Battle of the Bidassoa (1813)
Part ofWar of the Sixth Coalition
Battle of the Bidassoa, 9 October 1813.
Date 7 October 1813 Location NearHendaye,France andLa Rhune 43°20′16″N1°43′7″W / 43.33778°N 1.71861°W /43.33778; -1.71861 (Mont Calvaire) Result Allied victory
Belligerents
French Empire	United Kingdom Portugal Spain
Commanders and leaders
Nicolas Soult	Duke of Wellington
Strength
62,000[1]	89,000[2]
Casualties and losses
1,676[3] 17 cannons[4]	825[5]–1,600[6]
class=notpageimage| Location within Europe

Peninsular War:
Campaign in south-west France

50km
31miles

7

Bayonne

6

Toulouse

5

4

3

2

1

Bidassoa

   

  current battle

In theBattle of the Bidasoa (or theBattle of Larrun) on 7 October 1813 the Allied army ofArthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington wrested a foothold on French soil fromNicolas Soult's French army. The Allied troops overran the French lines behind theBidassoa River on the coast and along thePyrenees crest between the Bidasoa andLa Rhune (Larrun). The nearest towns to the fighting areIrun on the lower Bidassoa andBera on the middle Bidasoa. The battle occurred during thePeninsular War, part of the widerNapoleonic Wars.

Wellington aimed his main assault at the lower Bidasoa, while sending additional troops to attack Soult's centre. Believing his coastal sector secure, Soult held the right flank with a relatively weak force while concentrating most of his strength on his left flank in the mountains. However, the British general obtained local intelligence that indicated that water levels on the lower river were much lower than the French suspected. After careful planning, Wellington launched a surprise assault which easily overran the French left flank defences. In the centre, his army also won through the French defenses, though his Spanish allies were repulsed in one attack. At the beginning of the fighting, Soult realised that his left flank was in no danger, but it was too late to reinforce his positions on the right. Some French generals were shocked at how poorly their soldiers fought.

In theBattle of San Marcial on 31 August and 1 September 1813, Soult's army was repelled in its final bid to advance into Spain. After a costly assault followed by a brutal sack of the city, the Allies also brought theSiege of San Sebastián to a successful conclusion in early September. A French garrison held out in theSiege of Pamplona which would end in a surrender on October 31.Wellington determined to create a bridgehead across theBidassoa River. If successful, his army would be the first Allied army to establish itself on French soil.^{[citation needed]} The British commander also wanted to capture French positions that overlooked the Allied lines on the west side of the Bidassoa.^[7]

Because the French troops had begun to plunder their fellow citizens,Emperor Napoleon's Minister of War,Henri Jacques Guillaume Clarke orderedMarshal Soult to defend a position as close to the frontier as possible. He had to hold a 48 km (30 mi) front in the Pyrenees mountains. The area was highly defensible, but lateral communications were poor.^[7]

Deciding that the coastal sector was the strongest part of his line, Soult postedGeneral of DivisionHonoré Charles Reille and 10,550 men to defend that sector.^[8] Reille's command included General of DivisionAntoine Louis Popon de Maucune's 3,996-strong 7th Division and General of DivisionPierre François Xavier Boyer's 6,515-strong 9th Division. Maucune held the lower Bidassoa on theBay of Biscay, while Boyer defended the stream farther inland.^[9] Behind them was the entrenched camp of Bordagain and the port ofSt-Jean-de-Luz^[8] which were held by General of DivisionEugene-Casimir Villatte's 8,018-man Reserve Division.^[9]

General of DivisionBertrand Clausel held the centre with 15,300 men under Generals of DivisionNicolas François Conroux,Jean-Pierre Maransin, andEloi Charlemagne Taupin. On the right, near the Bidassoa, stood theLa Bayonette redoubt. MontLa Rhune (Larrun) rose in the center of Clausel's sector. His left touched theNivelle River nearAinhoa.^[8] Conroux's 4th Division numbered 4,962 men; Maransin's 5th Division counted 5,575 troops; Taupin's 8th Division had 4,778 soldiers and held the area just north of Bera. Soult's gunners, sappers, and other troops added up to 2,000 and his total forces numbered 55,088 effectives. His cavalry was stationed in theNive valley.^[9]

Fearing an allied thrust over the Maya Pass and down theNivelle River to the sea, Soult gave General of DivisionJean-Baptiste Drouet, Comte d'Erlon 19,200 men to hold his left flank. D'Erlon's corps included the soldiers of Generals of DivisionMaximilien Sebastien Foy,Jean Barthélemy Darmagnac,Louis Jean Nicolas Abbé, andAugustin Darricau. These troops held a line fromAinhoa to the mountain fortress ofSt-Jean-Pied-de-Port, covering the Maya andRoncevaux Passes.^[8] Darricau's 4,092-man 6th Division was deployed between Ainhoa andSare; Abbé's 6,051-strong 3rd Division was west of Ainhoa; Darmagnac's 4,447-man 2nd Division held Ainhoa; Foy's 4,654-strong 1st Division held the fortress at the extreme left flank.^[9]

