Battlefields. Michael Rayner
brigades swung right to cover the central attack, while Brigadier General Victor Alten’s light cavalry joined d’Urban on the extreme right.
MAIN CHARACTERS FEATURED
ALLIED ARMY OF SPAIN
General Lord Arthur Wellesley, Viscount Wellington
Major General Lowry Cole
Major General Sir Edward Pakenham
Brigadier General Benjamin d’Urban
Major General Sir Charles von Alten
Brigadier General Eberhardt Bock
Lieutenant General James Leith
Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton
Major General Sir John Hope
Lieutenant General Sir Stapleton Cotton
Major General John Gaspard Le Marchant
Brigadier General George Anson
Brigadier General Victor Alten
Brigadier General Sir Denis Pack
Major General Sir Colin Campbell
General Don Carlos d’España
FRENCH ARMY OF PORTUGAL
Marshal Auguste Marmont, Duke of Ragusa
General Maximillian Sebastien Foy
General Jean Guillaume Thomières
General Bonnet
General Sarrut
General Ferey
General Antoine François (Count) Brennier
General Bertrand (Count) Clausel
General Lord Arthur Wellesley, Viscount Wellington
Marshal Auguste Frédéric de Marmont
Marmont saw the danger and was riding along the southern ridge to issue orders to counter it when a shell blast dashed him from his horse. Command devolved upon Bonnet, but he too was soon severely wounded. Clausel was next in line, and aides quickly rode to his division to find him, but the French army was deprived of its command and control when the Allies struck.
PAKENHAM STRIKES THE HEAD OF THOMIÈRES’ DIVISION
Pakenham’s division struck at a time when Thomières’ division, advancing rapidly in column of battalions (one behind the other), had lost its cohesion and had outpaced its cavalry support. Appearing out of dead ground, d’Urban’s cavalry flank-charged the leading French battalion, which did not have time for a coordinated volley. It was broken and scattered. Behind the jubilant horsemen, Thomières saw Pakenham’s men bearing down upon him. He quickly deployed several battalions and guns and blasted the leading British brigade. The Allied attack faltered, but then pressed on with fixed bayonets. Some French cavalry tried to intervene, but they were driven off by Alten’s light brigade, which Wellington had sent over for just this purpose. The French took heavy casualties, Thomières himself was killed and his division broke under the pressure, having a regimental eagle and six guns taken. The survivors fell back seeking shelter within Maucune’s formation. They arrived at the same time as the Allies attacked.
Battle of Salamanca, 22 July 1812, etched by J. Clarke, coloured by M. Dubourg (aquatint) by William Heath. Wellington orders the central attack. Behind the general is the Arapil Chico, with artillery deployed upon it, while to the right of the picture we see the British heavy cavalry beginning the charge that would sweep the Allies to victory.
Leith’s division was to attack Maucune’s and Cole’s was aimed at Clausel’s.
WELLINGTON’S CENTRAL ATTACK GOES IN
Leith’s division crossed the valley and climbed the slopes opposite; the light companies driving off their French counterparts and their support artillery. Having Allied cavalry on his flank, and seeing Leith had more cavalry in support, Maucune retired from the ridgeline and formed squares. Leith’s line crested the ridge. The French fired, but being in square their fire was severely reduced, and their guns were too far back and partially masked. Leith’s men volleyed and charged. ‘No struggle for ascendancy took place; the French squares were penetrated, broken and discomfited’ reported Major Leith Hay in A Narrative of the Peninsular War. At this juncture Wellington ordered Le Marchant to ‘charge at all hazards’. The heavies and Anson’s lights went in, and utterly destroyed Maucune’s division.
The unformed Allied cavalry then charged again; this time into the hastily brought-up leading battalions of Brennier’s division. They, too, were in square and ready to fire. Firing at close range they brought down many of the dragoons but the impetus of the charge carried it forward into the French who momentarily resisted, then broke under the force of the big horses and the jabs and slashes of the heavy sabres. Le Marchant fell with a musket ball in his spine, but the Allies had destroyed three whole French divisions in just 40 minutes!
CLAUSEL COUNTERATTACKS
However, everything did not go Wellington’s way. Cole’s formation had been disrupted passing through Los Arapiles village, and they had been under constant artillery fire. They were understrength due to leaving one brigade to hold the Chico and they attacked in a single line of battalions. They were also deprived of their flank guard as Brigadier General Sir Denis Pack sent his Portuguese to storm the Grande. They failed. To add to Cole’s problems, Clausel had assumed command of the French army. He recalled Sarrut’s and Ferey’s divisions from the right; Sarrut’s to stem the progress of Pakenham and Leith, who now held the western end of the southern ridge, and Ferey’s to act as a reserve in woods southeast of the Grande.
COLE IS DRIVEN BACK
Unseen from across the valley there is a lateral fold in the southern ridge west of the Grande. There Clausel formed his division to meet Cole’s frontally, while ordering several of Bonnet’s battalions from behind the Grande to attack Cole’s open left flank. When Cole’s men reached the lip of the fold Clausel’s men fired and four battalions charged. The division was also taken in the flank and outnumbered by Bonnet’s men. Cole was wounded; the Allies gave ground. Clausel attacked again and Cole’s went reeling back.
CLINTON REPLACES COLE
Unfortunately, Clausel’s division’s counterattack also left them exposed. Clinton’s fresh division replaced Cole’s broken one, taking Clausel’s in front and Bonnet’s in flank. There was a short sharp musketry exchange, but the French were overlapped at both ends. Meanwhile, as Pakenham, Leith and d’Urban attacked Sarrut’s division along the southern ridge, part of their force launched a diagonal attack into the rear of Clausel’s struggling formation, which disintegrated. Then, outflanked by cavalry and overwhelmed by infantry, Sarrut’s division also collapsed. The Allies had won the right.
FEREY STEMS THE ONSLAUGHT BUT GETS OUTFLANKED
Wellington switched his attention to his left. With the Light Division fighting Foy’s, he ordered Major General Sir Colin Campbell’s