After the battle of
Vitoria, Napoleon immediately wrote to his brother Joseph
thus:
“I have decided it would be
proper to nominate Marshal Soult as my Lieutenant General
and Commander in Chief of all my armies in Spain and in
the Pyrenees. You will hand over command to him. You will
put your guard and the armed Spaniards under the Marshal’s
orders. It is my wish that you do not interfere with the
affairs of my armies.”
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Thus on 12th July Soult
took over as Commander in Chief of the French armies.
Soult set about re-organising the defeated and demoralised
French army and decided that he would attack Wellington’s
right wing in an attempt to relieve Pamplona. His men
were given 4 days rations as they were unlikely to be
able to live off the land. On the 25th July, news reached
Wellington that Hill was being attacked in the Maya
pass and that Cole was retreating in the face of overwhelming
numbers in the Roncesville pass, on the far east of Wellington’s
Line.
Soult had in fact sent two thirds of his troops up the
Roncesville pass and the rest against the Maya. This attack
caused General Cole to retreat towards Sorauren and General
Hill after fierce fighting at the Maya pass was also forced
to retreat to Irurita on the 26th where he was joined
by Da Costa and the 2nd Regt. On the 27th they marched
in terrible weather to support Wellington at Sorauren,
but only made it as far as Lizaso. However, they were
engaged in the |
combat at Buenza before the French were forced to retreat
to their former positions and by 3rd August Hill was back
in the Bastan Valley where he had
started from on 25th July, with Da Costa’s Brigade
back in the passes of Ispegui and
Barberis between the Alduides
and Bastan valleys.
In early August Wellington had decided not to invade France
until he had control of San Sebastian and Pamplona and
that he was confident that developments in the rest of
Europe would favour the move. Soult had concentrated his
army on the Nivelle and would eventually be in a position
to attack. In order to counter this possibility Wellington
constructed 3 successive lines of earthworks between the
Bidassoa and Oyargeur rivers. The 1st Division was in
position on the lower |
Bidassoa.
The depleted 2nd Division was moved to the far right of
the front at Roncesvalles, where no attacks were expected
and was replaced at the Maya pass by the 6th Division
while close behind at Elizondo were Picton and the 3rd
Division.
Wellington waited until new siege guns arrived from England
and eventually at the end of August he was ready to order
San Sebastion to be stormed. At the same time in an attempt
to relieve the fort Soult attacked Wellington at San Murcial
on August 31st across the Bidassoa river. However, this
attempt was unsuccessful in part because Wellington demonstrated
with the 7th Division against the French left wing at
Ainhoue. The weather was appalling and Vandermaesson’s
Division was trapped unable to cross the river and had
to march through the night to Lesaca, and in the action
that followed Vandermaesson was killed. The storming of
San Sebastian eventually succeeded on the 8th September.
Wellington's army was strung out on the French |
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border with his
left at the mouth of the Bidassoa and his right on the mountain
passes around Roncesvalle. |