Fire and Sword

Chapter 44

The church tower of Obidos provided fine views towards the south, and through his telescope Arthur examined the small French army formed up in front of another village, Roliça, some eight miles away. One of the enemy skirmishers captured the previous day had revealed that the French were led by General Delaborde, a tough, experienced veteran. Even though the French were outnumbered nearly four to one, their commander had chosen a good defensive position. Roliça lay in a flat-bottomed valley surrounded by a horseshoe of steep hills that protected the enemy’s flanks. The sun had risen an hour earlier and the slanting light bathed the landscape in vivid colours. Three columns of British soldiers were already setting off towards Roliça, and the dense ranks of red jackets gleamed brilliantly, like threads of blood flowing across the dusty landscape.

During the night a peasant had arrived from a village in the hills to the east. He reported that another French column, of perhaps five thousand men, was marching to join the force at Roliça.That news had determined Arthur to strike as soon as possible, and destroy General Delaborde and his men before they could be reinforced. His plan was simple enough.Two smaller columns of British troops had set off before dawn, marching swiftly towards the left and right of the hill. With luck Delaborde’s attention would be drawn to the three main columns, allowing the others to scale the hills and fall on the flanks of the French force.

Satisfied that things were proceeding according to his intentions, Arthur snapped his telescope shut and turned to Somerset, who had just joined the small group of staff officers observing the deployment of the British army. ‘Time to join the fray, I think.’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Still no word from Freire, I assume?’

‘No, sir. None of our mounted patrols could locate him.’

‘Well then, he will just have to miss the battle. Too bad.’

Arthur called on his officers to follow him and descended from the church tower. They mounted the horses waiting in the street and rode off to join their commands.When Arthur reached the small rise behind the centre column that he had chosen as his command post he halted and watched as the three British columns formed into lines.The bands of each brigade began to play lustily to add to the spectacle that Arthur hoped would preoccupy the enemy’s attention while the trap was closed. For nearly an hour the two armies faced each other, just beyond cannon range, while Arthur and Somerset watched for signs of movement along the crests of the hills that overlooked General Delaborde’s flanks.

At length, Somerset thrust his arm out. ‘There, sir!’

Arthur followed the direction indicated and saw the head of a column appearing over the crest of the right-hand hill. No more than a minute later the troops of the leftmost column came into view.

‘Time to begin the attack.’ Arthur nodded, then turned his attention towards the French. ‘No, wait.’

‘Sir?’

‘Delaborde’s seen the danger. Look.’

Already the single battery of French guns was being limbered up and then, together with the main body of French infantry, they began to retire. Delaborde’s cavalry and skirmishers waited a moment to cover the retreat and then followed the rest of the small army as it marched past Roliça and made for the higher ground behind the village. By the time the flanking columns had descended from the slopes the last of the French had retreated out of danger.

‘Damn,’ Arthur muttered. ‘Somerset, pass the word. The army is to advance to that village and halt.We’ll have to make another attempt to bring Delaborde to bay.’

‘Yes, sir.’

Once more the British army advanced, this time in line, and the formations rippled slowly across the dry stubbly grass as they entered the valley and moved towards the new French position. As they approached Roliça Arthur could see that it would be a hard fight. Delaborde’s force was now arranged along the crest of a low hill with very steep sides facing the British. Here and there the slope was broken by a gully that led sharply up towards the crest. Arthur halted the army and sent fresh orders to the flanking columns to make another attempt to scale the hills on each side of the enemy. Now that the sun had reached its zenith the heat in the valley was stifling and a heat haze shimmered close to the ground. Thirsty and sweating, the two columns set off again, up towards the ridge.This time there would be no chance of surprising Delaborde. The French general could choose to retreat towards Lisbon through the narrow pass behind him, or stand his ground and fight, hoping that he might yet be rescued by the other French column somewhere to the east.

‘Hello, what’s Lake up to?’ Somerset mused, and Arthur turned and saw that one of his regiments, the Twenty-Ninth Foot, was still advancing towards the French. ‘Why hasn’t he halted?’

Arthur watched in silence as the Twenty-Ninth continued towards a gully in the slope in front of them. A sick feeling welled up in his stomach and he gritted his teeth angrily.‘That damned fool, Lake. I fear he intends to scale that gully and break into their position.’

‘He can’t be serious, sir. Not without support.’

‘You know Lake, bull-headed and keen to make a name for himself.’

‘Yes, sir. As long as he doesn’t seek to do it posthumously.’

‘Get over there, and put a stop to that nonsense.’

