign was manifested by the Portuguese authorities, and the Duke of Berwick attacked the frontiers of Portugal with the combined French and Spanish armies before the allies were prepared to take the field. The SEVENTEENTH were called from garrison to take part in attempting to arrest the progress of the enemy; they were employed in the Alemtejo, and in July they were encamped near Estremos,--a town situate in an agreeable tract on the Tarra; towards the end of July, they marched into cantonments in the town. In the autumn the allied army was enabled to act on the offensive, and the SEVENTEENTH was one of the regiments which penetrated Spain, to the vicinity of Ciudad Rodrigo; but the enemy was found so advantageously posted, beyond the Agueda, that the Portuguese generals objected to attempt the passage of the river, and the army returned to Portugal, where the regiment passed the winter. [Sidenote: 1705] The regiment again proceeded to Estremos, in the Alemtejo, in April, 1705, and it was afterwards engaged in the siege of _Valencia de Alcantara_, which place was captured by storm on the 8th of May. The SEVENTEENTH was also employed at the siege and capture of _Albuquerque_; and when the summer heats became too great for the troops to remain in the field, the regiment went into quarters at the ancient town of Moura, near the banks of the Guadiana river. In the autumn the army crossed the Guadiana, and the SEVENTEENTH regiment was engaged in the siege of _Badajoz_, the capital of Spanish Estremadura; but the army not being sufficiently numerous to invest the place, the garrison was relieved on the 14th of October, and the siege was afterwards raised. At this siege the British general, the Earl of Galway, lost his hand by a cannon-ball. [Sidenote: 1706] After passing the winter in cantonments on the confines of Portugal, the regiment again took the field in March, 1706, and in April it was employed in the siege of _Alcantara_, a fortified town situate on a rock near the river Tagus, in Spanish Estremadura. On the 10th of April the SEVENTEENTH and thirty-third regiments attacked the convent of St. Francis, situate near the town, and captured this post with great gallantry: the two regiments had fifty officers and men killed and wounded, Colonel Wade (afterwards Field-marshal) and Lieut.-Colonel de Harcourt being among the wounded. The garrison surrendered on the 14th of April. From Alcantara the army advanced to the vicinity of Placencia, and afterwards drove the enemy from his position on the banks of the Tietar,--sending forward a detachment to destroy the bridge of Almaraz; but, subsequently changing its route, proceeded to the province of Leon, and the SEVENTEENTH regiment was employed in the siege of _Ciudad Rodrigo_, which fortress surrendered on the 26th of May.