Battle of the Nivelle
The Battle fought on 10th November 1813, during the Peninsular War; Wellington’s army crossing the River Nivelle and moving from the Pyrenees Mountains into the plains of France
45.Podcast on the Battle of the Nivelle: fought on 10th November 1813, during the Peninsular War; Wellington’s army crossing the River Nivelle and moving from the Pyrenees Mountains into the plains of France:John Mackenzie’s britishbattles.com podcasts
The previous battle of the Peninsular War isthe Battle of the Bidassoa
The next battle in the Peninsular War isthe Battle of the Nive
War: Peninsular War
Date of the Battle of the Nivelle: 10th November1813
Place of the Battle of the Nivelle: In the north-east on the Spanish-Frenchborder.
Combatants at the Battle of the Nivelle: British, Portuguese and Spanish troops against theFrench.
Commanders at the Battle of the Nivelle: General the Earl of Wellington against Marshal Soult.
Size of thearmies at the Battle of the Nivelle:
Wellington commanded an army of 90,000 British, Portuguese and Spanishtroops, not including the troops blockading Pamplona.
Soult commanded 67,000 French troops
Winner of the Battle of the Nivelle: The British, Portuguese and Spanish forced theFrench back from the River Nivelle to the River Nive and beyond.
Background to the Battle of the Nivelle:
Newsof the Emperor Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Leipzig on 19thOctober 1813 brought the British Government to the view that all efforts shouldnow be made to defeat the French and steps were taken to increase the flow ofreinforcements for Wellington’s army on the Spanish-French border.
The one restraint on Wellington’sinvasion of France was the continued resistance by the French garrison in theCity of Pamplona, positioned in his right rear and blockaded by the Spanishtroops of Carlos d’España.
With the Pamplona garrison’s suppliesexhausted, the French commander, General Cassan, despairing of relief byMarshal Soult, surrendered the city on 30th October 1813.
With the fall of Pamplona and the news from NorthernEurope, Wellington considered himself free to continue with his invasion ofFrance.
In addition, Wellington needed to move hisarmy out of the mountains into the plains of France.
The severe winter weather was setting in, thetroops in the mountains suffering from exposure with Hill’s Second Division atRoncesvalles in knee-deep snow.
In the meantime, Marshal Soult’s army wasbuilding a chain of redoubts to keep Wellington’s troops out of Frenchterritory.
Wellington paid daily visits to Alton’s Light Division’s positions on la Grande Rhune to monitor the progress of Soult’s defensive chain.
During one of these visits, Wellingtoncommented to Colborne, the redoubtable colonel of the 52nd LightInfantry and one of Alton’s brigade commanders, that he would overrun theFrench line with ease because there were not enough French troops to man thelength of the defences and Soult could not know where the assault would fall.
Wellington’s attack was delayed by the winterweather, with snow in the mountains and rain at the lower altitudes.
On 4th November 1813, the weatherimproved and the attack was planned for 8th November 1813, althoughlater delayed.
Wellington’s main assault was to be against the village of Sare, the Light Division and Longa’s Spanish troops storming la Petite Rhune positions at the western end, while Giron’s Spanish took the eastern end.
Cole’s Fourth Division was to attack directlytowards Sare, while Colville led the Seventh Division down the Nivelle to takethe bridge at Amots, an important link in the French line between Clausel’sCorps in the centre and D’Erlon’s Corps on the French left.
Beresford was to command the formations on the eastern side of la Grande Rhune.
While in the Bidassoa battle the main attack wasdriven along the sea coast, in the Battle of the Nivelle the coast was thescene for a feint attack, with several divisions committed under the command ofSir John Hope (First and Fifth Divisions, with Portuguese brigades and twocavalry brigades).
A squadron of the Royal Navy under CommodoreCollier was to bombard the French fort at Socoa.
A substantial force, comprising the Sixth and Second Divisions with cavalry and Portuguese infantry, was to advance on the extreme right, in the mountains, with Morillo’s Spanish threatening the French flank.
TheBattle of the Nivelle:
The improvement in the weather with thenoticeable movement of artillery warned Soult that he was about to be attacked.
