Following up the advantages gained on the plains of Salamanca, the army advanced boldly into the heart of Spain, and the French were driven from Madrid, at which city Lord Wellington arrived on the 12th of August amidst the joyful acclamations of the people. The ROYAL FUSILIERS were stationed at Madrid, and afterwards occupied quarters for about eight weeks at the fine palace of the Escurial, about twenty-two miles from Madrid, from whence they were removed in the early part of October to Val de Moro and Campo; meanwhile the siege of Burgos had been undertaken by the main body of the allied army. The concentration of the enemy's forces having given him so great a superiority of numbers that a retrograde movement was necessary on the part of the British commander, the ROYAL FUSILIERS quitted Val de Moro and Campo, and the troops retired on Salamanca. The army went into position; but on the enemy menacing the communication with Ciudad Rodrigo, the allies withdrew to the Agueda, the soldiers suffering extreme hardship from the want of food and inclement weather. The fourth division moved to St. Joā de Pisquiera, where the ROYAL FUSILIERS remained until the beginning of the following year.[22] [Sidenote: 1813] On the 1st of January, 1813, the battalion mustered upwards of twelve hundred men, including about three hundred in hospital from wounds, &c. On the 3rd of that month sixteen serjeants and three hundred and eleven rank and file joined from England; on the 7th the battalion moved to Arvidiza, and in February to Castello Melhor on the right bank of the Coa, where it remained until the army took the field in May. Advancing from the banks of the Coa towards the interior of Spain, the ROYAL FUSILIERS once more confronted the legions of Napoleon; the battalion was strong in numbers, bringing into the field a fine body of men on whose natural strength and valour the qualities of order, subordination, and discipline had been engrafted, which rendered them fit for any service. By a daring advance the French were once more driven from Salamanca; by combinations evincing consummate skill, and by efforts of an extraordinary character, the enemy's positions on the Douro were turned; the field was then clear for the shock of battle, and the British commander, seeing the way of victory open, ordered forward his divisions; but the French evaded the torrent of war, and withdrew behind the Pisuerga, and afterwards behind the Ebro. Pressing onward with a conquering violence, the allied army traversed rocks and mountains, and marched through regions deemed impracticable for an army, and the French were forced back upon Vittoria, where they prepared for a determined effort to stem the tide of war.