Lord Wellington arrived as these divisions were taking up their ground; and shortly afterwards Soult formed his army on a mountain between the Ostiz and the Zubiri roads, the front of the mountain extending from one road to the other. One division he placed on a bold height to the left of the Zubiri road, and in some villages in front of the third division, where he had also a large body of cavalry. The same evening he pushed forward a corps to take possession of a steep hill on the right of General Cole’s division: it was occupied by a Portugueze battalion and a Spanish regiment; these troops defended their post with the bayonet, and drove the enemy back. Seeing the importance of this point, Lord Wellington reinforced it with the 40th and with another Spanish regiment, so that the further efforts of the French there were as unsuccessful as the first; but they took possession of Sorauren, on the Ostiz road, whereby they acquired the communication by that road; and they kept up a fire of musketry along the line till it was dark. In the morning General Pack’s division arrived. Lord Wellington then directed that the heights on the left of the valley of the Lanz should be occupied, and that this division should form across the valley in rear of the left of General Cole’s, resting its right on Oricain, and its left upon the heights. They had scarcely taken the position in the valley when they were attacked in great force from Sorauren: the enemy advanced steadily to the attack; but the front was defended from the heights on their left by their own light troops, and from the height on the right, and on the rear, by the 4th division and a Portugueze brigade; and the French were soon driven back, with great loss, by the fire in their front, both flanks, and rear. This was a false move from which Soult never recovered: with a view of extricating his troops from the situation in which they were now placed, he attacked the height on which the left of the 4th division stood, and where the 7th _Caçadores_ were posted, at an _ermida_, or chapel, behind Sorauren. Momentary possession was obtained of it; but the _Caçadores_ returned to their ground, supported by Major-General Ross at the head of his brigade, and the enemy were driven down. The battle now became general along the whole of these heights, but only in one point to the advantage of the French, which was where a battalion of Major-General Campbell’s Portugueze regiment was posted; that battalion was overpowered, it gave way immediately on the right of Ross’s brigade: the French then established themselves on the line of the allies, and Ross was obliged to withdraw from his post. Upon this, Lord Wellington ordered the 27th and 48th to charge, first that body of the enemy which had established itself there, and then those on the left. Both charges succeeded; the enemy were driven back: the 6th division at the same time moved forward