Soult’s conclusion was that Wellington’sattack would be on his left, centre and right.
Reille’s Corps held the right wing by the seacoast. Clausel’s Corps held the ground from Ascain to the Nivelle River atAmotz, while D’Erlon’s Corps held the ground east of the Nivelle.
In re-arranging his formations, Soult movedDarricau’s Division to Serres and brought Foy’s Division, less a garrison leftin St Jean Pied de Port, further west to Biddaray.
Soult also brought forward his brother’sdivision of dragoons, with a brigade of Treilhard’s dragoons, across the RiverNive in support of his entrenched infantry.
Wellington’s attack began at 6am on 10thNovember 1813, with the feint attack by Hope’s guns and picquets on the Frenchpositions at Socorry by the coast.
Soult, after his absence from the Bidassoaattack due to his position at the other end of the line, was on the extremeFrench right, near the Biscay coast.
Following a heavy bombardment, the BritishFifth Division with Stopford’s Guards Brigade, Halkett’s King’s German LegionBrigade and Aylmer’s Brigade attacked the French positioned around Socorry andUrrugne, pushing them back.
Soult felt his personal position to be correctas this seemed to be the point of Wellington’s main attack.
On the right flank of Hope’s force, Freire’sSpanish pushed Vilatte’s Division back towards Ascain.
Vilatte fell back across the River Nivelle andjoined Darricau at Serres. These two French divisions remained there facingFreire’s Spanish and took no further part in the battle.
The casualties of each side in this part ofthe battle are described as ‘trifling’.
The effect of Hope’s feint was to deceiveSoult as to the true point of attack and to take four French Divisions out ofthe battle, pinning them in the coastal area.
In the early hours of 10th November 1813, Alten’s Light Division advanced to la Grande Rhune and prepared to attack the French positions on la Petite Rhune, comprising a series of redoubts.
To the north of la Petite Rhune lay the main redoubt in this part of the line, the Mouiz Redoubt.
A shoulder of the mountain connected the redoubts on la Petite Rhune to the Mouiz Redoubt, lined by a dry-stone wall.
The shoulder was held by battalions of theFrench 40th and 34th of the Line.
The regiments of the Light Division, the 95th Rifles, the 43rd, the 52nd with the 17th Portuguese launched their assault on the various French positions on and around la Petite Rhune.
The result of the attacks was that the French were driven from all their positions on and around la Petite Rhune and fell back in considerable disorder.
Alten halted his regiments to enable theneighbouring divisions to come up in line with him.
To the right of the Light Division, Cole’sFourth Division, supported by three horse artillery batteries, advanced on theSainte Barbe redoubt, promptly abandoned by its French garrison, comprisingBarbot’s brigade of Maransin’s Division, which fell back on the St IgnaceRedoubts.
The British guns turned their fire on theGranada Redoubt, causing the French garrison to follow their comrades from theSainte Barbe redoubt.
Cole now advanced on the village of Sare, defendedby Rey’s Brigade of Conroux’s Division, with Giron’s Spanish troops envelopingthe village from the west and Dalhousie’s Seventh Division from the east.
Further east still, Colville’s Third Divisionwas advancing down the River Nivelle, reaching the bridge at Amots, where Conroux’ssecond brigade was engaged.
British skirmishers swarmed into Sare anddrove the French out.
Maransin was holding the redoubts behind Sare,the Louis XIV and the Madeleine, from where he was compelled to dispatch troopsto bolster up the various French positions, until he was forced to withdraw.
In the centre of the French line, Taupin’sDivision held the area around Ascain, the Signal Redoubt, the St Ignace Redoubtsand the high ground around them.
Clausel reformed Maransin’s and Taupin’sDivisions to cover the area between the Louis XIV Redoubt, the Signal Redoubtand the River Nivelle.
The Light Division now developed a new attackto envelop the French positions around Ascain.
Soon after 10am, the British, Portuguese andSpanish troops advanced up the slope on which stood the Louis XIV Redoubt.
The vigorous advance by Alten’s Light Divisioncaused Taupin to fear that he would be cut off from the French centre aroundAscain and Serres. Taupin pulled his troops back from supporting the Louis XIVRedoubt.
