Your Germans are unlikely to be of help to me in that task, but I consider that Hill can benefit if you are prepared to send them out as long-range reconnaissance and general nuisance troops to cover areas outside the scope of his cavalry units. Talk with him and decide how best to arrange it.”
* * *
Hamish MacKay was on his way north with a swollen H Company. Gonçalves had sent Dodds and two platoons back to Oporto to complete the training and selection of another batch of potential Wasps and; dare it be said; three or four young men of good birth, who had been persuaded to present themselves for selection as officers.
Welbeloved had not yet been told about it. Pom had got his father to use his considerable influence among his friends and colleagues, appealing to their patriotism to find young men ready to serve until the French had been ejected from Portugal and Spain.
Lieutenant Colonel Bailey had established a most efficient training programme near Oporto for the whole brigade. Fortunately, casualties had been light in the various units, but the wagon train was still growing and served as a reserve of trained Wasps, ready to replace any that dropped out. Fever and disease were no respecters of fitness and skill.
Whether they were enthusiastic volunteers or had been coerced, the first shock that these dozen young sons of fidalgos; or Portuguese upper class; received was when they were given a dirt-coloured tunic and trousers and formed into a unit of common soldiers, who trained alongside other, genuine, common soldiers for six weeks.
The training was tough and uncompromising and the same for all. At the end of that time, they passed out of initial training and those that didn’t pass out were returned home or to their units. Only two of the potential officers failed to pass out of initial training.
After the first six weeks, the recruits found that they were treated with greater respect; almost like human beings in fact. Training however, became much harder for everyone and competitive, squad against squad. It was made clear to the special squad at this stage that anything that the other squads did, they must do better, even in the mind-numbing drill sessions, where education and intelligence played no part at all.
Twelve weeks later, all the recruits were better trained, more versatile and physically fitter than any soldier in Wellington’s army. Half of them only were accepted for further training and only four of the special squad were accepted. However, two more, who had been training with the other squads and had previously had some education as the sons of professional men, joined these four.
A week of light training followed; almost a holiday, while they awaited the arrival of Dodds and his two platoons of veteran Hornets.
* * *
MacKay was riding with Gonçalves and Richter and four enlarged platoons of Vespãos, something over a hundred and fifty men.
They were in no particular hurry to get to the Asturias. MacKay had sent a message to Santiago del Valle. Cholmondeley with A Company together with Burfoot and the Spanish F Company would take at least a week to get there.
He didn’t know this General Santocildes and he wanted Burfoot and his Spaniards to be present when they met. The general should almost certainly have heard of the Avispónes, but maybe not about the Portuguese companies of Vespãos. He knew that there was very little love lost between the people of Spain and Portugal and he did not want to antagonise Santocildes from the outset.
Gonçalves was far less concerned. “The people of Galicia and the Asturias dislike Madrid only a little less than we do. They have never managed to remain as independent, but would have liked to. I do not think there may be any difficulty. You never know, he may like us better than the Castellanos in F Company.”
Richter was looking puzzled. “As far as I remember, the separate Lands in Germany were given to squabbling, but normally only among the rulers. Admittedly, we none of us love the Prussians, but those speaking the german tongue tend to come together against outsiders.
Here though, I really do believe that many Portuguese would still rather deal with a Frenchman than a Spaniard and vice versa. My company should never have accepted me, had I been Spanish.
MacKay grinned cheerfully. “Neither o’ ye hae anywhere as complicated a history as we dae. Until twa hundred years ago we were twa countries fighting each other a’ the time. Then the English ran out o’ kings and took ours, so we were twa countries wi’ one king, but starting tae be governed as one frae were the king was, in London.
A hundred years later, we both ran out o’ kings and decided tae become one country wi’ one government under a king we imported frae Hanover. It seemed sensible tae speak the english as there were many more o’ them.
Today, we are many times stronger and wealthier together than we could hae been apart and the English dinna seem tae mind that sae many Scots are moving south and taking control o’ sae many things. Who knows, but that in another hundred years the Scots could be running more o’ Great Britain than the English? We could hae colonised them by then.”