Wellington had 64,000 Anglo-Portuguese infantry and artillery, plus 25,000 Spanish soldiers from the Army of Galicia. Since cavalry was of little use in the mountains, theBritish commander sent most of his horse regiments to the rear, keeping a few light dragoons for patrolling. In order to gain his bridgehead, Wellington had to force a crossing of the Bidassoa estuary. The river was 910 metres (1,000 yards) wide and 6 metres (20 feet) deep at the high-water mark below the Île de la Conference. The French never suspected that there was only 4 feet (1.2 m) of water over the lower fords at certain low tides, a fact that the Allies gleaned fromBasque fishermen. Allied intelligence knew that the next low tide was 7 October.^[2]

The crossing was meticulously planned. Near the lower fords, British engineers built a turf wall near the river. This would shelterAndrew Hay's5th Division during the time before it crossed the river. Wellington positioned five field batteries and three 18-pound siege cannon to provide fire support to the attacking infantry.^[10]

Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington (89,000, 24,000 engaged)^[11]

At 7:25 am the 5th Division launched its attack from nearHondarribia (Fuenterrabia). It came as a complete surprise to the French, who had deployed only Maucune's 4,000 men to defend six km (four miles) of river. Immediately, Hay's men gained a foothold at the village of Hendaye and swung two brigades to the right to assist the crossing ofKenneth Howard's 1st Division. At 8:00 am, Howard's men, Thomas Bradford's independentPortuguese brigade andLord Aylmer's independent British brigade forded the river near a destroyed bridge at Béhobie. Three Spanish brigades fromManuel Freire's two divisions (Del Barco and Barcena) crossed farther to the right. Rapidly, the British overran theCroix des Bouquets position and the Spanish captured Mont Calvaire at43°20′16″N1°43′7″W / 43.33778°N 1.71861°W /43.33778; -1.71861 (Mont Calvaire). The entire ridge on the French side of the river fell into Allied hands at the cost of only 400 casualties. With the high ground in his possession, Wellington suspended the attack.^[12]

That morning Soult was absorbed in watchingHenry Clinton's6th Division advancing from the Maya Pass. The division'sPortuguese brigade boldly seized theUrdax ironworks, losing 150 men in the combat. Soult suddenly realised the operation was only a demonstration. He rode off to his coastal sector but he was too late to help Reille.^[2]

The toughest fighting of the day occurred in Clausel's sector.John Colborne's brigade ofCharles Alten'sLight Division attackedLa Bayonette at43°18′35″N1°42′12″W / 43.30972°N 1.70333°W /43.30972; -1.70333 (Le Bayonette Redoute). The French charged downhill and drove back the green-jacketed skirmishers of the95th Rifles Foot. Suddenly the 1/52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) appeared out of the trees and quickly turned the tables. Following closely behind the retreating French, the redcoats of the 52nd overran the redoubt with surprising ease.^[13]

Meanwhile,James Kempt's other Light Division brigade andFrancisco de Longa's Spanish division attacked up two spurs of La Rhune to secure some positions. To their right,Pedro Girón's two Andalusian divisions (Virues and La Torre) attacked the summit of La Rhune. Though the Spanish attacked repeatedly, they were defeated. However, the next day the French abandoned the position to avoid encirclement.^[14][15][16]

The Allies were victorious for the first time on French soil. In Reille's sector, the French lost 390 killed and wounded, plus 60 men and eight cannons captured. In Clausel's sector, the French suffered 600 killed and wounded, plus 598 men and nine cannons captured. The British lost 82 killed, 486 wounded, and five missing, or a total of 573. The Portuguese lost 48 killed, 186 wounded, and eight missing, or a total of 242.^[4] The Spanish suffered the balance of the 1,600 total Allied casualties.^[14] The defeat lowered morale in Soult's army. Except at La Rhune, French troops did not obstinately defend their positions. Villatte commented, "with troops like these we can expect only disgrace".^[17] Soult made Maucune the scapegoat, dismissed him from his division, and sent him to the rear.^[12] After the battle, some of the Allied troops indulged themselves in the looting of French homes and towns. Wellington came down harshly on British troops caught plundering. He felt sympathetic to the Spanish, who had seen their nation ravaged by French soldiers, but he determined to tolerate no looting for fear of provoking a guerilla war.^[18]

During the follow-up to this victory, Spanish troops seized the Sainte-Barbe Redoubt at43°18′1″N1°34′55″W / 43.30028°N 1.58194°W /43.30028; -1.58194 (Sainte-Barbe Redoute), 1.4 kilometres (0.9 mi) south of the village ofSare. On 12 October, Conroux's division recaptured the fort from its garrison of La Torre's division and drove off a five-battalion Spanish counterattack. French casualties are estimated at 300, while the Spanish lost 300 killed and wounded, plus 200 captured.^[19] The next engagement was theBattle of Nivelle on 10 November 1813.^[20]

• Gates, David (2002),The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War, London: Pimlico,ISBN 0-7126-9730-6
• Glover, Michael (2001),The Peninsular War 1807-1814, London: Penguin,ISBN 0-14-139041-7
• Oman, Sir Charles William Chadwick (1930).A History of the Peninsular War: August 1813 – April 14, 1814. Vol. VII. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Retrieved1 June 2021.
• Smith, Digby (1998),The Napoleonic Wars Data Book, London: Greenhill,ISBN 1-85367-276-9
• Bodart, Gaston (1908).Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905). Retrieved8 June 2023.

• Media related toBattle of the Bidassoa at Wikimedia Commons

• Battles of the Peninsular War involving Spain
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• Military history of Nouvelle-Aquitaine
• History of Pyrénées-Atlantiques
• Battles of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
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• Bidasoa

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