The Invasion of France 1813 -1814

Map of South-West France

                    The Battles of the Pyrenees ended with the 82nd encamped at Echelar, resting after a successful defensive campaign against the French. Near the end of August, Inglis’s Brigade with the 82nd was ordered by Wellington to deploy nearby to the town of Lesaca, to support a Portuguese Brigade stationed nearby under Maj. Gen. Miller. Both of the campaigns the corps had participated in in 1813: Vittoria and the Pyrenees, had been crowned with the laurels of victory, so that despite losing more than a third of the men to battle and the sick roll, no doubt the 82nd could now be called a veteran corps of high morale. What the men needed most now was rest, and for close to a month that is what they got, as Wellington worked hard to conclude the siege of St. Sebastian and Soult laboured to prepare an operation to relieve the embattled fortress. Curiously enough, on the same day, Aug. 31, 1813, both of the opposing enterprises came to a climax. On that day, St Sebastian finally fell to a British storm (even though the castle held out for another week), while further east Marshal Soult launched a forlorn offensive to relieve it.

The Combat of the Heights of Salain, Aug. 31, 1813

                    The French attacked at two points along the Bidassoa River, since early July the effective demarcation between the two armies. The attack lower down along the River, at San Marcial, was a complete failure, and by mid-day the French divisions on that front were defeated and streaming back across the river. The second attack, higher up at the fords near the village of Salain, involved the 82nd Regiment in the fighting. This assault was led by General Clausel, who disposed of the divisions of Taupin, Darmagnac, Vandermaesen and Maransin, not less than 20,000 bayonets. It began at dawn in a dense fog with the crossing of all the French divisions except Maransin’s, who deployed in a blocking position on the north side of the river. They were soon in contact with a brigade of Portuguese under Maj. Gen. Miller and as the fog cleared the piquet's on the first height by the river were assaulted and pushed into retreat.

The 82nd fought with Inglis's brigade against the divisions of Taupin and Darmagnac

            As the sound of battle echoed from the fords at Salain at daybreak, the 82nd was called to arms and by 7am was marching through Lesaca to support Miller’s Portuguese. The day before the regiment had received a reinforcement from it depot battalion of 150 men[1], so there were many raw recruits in the line this day. The brigade formed up on a second height, with the 68th Foot deployed in front of the 82nd as skirmishers.  At about 11am Miller’s retreating Portuguese brigade came up the slope and joined the reserve line. It was not long before the blue frocks and glistening steel of the advancing French came into sight, marching in two dense columns up the crests of  separate spurs of the mountain. The two divisions, those of Taupin and Darmagnac, crashed against the Allied lines and a severe musketry duel raged back and force for some time. Possessing many more battalions, however, the French were able to turn Inglis’s flank and the British and Portuguese brigades executed that most difficult of maneuvers, the fighting retreat. To facilitate this, all four regiments of Inglis’s Brigade, including the 82nd, made several desperate charges against the French, losing heavily in the process, so that the others could retire the easier.

            Somehow holding together in the face of overwhelming numbers, the two Allied brigades came to and halted on a ridge in front of the church of San Antonio and there made ready for another stand, it being now about 4pm. The advancing French however, only skirmished against the new line, as Gen. Clausel, seeing other British contingents converging on his salient from various points, was now very worried about his position. He formed up on a wooded hill near the British and Portuguese and then an hour later began a retreat of his own, having received an order to retire by Soult. The French re-crossed the river in a driving rain well after dark. It had been a fierce struggle against much greater numbers for the two allied brigades, and the affair may not have ended so well if other supports had not begun to arrive and the attack lower down the river had not failed…but such is war. Four brave souls and 1 officer* from the 82nd were laid low that day, while 4 officers and 59 men were wounded: a total of 68 casualties for the corps, among them likely some who had only joined the colours the previous day.

