The allied army remained in cantonments until the month of May 1813; on the 19th of that month the second battalion of the THIRTY-FIRST, in the second division, broke up from its winter quarters, and, forming a part of the right wing of the army, shared in the operations during the advance upon Burgos and Vittoria; in the plan for the action of the 21st of June, before _Vittoria_, Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill’s corps, composed of Morillo’s Spaniards, Sylveira’s Portuguese, and the second British division, forming the right of the allied army, was to attack the enemy’s left, and forcing the passage of the lower Zadora, at Puebla, assail the French on the heights beyond, entering the plain of Vittoria, by the defile of La Puebla. The river was passed about ten o’clock A.M., and Morillo’s Spaniards assailed the mountain with his first brigade; but meeting with much resistance on the heights, called up his second brigade, which, the French being also reinforced, was supported by part of the second division, while Lieut.-General Sir Rowland Hill, with the rest, passed through the defile, and, seizing the village of _Subijana de Alava_, held his ground: he thus connected his own right with the troops on the mountain, and maintained this forward position, although the French made great efforts to dislodge the allies from this vantage-ground. Meanwhile the fourth division crossed by the bridge of Nanclares. The action on the British right was severe, and sustained with great gallantry. The French, being driven from all their defences, retreated with such precipitation towards Pampeluna as to abandon all their baggage, artillery, ammunition, military chests, and the court equipage of King Joseph, whose carriage being seized, he had barely time to escape on horseback. The defeat was the most complete that the French had experienced in Spain. The bâton of Marshal Jourdan was taken, and the Prince Regent, in the name and behalf of his Majesty, appointed the Marquis of Wellington a Field-Marshal. In a most flattering letter, the Prince Regent thus conferred the honor:--“You have sent me among the trophies of your unrivalled fame, the staff of a French Marshal, and I send you in return that of England.” During part of the day, the second battalion of the THIRTY-FIRST was stationed to cover a brigade of guns: its loss was not very great, being one private killed, and thirteen wounded. Captain Girdlestone was the only officer of the THIRTY-FIRST who was wounded. Lieut.-Colonel Leith received a medal for his conduct in command of the battalion, and the Royal Authority was afterwards given for the word “VITTORIA” to be inscribed on the Regimental Colour and Appointments of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, to commemorate the gallantry of the second battalion in that battle.