‘Yes, sir.’ Somerset saluted and spurred his horse into a gallop towards the left of the line where the Twenty-Ninth should have halted. But, even as Arthur watched, Lake’s men marched into the gully and began to clamber over the steep ground towards the French. Somerset was never going to reach them in time to prevent the coming tragedy. Arthur opened his telescope and began to follow the action as the first men from Lake’s battalion emerged from the gully into the French line. At once the enemy turned to deal with the new danger, pouring volley after volley into the disordered ranks of the Twenty-Ninth as they clambered out of the gully. Soon the ground around the battalion’s colours was littered with redcoats and the survivors were desperately returning fire at will. Then the steadily thickening gunpowder smoke obscured the view and Arthur lowered his telescope. He glanced to each side of the valley and saw that neither of the flanking columns would be in place to make an attack for at least another half-hour. Unless something was done immediately, the Twenty-Ninth would be wiped out.

He turned to the nearest of his staff officers.‘Simpson! Ride forward and pass the order for a general advance.’

‘Yes, sir!’

Arthur took one last look at the unequal fight engulfing the Twenty-Ninth and then urged his mount forward, riding to join the rest of the army as it began to advance towards the waiting Frenchmen. With the skirmishers of the Rifles and the Light Companies of the other battalions leading the way, the British troops began to move up over the boulder-strewn slopes and gullies. As the skirmishers from both sides met there was a steady crackle of musket fire and shouted orders, and cries of pain and the wild exchange of insults and battle cries that echoed off the sides of the valley. Arthur joined the men of the central column as they struggled to advance with dressed ranks. The slopes were too uneven to permit the neat formations that the men had practised on drill grounds back in Britain. Slowly - too slowly, to Arthur’s mind - they made their way up to the crest, while all the time the sound of firing from the direction of the Twenty-Ninth steadily diminished. Ahead of the British line the skirmishers continued to fight it out, but as the first ranks of the leading battalions emerged on to the crest the guns of Delaborde’s single battery opened fire. Cones of lead balls tore through the ranks, opening gaps that were quickly closed by fresh men as the redcoats advanced on the main French position.

Now they were picking their way over the bodies of dead and wounded, British and French alike. A short distance ahead the British skirmishers had halted and gone to ground as they came up against the main French line. The British battalions halted to load their weapons and then continued forward until they were within effective musket range of the enemy, no more than fifty paces away. Then, as the French loosed their first volley and dozens of redcoats went down, the rest calmly halted, raised their muskets, thumbed back the firing hammers and waited for the order.

‘Fire!’

Hundreds of muskets spat flame and smoke in a thunderous roar and then the sergeants bellowed the order to reload.The French fired again and Arthur heard balls zip through the air close by as he strained to gauge the progress of the fight through the eddying smoke. With a pounding of hooves Somerset came riding up, and reined his horse in sharply.

‘How go things with the Twenty-Ninth?’ asked Arthur.

‘They’ve had it, sir. I wasn’t in time to save them.’

‘Had it? What, all of them?’

‘Lake’s dead. So are over two hundred and fifty of his men. The rest are wounded or routed.’

Arthur stared at his aide and muttered, ‘Good God.’

One officer’s vain moment of madness had cost the army half a battalion. Arthur was stunned. Then a fresh volley burst out from the British line and he collected his thoughts and stared towards the French positions.The enemy fire was already slackening, and as a breath of wind wafted down the valley the smoke cleared enough for Arthur to see that Delaborde’s men were falling back again, making for the pass behind them. Now that the main battle line of the British army had reached the crest there was no choice for Delaborde but retreat to try to save as much of his force as possible.

‘Keep the advance going!’ Arthur called out to each side. ‘Pass the word! Advance!’

All along the hill the line of redcoats pressed forward, straight into the volleys of French musket fire and the blasts from their six cannon. As Arthur followed the battle he saw that the French officers were handling their men well. The enemy companies kept their cohesion as they fired, fell back, and fired again, steadily giving ground as they came up on their own guns. Then the French gunners were ordered to withdraw, and started to limber their guns.

Arthur saw the chance at once. Now that the demoralising influence of French grapeshot was removed, it was time for the British infantry to use their bayonets.

‘One last volley!’ he called out. ‘Then charge home, boys!’

The order was communicated to left and right, and after the last British musket had emptied its lead shot at the enemy the sergeants bellowed the order.

‘Fix . . . bayonets!’

There was a distinct rattle along the line as the spiked bayonets were slotted over the muzzles and twisted into the locked position.

‘Advance muskets!’

The front rank lowered their weapons and the triangular steel blades with their sharp points angled towards the French.

‘Advance!’

In a staggered motion the entire line lurched forward, bearing down on the French, still hurriedly reloading their muskets a short distance away. Already a handful of the enemy were falling out of line, backing away from the approaching danger. More joined them as the others fired their last shots at the British.

‘Charge!’