Colville’s Third Division launched an assaultfrom the bridge at Amots on Conroux’s Division. The attack was vigorouslyresisted, until Conroux himself was mortally wounded and his division gave wayand retreated down the bank of the River Nivelle, leaving Maransin unsupported.
By 11am, Colville’s Division was wellestablished on the hill to the east of the Louis XIV Redoubt.
French artillery came into action in supportof Conroux’s retreating troops, but was in turn silenced by Ross’s troop ofhorse artillery, which was managing, in spite of the difficult terrain, to keepup with the rapidly advancing British Third Division.
The British Fourth, Seventh and ThirdDivisions then attacked the Louis XIV Redoubt.
Maransin’s Division was forced out of theredoubt which was stormed and taken with 180 French prisoners.
Briefly taken prisoner, Maransin withdrew hissurviving troops from hilltop to hilltop, pressed closely all the way, until hewas able to cross the River Nivelle at St Pée.
Taupin’s Division remained at the SignalRedoubt, between Ascain and the Louis XIV Redoubt, expecting support fromDarricau’s Division at Serres. Support which did not come.
Taupin now found himself threatened, not onlyon his left but also by the swiftly advancing Light Division to his front.
The British 52nd Light Infantry, ina spirited advance, at times under artillery fire, reached a concealed point 80yards from the French positions and in a sudden charge took the whole of the StIgnace Redoubt complex, dispersing the French 70th of the Line,which formed most of the garrison.
While Clausel was trying to organise acounter-attack to retake the St Ignace Redoubts, it became clear that theadvances on each side of the redoubt were endangering his line of retreat and thatonly one road leading to a bridge over the Nivelle was still open.
Clausel’s last move before a general retreat wasthe extraction of the 88th of the Line from the Signal Redoubt, nowunder threat by Colborne and the 52nd Light Infantry.
Several French regiments were ordered tosupport the 88th, but none obeyed, all continuing their precipitateretreat to the Nivelle bridge.
None of the staff officers sent to warn the 88thto withdraw got through.
After several costly attempts to storm theSignal Redoubt, Colborne sent a message to the French commander requiring himto surrender to the British or face capture by the vengeful Spanish troops ofGiron. The French commander reluctantly surrendered the Signal Redoubt toColborne.
The regiments of Clausel’s Corps managed tocross to the north bank of the River Nivelle in various places, using bridgesand fords, under heavy pressure from the British, Portuguese and Spanish troops.
During the course of the heavy defeat ofClausel’s Corps by a force four times its size, Marshal Soult initiallyremained in St Jean de Luz, where he faced only Wellington’s feint attack.
At 10.30am, Soult moved to Serres. Fortescuecriticises Soult for failing to send Darricau’s Division to the support ofClausel’s hard pressed corps.
On the French left, the divisions of Darmagnacand Abbé from D’Erlon’s Corps held the fortified line from the bridge at Amotsto Ainhoa and into the mountain line to the east of Ainhoa.
Hill’s divisions advanced along the line ofthe River Nivelle, moving downstream from Urdax, Clinton’s British SixthDivision leading Hamilton’s Portuguese Division and Stewart’s Second Division.
Clinton and Hamilton crossed the River Nivelleand advanced on the main French positions.
After being held up by French artillery firefrom his right flank, while he crossed a ridge to reach the main Frenchposition, Hamilton was able to follow Clinton’s advance towards the Frenchline.
Stewart came up on the line of the river andcrossed to the right bank to take his position for the assault on the Ainhoaline.
Skirmishers from Colville’s Third Divisioncrossed the bridge at Amots, threatening Darmagnac’s right flank in the Ainhoaposition.
At around 1pm, Hill launched his attack on theFrench line, each of his three divisions assaulting one of the redoubts.
As Clinton’s Division rushed the left-handredoubt, his men suffered considerable casualties before the French abandonedthe position.
Hamilton advanced on the next French redoubtto the right, to find that the hutments had been set ablaze making itimpossible for his men to enter the area: That is until the grenadier companiesand a battalion of caçadores moved around the right-hand end of the fire andstormed the redoubt.
