In July 1812, after the
Battle of Salamanca, the French had evacuated
Madrid, which Wellington's army entered on 12 August 1812. Deploying three divisions to guard its southern approaches, Wellington marched north with the rest of his army to lay siege to the fortress of
Burgos, away, but he had miscalculated the enemy's strength, and on 21 October he had to abandon the
Siege of Burgos and retreat. By 31 October he had abandoned Madrid too and retreated first to
Salamanca then to
Ciudad Rodrigo, near the Portuguese frontier, to avoid encirclement by French armies from the north-east and south-east. Wellington spent the winter reorganizing and reinforcing his forces to
attack King Joseph in Madrid. Napoleon recalled to France numerous soldiers to reconstruct his main army after his
disastrous invasion of
Russia. By 20 May 1813 Wellington marched 121,000 troops (53,749 British, 39,608 Spanish and 27,569 Portuguese) from northern
Portugal across the mountains of northern Spain and the
Esla River to outflank Marshal Jourdan's army of 68,000, strung out between the
Douro and the
Tagus. The French retreated to Burgos, with Wellington's forces marching hard to cut them off from the road to France. Wellington himself commanded the small central force in a strategic feint, while
Sir Thomas Graham conducted the bulk of the army around the French right flank over landscape considered impassable. Wellington launched his attack with 57,000 British, 16,000 Portuguese and 8,000 Spanish at Vitoria on 21 June, from four directions.
Terrain The battlefield centres on the
Zadorra river, which runs from east to west. As the Zadorra runs west, it loops into a hairpin bend, finally swinging generally to the southwest. On the south of the battlefield are the Heights of La Puebla. To the northwest is the mass of Monte Arrato. Vitoria stands to the east, two miles (3 km) south of the Zadorra. Five roads radiate from Vitoria, north to
Bilbao, northeast to
Salinas and
Bayonne, east to
Salvatierra, south to
Logroño and west to
Burgos on the south side of the Zadorra.
Plans Jourdan was ill with a fever all day on 20 June. Because of this, few orders were issued and the French forces stood idle. An enormous wagon
train of booty clogged the streets of Vitoria. A convoy left during the night, but it had to leave siege artillery behind because there were not enough draft animals to pull the cannons.
Gazan's divisions guarded the narrow western end of the Zadorra valley, deployed south of the river. Maransin's brigade was posted in advance, at the village of
Subijana. The divisions were disposed with
Leval on the right, Daricau in the centre,
Conroux on the left and
Villatte in reserve. Only a picket guarded the western extremity of the Heights of La Puebla. Further back,
d'Erlon's force stood in a second line, also south of the river.
Darmagnac's division deployed on the right and
Cassagne's on the left. D'Erlon failed to destroy three bridges near the river's hairpin bend and posted Avy's weak cavalry division to guard them.
Reille's men originally formed a third line, but
Sarrut's division was sent north of the river to guard the Bilbao road while Lamartinière's division and the Spanish Royal Guard units held the river bank. Wellington directed Hill's 20,000-man Right Column to drive the French from the Zadorra
defile on the south side of the river. While the French were preoccupied with Hill, Wellington's Right Centre column moved along the north bank of the river and crossed it near the hairpin bend behind the French right flank. Graham's 20,000-man Left Column was sent around the north side of Monte Arrato. It drove down the Bilbao road, cutting off the bulk of the French army. Dalhousie's Left Centre column cut across Monte Arrato and struck the river east of the hairpin, providing a link between Graham and Wellington. ==Battle==