Chapter LV: Section 1: Ciudad Rodrigo

A.

“The duke of Wellington, standing on the top of some ruins of the convent of Francisco, pointed out to colonel Colborne and to major Napier,[2] commanding the storming-party of the light division, the spot where the small breach was. Having done this, he said, _‘Now do you understand exactly the way you are to take so as to arrive at the breach without noise or confusion?_’ He was answered, ‘_Yes, perfectly_.’ Some one of the staff then said to major Napier, ‘Why don’t you load?’ He answered, ‘No, if we can’t do the business without loading we shall not do it at all.’ The duke of Wellington immediately said, ‘Leave him alone.’

————“The caçadores under colonel Elder were to carry hay-bags to throw into the ditch, but the signal of attack having been given, and the fire commencing at the great breach, the stormers would not wait for the hay-bags, which, from some confusion in the orders delivered, had not yet arrived; but from no fault of colonel Elder or his gallant regiment; they were always ready for and equal to any thing they were ordered to do.

“The troops jumped into the ditch; the ‘_fausse braye_’ was faced with stone, so as to form a perpendicular wall about the centre of the ditch; it was scaled, and the foot of the breach was attained. Lieutenant Gurwood had gone too far to his left with the forlorn hope, and missed the entrance of the breach; he was struck down with a wound on the head, but sprang up again, and joined major Napier, captain Jones 52d regt., Mitchell 95th, Ferguson 43d, and some other officers, who at the head of the stormers were all going up the breach together.”

————“Colonel Colborne, although very badly wounded in the shoulder, formed the fifty-second on the top of the rampart, and led them against the enemy.”

“The great breach was so strongly barricaded, so fiercely defended, that the third division had not carried it, and were still bravely exerting every effort to force their way through the obstacles when colonel M‘Leod of the forty-third poured a heavy flank fire upon the enemy defending it.”

FOOTNOTE:

[2] Brother to the author of this work.

B.

“The third division having commenced firing, we were obliged to hurry to the attack. The forlorn hope led, we advanced rapidly across the glacis and descended into the ditch near the ravelin, under a heavy fire. We found the forlorn hope placing ladders against the face of the work, and our party turned towards them, when the engineer officer called out, ‘_You are wrong, this is the way to the breach, or the fausse braye which leads to the breach you are to attack_.’”

————“We ascended the breach of the fausse braye, and then the breach of the body of the place, without the aid of ladders.”

————“We were for a short time on the breach before we forced the entrance. A gun was stretched across the entrance, but did not impede our march. Near it some of the enemy were bayonetted, amongst the number some deserters, who were found in arms defending the breach.”

————“Major Napier was wounded at the moment when the men were checked by the heavy fire and determined resistance of the enemy about two-thirds up the ascent. It was then that the soldiers, forgetting they were not loaded, as the major had not permitted them, snapped all their firelocks.”

————“No individual could claim being the first that entered the breach; it was a simultaneous rush of about twenty or thirty. The forlorn hope was thrown in some degree behind, being engaged in fixing ladders against the face of the work, which they mistook for the point of attack.

“Upon carrying the breach, the parties moved as before directed by major Napier; that is, the fifty-second to the left, the forty-third to the right. The forty-third cleared the ramparts to the right, and drove the enemy from the places they attempted to defend, until it arrived near the great breach at a spot where the enemy’s defences were overlooked. At this time the great breach had not been carried, and was powerfully defended by the enemy. The houses being on it were loop-holed, and a deep trench lined with musketry bearing directly upon it; the flanks of the breach were cut off, and the descent into the town from the ramparts at the top of it appeared considerable, so as to render it exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to force it without some other aid than a front attack.”

————“The moment the light division storming-party arrived at the spot described, they opened a heavy enfilading fire of musketry upon the trench, which was the main defence of the great breach, and drove the enemy from it with the aid of the storming-party of the third division that now entered. I was wounded at this time, and retired a short way back on the rampart, when I saw the first explosion on the rampart near the great breach. It was in my opinion next to impossible, as I have said before, to force the great breach by a front attack as long as the enemy held their defences, but the moment the light division turned their defences the breach was instantly carried.”

_Abstract of the journal of general Harvey, Portuguese
service._

“I stood on rising ground and watched the progress of the attack. The great breach was attacked first. At the top of it the third division opened their fire heavily, and it was returned heavily, but there was a distressing pause. The small breach was carried first, and there was one considerable explosion and two or three smaller ones on the ramparts.”