At this point D’Erlon ordered Darmagnac towithdraw to Habacenborda, leaving Abbé’s Division to look after itself,unsupported.
Attacked by Stewart’s Second Division, led byAshworth’s Portuguese Brigade and Byng’s Brigade, Abbé put up a considerableresistance in defending his redoubt, until, seeing he was left unsupported, he withdrewhis division to Espelette.
D’Erlon, on reaching Habacenborda withDarmagnac’s Division, found the village already held by Conroux’s Division andmoved further north into France.
On the extreme French left, Foy’s Divisiondrove back the Spanish troops of Mina and Morillo, then judging by the firingthat the French Centre had been forced back, Foy joined the general Frenchretreat.
Wellington halted the advance of his army atSt Pée, while Hill’s Corps came up in line, which he did at around 5pm.
The British Third and Seventh Divisionscrossed the River Nivelle and drove the French out of Habacenborda.
Wellington considered that it was now too latein the day to achieve anything further in the battle and did not intend anyfurther advance.
Soult however still felt threatened and orderedReille to withdraw across the Nivelle, destroying the two bridges at St Jean deLuz and take up positions on the heights of Bidart, some miles back.
The divisions of Clausel’s and D’Erlon’s Corpsalso fell back, leaving only Darmagnac and Foy in positions at Ustaritz andCambo.
On 12th November 1813 Wellington intendedto launch another assault, but Soult pulled further back towards Bayonne.
Hill attempted to attack Foy in the area of Cambo, but dense fog and heavy rain, making the Nive River at Cambo impassable, brought Hill’s attack to a halt.
The Battle of the Nivelle ended with Wellington’s army established in France.
Casualties atthe Battle of the Nivelle:
Frenchlosses in the battle were 4,300 killed, wounded and captured. Of these, 2,700were lost by Clausel’s three divisions.
The French lost 69 guns.
The British, Portugueseand Spanish suffered 2,700 men killed, wounded and captured.
Casualties wereparticularly heavy in the British Light Division.
The Aftermath to the Battle of the Nivelle:
Wellington considered the battle to have beenunsuccessful. His expectation was that the attack on Clausel would have beendecisive and enabled him to cut off the retreat of Reille’s Corps.
Wellington’s attack was held up by the interventionof D’Erlon, although hesitant and indecisive, leaving insufficient daylight topress his attack.
Wellington was still concerned as to the permanenceof the alliance against Napoleon. He was also worried by the hostility of theSpanish government to him and was not prepared to risk a reverse.
Battle Honours and Medal for the Battle of the Nivelle:
The Battle of The Nivelle is a clasp on the1847 General Service Medal.
The Battle of the Nivelle is a battle honourfor the following British regiments: 2nd Queen’s, 3rdBuffs, 5th, 6th, 11th, 23rd RoyalWelch Fusiliers, 24th, 27th, 28th, 29th,31st, 32nd, 34th, 39th, 40th,42nd Royal Highland Regiment, 43rd Light Infantry, 45th,48th, 49th, 51st, 52nd LightInfantry, 53rd, 57th, 58th, 59th, 60thRifles, 61st, 66th, 68th, 76th, 79thCameron Highlanders, 82nd, 83rd, 84th, 85thLightInfantry, 87th, 91st Highlanders, 94thand 95thRifles.
Anecdotes and traditions from the Battle of the Nivelle:
- The 52nd LightInfantry suffered 240 killed and wounded in the Battle of the Nivelle,principally in the attack on the Signal Redoubt. Of these casualties, 100lightly wounded light infantryman refused to seek treatment and appeared onparade on the following day.
References for the Battle oftheNivelle:
See the extensive list of references given at the end ofthe Peninsular War Index.
The previous battle of the Peninsular War isthe Battle of the Bidassoa
The next battle in the Peninsular War isthe Battle of the Nive
45.Podcast on the Battle of the Nivelle: fought on 10th November 1813, during the Peninsular War; Wellington’s army crossing the River Nivelle and moving from the Pyrenees Mountains into the plains of France:John Mackenzie’s britishbattles.com podcasts