            Following the defeat of this French assault and the capture of St. Sebastian, word came from England on Sept. 3 that Austria had entered the war against Napoleon. The blockade of Pamplona, meanwhile, was entering its final stages as October began, with the French Commander Cassan offering to negotiate for the fortress’s surrender. Wellington now resolved to invade France, secure in the knowledge that reinforcements for Soult’s army would not be forthcoming from Napoleon and that the last French lodgment in his rear was now effectively reduced. Accordingly, on October 7, 1813, the British Army made a successful crossing of the Bidassoa River, capturing the major French lines opposite. The 82nd Regiment, as part of the 7th Division, played a supporting roll in this battle, making demonstrations against French armies up-river from Vera in support of a Spanish attack by General Giron against the Great Rhune mountain. Marshal Soult was forced back to the Nivelle River, about which he commenced to build extensive new fortifications.

Storming the breach at San Sebastian. A party of the 82nd took part after the main town was taken

            On a side note, in a publication called the Military General Service Roll, nineteen 82nd men are attested as having served at the siege of St. Sebastian, with a date of 9 September, 1813: the day the last bastion inside the town fell. This is at first glance a conundrum, as the regiment clearly was not at the siege. The answer is to be found in the memoir's of John Green, a soldier in the 68th Regiment, brigaded with the 82nd. Green states that on Aug. 30, the day before the combat at Salain, Wellington gave orders for 20 men of each of the corps in the brigade to take part in the storming of St. Sebastian.[2] As the storm took place the next day, this draft would not have arrived in time to take part, but they certainly could have been engaged in the operations to besiege the castle, which Gen. Rey surrendered on Sept. 9 after a short bombardment. So the mystery is solved and it is apparent that a small party of 82nd men took part in the last stages of the siege of St. Sebastian.    

The Battle of the Nivelle, Nov. 10 1813

            Wellington made his attack on Soult’s new fortifications on the Nivelle River on November 10, a month after the crossing of the Bidassoa. The 7th Division, now under the acting command of the Portuguese General Le Cor+, formed part of the main attack in this battle, being one of four powerful columns advancing in its sector, near the town of Sare. The morning of the 10th dawned bright and cold, the air being shattered at 6am by the discharge of three cannon from the Atchuria Peak: the signal for the general advance. The 82nd Regiment along with the rest of Inglis’s Brigade formed the head of the 7th Division’s column. The first fortification in front of the 82nd was the Grenade redoubt, a closed fort furnished with artillery and held by two battalions of General Conroux’s division. This redoubt was attacked directly by the 82nd and its brigade, with the support of some British artillery firing from the flank. The regiments began to surround the redoubt, but before the encirclement was complete, the French battalion gave up and retreated. With this, the Grenade redoubt fell.

  Interactive Map of Battle of Nivelle

            After this initial success, the South Lancashire's dressed their ranks and continued to advance with the brigade. In front was now the shallow Harane River, a tributary of the Nivelle, and the fortified town of Sare. The 7th Division, with the 4th Division on its left, advanced across the River and engaged the French holding the town. After a short resistance, once again the French retreated. It was now 8am. The next line of fortifications in front of the 82nd and its division were a line of redoubts called, from east to west, ‘Signals’, ‘Louis IV’ and ‘Madelaine’. In front of these forts the British halted and took some time to re-form their lines. The lead brigades of the divisions, however, were not replaced and so the 82nd Regiment stayed at or near the front; indeed, Inglis’s Brigade took most of the casualties this day, as did the other brigades forming the head of their columns. Two hours later, at 10am, the signal for the advance was once again sounded, and the long lines of red coats once again moved forward. To the 4th and 7th Divisions was given the task of storming ‘Louis IV’, and the two strong columns assaulted the redoubt respectively from the left and right.

