Salamanca, 1812 by Rory Muir

Author:Rory Muir
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0-300-08719-5
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2017-06-04T16:00:00+00:00

Spry's brigade lost only about 150 casualties, or 6.7 per cent, in the whole battle, only a marginally higher proportion than Pringle's brigade (the other unit in Leith's second line); so despite Brackenbury, it does not appear to have been engaged heavily against Clausel. Nonetheless, it probably helped to gain time for Cole's infantry to rally, and many accounts suggest that the Fourth Division returned to the fray and eventually drove Clausel's men from the plateau. This seems superficially implausible, but Clausel's division was driven back, and if it was not done by Spry, nor by the Fusiliers, it is hard to see who did do it, for we must assume that the Sixth Division was fully occupied with Bonnet. Clausel's losses were not slight: even Lamartinière admits 1,700 casualties, although about a hundred of these would have occurred on the 18th.

The memoirs of a French officer in the 59th Ligne, in Clausel's second brigade, suggest an alternative explanation which is worth considering, even though there is no support for it in other sources, and many of its details are obviously wrong. The author was Captain Alphonse d'Hautpoul:

General Clausel led us in a charge on the troops of General Hill who was facing us. The English opposed us resolutely when we began firing at half musket range; they fired battalion volleys on us with the same precision as if on manoeuvre. Their flag was in the centre of their line; we could hear the orders of their officers. The divisions of Ferey and Clausel were not halted by this first fire although more than 800 men had been killed or wounded. We charged the enemy with the bayonet; his line was broken; the regiments of Scots Guards who were facing us could not rally. We pursued them vigorously over ground covered with their dead.

In the centre, we believed that the battle was won, but Wellington, seeing Marmont's mistake in overextending his line, had sent all his reserves and cavalry to his right flank and made an all-out charge with eight thousand cavalry on our left wing. The cavalry of General Curto could not stand the shock and were broken. Thomières's division on the extreme left was charged in the flank without having time to form squares, and could resist no longer. Whole regiments were put to the sword and General Thomières was killed. The divisions of Taupin and Maucune were charged in turn and broken. General Clausel, who was pursuing General Hill, seeing that his left was outflanked by numerous cavalry, halted his line and tried to form it in squares, but he lacked time, and his regiments, taken by surprise, were broken. General Hill, reinforced by a corps of Portuguese, resumed the offensive and a frightful melee ensued. At this moment I received from a Scottish sergeant – whom I'd just dealt a sabre blow – a musketball in the hip and at the same time a bayonet which pierced my right arm. I fell covered in blood.

A few

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