The Peninsular War: A Battlefield Guide by Andrew Rawson

Author:Andrew Rawson [Rawson, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Guidebooks, Battles, Modern Warfare, Campaigns
ISBN: 9781844159215
Google: XWB0PgAACAAJ
Amazon: B00HESTIRW
Goodreads: 7289755
Publisher: Pen & Sword
Published: 2009-01-15T05:00:00+00:00

The artillery crews’ view of the town and the Greater Breach

Wellington knew that he had to work quickly. Spies had noted that Marmont and Dorsenne were on the move and there was a strong possibility that both of them were marching towards the town in the hope of relieving General Barrié. He planned to attack Ciudad Rodrigo from several directions at once. His guns would target the north-west corner where the French had first breached and then repaired the wall, expecting it to be the weakest point. The main assault parties could use the Lesser Teson as an assembly point. A secondary assault would be made against the southern wall, and once into the moat, all the assault parties would converge on the breach at the north-west corner.

The allies’ first objective was to take Reynaud Redoubt, an earthwork fortification on the summit of the Greater Teson, and 300 men of the Light Division were chosen to attack it. On the night of 8 January Colonel John Colborne of the 52nd led two companies from the 43rd, 52nd and 95th Rifles forward in silence towards the redoubt while two companies of Portuguese Caçadores followed. They crept close to the fortification before the alarm sounded and while half the men opened fire, the rest charged and scaled the ramparts. Within minutes the redoubt’s 60-strong garrison had been overwhelmed and the fort was in British hands; only 26 men had been killed or injured in the assault.

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