                Here the French resistance was stout, as fresh reinforcements had been fed into the fort, along with the two battalions already there. Beside the redoubt was a strong French artillery position of 10-15 guns and during the assault more were brought up. These pieces did much mischief, playing upon the advancing British lines with grape and shot and beating back with loss several attacks that closed with the forts walls. Finally, a British horsed-artillery battery got through to the front and engaged the French guns, somewhat lessening their fire on the infantry. Now the lead brigades closed in and there was intense fighting in and about the redoubt. Finally it was carried, after much spilling of blood. The French Divisional General Maransin, in the redoubt at this time, was for a minute taken prisoner but managed to escape in the confusion.

            The French formations in this sector were now in full retreat. Their shattered formations each crossed the Nivelle River at different points. Once again the 82nd advanced with its Division, where it crossed the Nivelle at St. Pee and swept aside a weak rearguard on the heights above the river. This was the last fighting of the short November day, and night soon fell. Once again, by dint of a good plan and gallant fighting, the British and Portuguese were victorious, and the 82nd Regiment could rightfully claim its share of the honours. For such laurels, the corps left 9 of their men dead upon the field, while 6 officers and 58 men suffered wounds. A further 16 men from the regiment are labeled missing: either captured, absconded, their bodies unfound or blown to bits from artillery.  

Advance To Bayonne, December 1813

                Thrown out of their fortifications about the Nivelle River, the French army for a short time held the line of the Nive behind it, but in early December retreated to the City of Bayonne on the Ardour. Here there was more fighting, as Marshal Soult sought to deal blows to a British army divided by the Nive River. In these battles, the 82nd Regiment played only a supporting role, as the corps was marched back and forth with its division to protect against a French breakthrough that never came. During this time Captain Wood returned to the colours, having recovered from his wound at Sorauren. His account of this period is spotty. The battle he calls the Nivelle was likely the skirmish with the French outside Bayonne on the 13th of December, meaning he missed the fighting at the Nivelle and Nive entirely. He does however shed some light on the coldness of the winter season now descended on the land and the misery of having to bivouac out in the open on the sodden fields of southern France:

 “At night we again cringed together round the fires: some fell asleep, some were telling stories to drown care, but most were grumbling and swearing, till a thick and drenching misty rain coming on, pretty well quitted us, and made us huddle more closely together, waiting in silent and sullen expectation the approach of light.”[3]

            Major Gen. George Townsend-Walker had been given command of the 7th Division on November 18, taking over from General Le Cor, who was promoted to lead an entirely Portuguese division. The pace of the British offensive, regardless of the season, did not slow. Wellington's next plan encompassed besieging Bayonne. To achieve this, he led a good part of his army east, pushing Soult's army in front of it and drawing the French mobile forces away from the city. In this way, with a superiority in numbers, Wellington could afford to leave enough brigades behind around Bayonne to commence the siege. The 82nd Regiment, with the 7th Division, went east as part of the force to draw off the French.

            The advance east began on February 14, 1814. Two days later the regiment crossed the Joyeuse River at La Bastide-Clarance, encamping on the heights above the crossing. From this point, the corps advanced north-east, so that by the 24th it was near the junction with the Saison and the Gave-de-Pau Rivers, on the left of the British advance. On that day, Wellington turned the south flank of the French positions and Marshal Soult ordered a concentration on the town or Orthez, farther up the Gave-de-Pau. Crossing the bridge over the Saison at the town of Sordes, the 82nd and its division followed the south bank of the Gave-de-Pau until it reached the villages of Caunielle and Lahonton on the 26th. Here the regiment forded the ice-cold, waist-deep river and marched east along the north bank, until the approaches to Orthez were reached. On the following day, there was a battle.