A deep ragged roar sounded from thousands of thirsty throats as the British surged forward. The effect of the bayonet charge was as Arthur had hoped and the French line broke. The enemy turned and ran for their lives, many throwing aside their weapons as they raced towards the mouth of the pass at the rear of their position. The French artillery crews had not completed limbering their guns as their comrades fled, and after a brief glance towards the wild faces of the British charging towards them they abandoned their cannon and followed the others. Only the cavalry, a regiment of dragoons, still remained formed up to one side of the track, and they now drew their carbines and formed a line across the pass to protect the last of the mob surging past them. They fired from the saddle, and though many shots went wide enough struck home to cause the British infantry to draw up. As soon as their weapons had been discharged the dragoons holstered them and unsheathed their swords.

‘Prepare to receive cavalry!’The order passed along the British lines and the men instantly moved to rejoin their formations and close ranks, well aware of the dangers of being caught out in the open by enemy cavalry. Once the British battalions stood ready, in lines three deep, a stillness settled over the battlefield. Two hundred yards away, the dragoons stood equally still, glinting swords resting against their shoulders.

‘Why don’t they charge?’ asked a staff officer close by Arthur.

‘Because they don’t have to,’ Somerset explained nonchalantly. ‘They know we won’t risk charging again and breaking ranks. Not in the face of their cavalry. Equally, they won’t risk attacking formed infantry. So we have something of an impasse. While the rest of their army escapes.’

‘Impasse be damned,’ Arthur growled. ‘Order the line to advance! Close formation . . .’

Once again the redcoats stepped forward, at a measured pace so that the dragoons continued to face an unbroken line of bayonets. As the redcoats closed to within a hundred paces of the enemy a bugle call pierced the hot air, blasting out a series of notes, repeated three times, and then the dragoons sheathed their blades, wheeled round and began to trot away towards the track leading up to the mountain pass through which the rest of the army had escaped.

Arthur gave the order to halt and watched the retreating dragoons in frustration. The enemy had been broken, and had Arthur had a single cavalry brigade to unleash they could have been utterly destroyed in the ensuing pursuit. As it was, Delaborde would soon rally his men and they would be ready to fight the British again in a matter of days.

‘A terrible waste,’ Arthur muttered as he surveyed the thick carpet of bodies surrounding the mouth of the gully. Dusk was gathering over the battlefield and a working party from the Rifles was gathering up the bodies of Lake’s battalion and carrying them to a mass grave that had been dug a short distance away.

‘Indeed, sir.’ Somerset sighed. ‘And to such little effect.’

‘Have they found Lake?’

‘Yes, sir. He was near the bottom of the pile. Must have been killed almost as soon as he emerged from the gully.’

‘Where is he?’

‘I’ve had the body taken to Roliça for burial in a private grave, sir.’

‘Very well.’ Arthur nodded and then asked the question he had been avoiding. ‘And the final butcher’s bill?’

‘Four hundred and fifty confirmed dead so far. Mostly from the Twenty-Ninth. Over seven hundred French accounted for, sir.’

‘Not quite a pyrrhic victory then,’ Arthur mused and then smiled bitterly.‘Here we are, somewhat less than fifteen thousand of us in Iberia against over a hundred thousand Frenchmen. Unless our soldiers can account for theirs at a ratio of one for ten, we have scant prospect of victory as things stand.’

Somerset shrugged. ‘Then it is up to our generals to improve the odds, sir.’

Arthur looked at him and smiled. ‘You are right. I will do my best.’

‘I would expect nothing less, sir.’

Arthur awoke with a start as someone shook his shoulder. A figure with a lantern was standing over his camp bed. Arthur blinked and then squinted past the flare of light to see Somerset in a loose shirt and breeches.

‘What time is it?’ Arthur mumbled.

‘Just past three in the morning, sir.’

‘What’s happened?’ Arthur sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

‘Just had word from the fleet, sir. Reinforcements have arrived. Four thousand men.They will begin landing the day after tomorrow.’

‘Where?’

‘At the mouth of the Maceira river. Near the village of Vimeiro, sir. A day’s march from here.’

Arthur smiled. Somerset must have been roused only shortly before he had come to wake his commander and had already marshalled the important details.

‘Very well. We will move the army towards Vimeiro at first light to cover the landing.’

‘Yes, sir.’

There was something in Somerset’s tone that made Arthur realise there was more news, something altogether less agreeable. He looked up at his aide. ‘Well?’

‘There’s a sloop following a day behind the reinforcements. Sir Harry Burrard is aboard.’

Arthur nodded wearily. So that was it then. It seemed his short tenure of command was about to come to an end. He sighed.

‘Have my steward prepare my best uniform. I will need to report to Sir Harry the moment his ship arrives.’