Read Online The Age of Elegance by Arthur Bryant - Free Book Online
Authors: Arthur Bryant
Tags: History, Non-Fiction
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ridge and, at an order from General Leith, fired a tremendous volley. Then, through the smoke and darkness, it charged the shattered French squares with the bayonet.
As the latter broke, a terrible fate overtook them. At that moment the first of Cotton's cavalry brigades, consisting of the 5th Dragoon Guards and the 4th and 5th Dragoons under Major-General Le Marchant, appeared on the skyline. Le Marchant was a brilliant officer who had recently joined the army after serving as the first Commandant of the Royal Military College at High Wycombe. He at once led his men to the charge. Though he himself fell, they caught Maucune's flying infantry in the flank with their heavy swords and drove right into Brennier's division behind; many of the former were so disfigured by sabre cuts that all traces of the human face and form were obliterated. Wellington, watching the scene with Cotton, declared he had never seen anything so well executed in his life. By the time Leith's infantry had finished the massacre as little was left of Brennier's and Maucune's divisions as of Thomieres'. More than a third of Marmont's army had been destroyed in forty minutes.
Further to the east the Allied attack was less successful. Here Pack's Portuguese failed to carry the rocky side of the Great Arapile knoll which, dominating the battlefield at the point where the original British line turned northwards, had been occupied by Bonnet's division as a pivot for the French enveloping movement. Charged by the defenders when gallantly trying to scramble up its steep side, the Portuguese were thrown back with serious loss. Their repulse exposed the left flank of Cole's 4th Division which, after breasting the ridge, found itself assailed on two sides by Clausel's and Bonnet's men. It, too, was forced back in confusion.
For a moment it seemed to Clausel, who had succeeded to the command, that the battle might be retrieved. While the remnants of the French left were flying into the wood, the right centre, consisting of his own and Bonnet's divisions, with Ferey's in support, struck boldly at the ridge from which Wellington's attack had been launched. But as they pursued Cole's and Pack's retreating men, they encountered Clinton's 6th Division coming up in an unbroken line, with the ist and 7th Divisions on either flank. As so often before, the unexpected appearance of Wellington's carefully husbanded reserves was decisive. In twenty minutes Bonnet's and Clausel's men were as badly beaten as their comrades.
It was left to Ferey's and Sarrut's divisions, forming line across the edge of the forest to the south-east, to cover the escape of the
French army. For half an hour in the failing light they fought with splendid steadiness, inflicting the heaviest British casualties of the day on Clinton's men who were trying to dislodge them. 1 As at Talavera, the dry grass was kindled by the fire of the guns, so that the British, fighting up the slope towards the forest, seemed to be attacking a burning mountain. As darkness fell, the heroes of the French rearguard, almost naked and besmeared with blood and dust, withdrew, still firing, into the woods.
Without the failure of a Spanish officer whom Wellington had placed in the castle of Alba to guard the crossing of the Tormes, scarcely a man would have got away. Believing the bridge there to be securely held, Wellington assumed that the only escape for the French was to the north-east by Huerta and sent the unused Light Division and Ponsonby's cavalry to seize the ford there. But with the incorrigible individualism of his race, the commander at Alba had not only abandoned his post, but refrained from informing his British chief that he had done so. And it was to the bridge which he had left open, eight miles south-east of the battlefield, that the demoralised survivors of the French army fled. As a result Wellington was robbed of a victory as complete as Ulm or Jena.
Yet though more than 30,000 of Marmont's men
As the latter broke, a terrible fate overtook them. At that moment the first of Cotton's cavalry brigades, consisting of the 5th Dragoon Guards and the 4th and 5th Dragoons under Major-General Le Marchant, appeared on the skyline. Le Marchant was a brilliant officer who had recently joined the army after serving as the first Commandant of the Royal Military College at High Wycombe. He at once led his men to the charge. Though he himself fell, they caught Maucune's flying infantry in the flank with their heavy swords and drove right into Brennier's division behind; many of the former were so disfigured by sabre cuts that all traces of the human face and form were obliterated. Wellington, watching the scene with Cotton, declared he had never seen anything so well executed in his life. By the time Leith's infantry had finished the massacre as little was left of Brennier's and Maucune's divisions as of Thomieres'. More than a third of Marmont's army had been destroyed in forty minutes.
Further to the east the Allied attack was less successful. Here Pack's Portuguese failed to carry the rocky side of the Great Arapile knoll which, dominating the battlefield at the point where the original British line turned northwards, had been occupied by Bonnet's division as a pivot for the French enveloping movement. Charged by the defenders when gallantly trying to scramble up its steep side, the Portuguese were thrown back with serious loss. Their repulse exposed the left flank of Cole's 4th Division which, after breasting the ridge, found itself assailed on two sides by Clausel's and Bonnet's men. It, too, was forced back in confusion.
For a moment it seemed to Clausel, who had succeeded to the command, that the battle might be retrieved. While the remnants of the French left were flying into the wood, the right centre, consisting of his own and Bonnet's divisions, with Ferey's in support, struck boldly at the ridge from which Wellington's attack had been launched. But as they pursued Cole's and Pack's retreating men, they encountered Clinton's 6th Division coming up in an unbroken line, with the ist and 7th Divisions on either flank. As so often before, the unexpected appearance of Wellington's carefully husbanded reserves was decisive. In twenty minutes Bonnet's and Clausel's men were as badly beaten as their comrades.
It was left to Ferey's and Sarrut's divisions, forming line across the edge of the forest to the south-east, to cover the escape of the
French army. For half an hour in the failing light they fought with splendid steadiness, inflicting the heaviest British casualties of the day on Clinton's men who were trying to dislodge them. 1 As at Talavera, the dry grass was kindled by the fire of the guns, so that the British, fighting up the slope towards the forest, seemed to be attacking a burning mountain. As darkness fell, the heroes of the French rearguard, almost naked and besmeared with blood and dust, withdrew, still firing, into the woods.
Without the failure of a Spanish officer whom Wellington had placed in the castle of Alba to guard the crossing of the Tormes, scarcely a man would have got away. Believing the bridge there to be securely held, Wellington assumed that the only escape for the French was to the north-east by Huerta and sent the unused Light Division and Ponsonby's cavalry to seize the ford there. But with the incorrigible individualism of his race, the commander at Alba had not only abandoned his post, but refrained from informing his British chief that he had done so. And it was to the bridge which he had left open, eight miles south-east of the battlefield, that the demoralised survivors of the French army fled. As a result Wellington was robbed of a victory as complete as Ulm or Jena.
Yet though more than 30,000 of Marmont's men
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