The Battle of Orthez, February 27, 1814

            The 27th of February dawned bright and cold and it was not long after sunrise that battle commenced in all its usual wanton fury. The first attack, by the 4th Division, went in on the hamlet of St. Boes at about 8:30am. It battered the French defenses but failed to break into the town. The mauled battalions were replaced by the formations of the 7th Division, including the 82nd Regiment. At 11:30am, the 7th Division’s attack commenced on St. Boes. The 82nd was the third in line of four battalions who made the main attack for the division$, descending into a ravine and up a steep slope into the town in the face of a furious fire of shot and shell. This did not stop the attack and the men, charging through the streets and houses with the bayonet, carried St. Boes in the most gallant fashion. Once through to the other side, the ground opened up and the battalions deployed into a wider array and the assault continued. Other parts of the French position had now been turned and, once again, the enemy was in a retreat. The battle moved in a north-easterly direction through hill and dale, past the village of Sallespisse to the Bridge of Sault de Navailles. Here the French army crossed, after which the bridge was blown by the retreating foe at about 10pm. The battle was now over and Orthez was in British hands.

Interactive Map of Battle of Orthez

            The victory at Orthez on the 27th of November pushed Marshal Soult out any position to immediately support Bayonne, and the blockade of that important town was commenced soon after. For the 82nd Regiment, it was another proud day for the corps and for this action the name of ‘Orthez’ now shows on the Regimental Colours. Such honours, however, are always paid for in blood, and on that cold wintry day by the Gave-de-Pau were killed 2 brave men of the regiment, while 2 officers and 34 men were wounded: a return of 38 casualties. The 6th Regiment, who bravely led the 7th Division’s advance that day, by comparison lost 26 dead and 119 wounded for the honour.

The End of the War, March - April, 1814

            The continued French retreat to the east following Orthez allowed for an opportunity of seizing the important city of Bordeaux on the coast north of Bayonne. Aiming for a blow at Napoleon’s failing prestige in southern France, Wellington took the opportunity and sent off Lt. Gen. Beresford from the town of Mont-de-Marsan on 7 March, accompanied by the 82nd Regiment and its division. The corps remained brigaded with Gen. Inglis with the divisional command once again in the hands of Lord Dalhousie, who had returned from England and relieved Gen. Walker. The weather was cold and wet but a good pace was kept and on March 12 the city was entered, to a friendly reception. On the 15th, Beresford left Lord Dalhousie and his Division in garrison of the city. The 82nd and its brigade were billeted at the town of Langon, just south of the Bordeaux. Here the 82nd waited out the rest of the war, which was came to an end in mid-April.

George Wood, fallen out of the march with sickness when the corps took the road for Orthez, now returned once again to the regiment, having been gazetted a Captain in the 2nd Battalion of the regiment back in England. Observing the 82nd on parade with a French acquaintance met on the road, he noted how deficient in numbers it was: by now perhaps somewhat more than 400 bayonets, including those on the sick roll. This was soon remedied by rest, reinforcements and the natural abundance of the locality. Wood notes a little later that…

“A wonderful change was perceptible in the countenances of the men, who had so lately  had the appearance of famine, dejection and fatigue, from their late sufferings. Their countenances were now beaming with health and content, for this was a most excellent quarter…Our troops…regained their natural, ruddy, robust, and soldier-like appearance. The sick and wounded now recovering and fresh detachments arriving, increased our regiment so much, that it again became one of the strongest in the country.”[4]

                So while much of the British army followed Wellington to the battle of Toulouse, the 82nd Regiment enjoyed garrison duty at Bordeaux, during which its active strength was recruited back to respectable numbers. With the war in Europe coming to a close, the Minister of War in England, Lord Bathurst, chose the two strongest and most available regiments to form the vanguard of a massive reinforcement of North America, where the British colony of Canada was locked in a struggle with a young and belligerent United States. Those two corps were the 6th and 82nd Regiments. Bathurst's order, dated April 20, 1814, reached the 82nd on the first post ship and by the end of the month the regiment sailed for new adventures and a new War. The 82nd's part in the Peninsular War now ends, after seven long years of the varying fortunes of war in that theater and 21 years of fighting against France and Napoleon. Being ordered to Canada meant that the regiment was not to take part in the famous Waterloo Campaign of 1815, but in no way should the marching and fighting that the 82nd performed in Canada be reckoned as easy or light duty, as shall be seen.

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