* * *
It was a great relief to Welbeloved that Lord Wellington had made it plain that he could see no role for the Hornets in the siege of Badajoz.
He thought about the rock-climbing skills that Johan Thuner had passed on to the whole brigade and which were now an essential part of the training programme, with every company and squadron having at least a nucleus of highly talented climbers.
He was convinced that he could get a sizeable party over the walls, essentially at night in a clandestine manner, but that was not the way an army conducted a siege. Then again, without a great deal of noisy support, even the Hornets could not then take on the three thousand defenders.
Such noisy support was simply incapable of following the Hornets over the wall clandestinely, thus would immediately cease to be any support at all. He would have to rethink his tactics and in the mean time he would see what a discussion with the newly returned Sir Rowland (Daddy) Hill could produce.
Hill had been recovering in England from fevers that had laid him low in Portugal. He was the general in whom Wellington placed most trust and would certainly have been in command at La Albuera if he had returned in time.
Wellington was using his Third and Seventh Divisions and some of the Portuguese to invest Badajoz and Hill had been given the Second and Fourth Divisions, all the Spaniards and most of the cavalry.
His instructions were as precise and detailed as those the Commander-in-Chief always provided, but basically he was required to guard the divisions engaged in the siege and keep his eyes open for the French, regardless of the direction from which they could be expected to approach.
He had about forty thousand men deployed in all directions, but was very relaxed about the whole business, appearing to be much more interested in being brought up to date on the latest achievements of the Hornets.
“I have been watching your men ever since Talavera, Sir Joshua. As I recall, there were very few of you then and your people performed prodigies out of all proportion to your numbers. I can quite understand why Lord Wellington has encouraged you and why he is so reluctant to deliver your command to the mercies of any of his generals.
Being one of those generals, you shall perhaps be surprised when I admit that I quite agree with him. I should be reluctant to use your men in a general action without knowing about their complete range of skills.
He smiled broadly and continued without giving Welbeloved a chance to reply. “I suspect that momentarily you and I are in the same situation: surplus to his lordship’s requirements, while he occupies himself with the siege of Badajoz. Am I close to the mark?”
Welbeloved laughed. “Well within the bull’s eye, Sir Rowland. He didn’t actually say go and conspire with General Hill about occupying yourselves usefully until I need yew again, but that was the strong impression I got. Most of the time, he does me the honour of asking me whether the Hornets can do such and such, before turning us loose.
Evidently he does not consider that our talents stretch to siege
activity and in the case of Badajoz I am happy to concur. We have taken fortified positions on the southern coast, but none was as formidable as this is and their garrisons were only a fraction of the numbers they have here.”
Sir Rowland appeared lost in thought. He came to with a start. “This is one of those times that a soldier knows well, Sir Joshua. We have had our short period of frenetic and terrifying activity. Now we sit and await the next one.
Why do you not let your men rest today? Find somewhere nearby to bivouac and bring your senior officers for a bite of food this evening. I like to think that we shall all conspire together as Lord Wellington wishes, but I shall be most content merely to listen to the tales that I am sure they can all tell.”
CHAPTER 16
In Welbeloved’s opinion, which diplomatically he kept to himself, besieging Badajoz with no siege train worthy of the name was a waste of time, men and resources.
The only cannon available of large enough calibre were an antiquated mixture brought across the Guadiana from the Portuguese fortress of Elvas, ten miles to the west.
Antiquated was the most suitable adjective to describe the collection, some of which were over two hundred years old. Cannon balls also varied in size and condition, even those intended for the same gun.
If they could have been emplaced within fifty yards of the town walls, they would still have been little more effective, but the rocky ground on which the fortress was built denied them any shelter and the modern French guns in the town kept them at a distance that precluded any thought of making a breach.
Time was also a problem that couldn’t be ignored. All the battles that had been fought since the beginning of the year had been basically defensive. The enemy had been beaten, but could not then be prevented from withdrawing with the survivors and given time to regroup.
After a victory, Napoleon always tried to destroy opposing armies by ruthless and relentless pursuit. Wellington’s armies were nearly always outnumbered and too exhausted at the end of a battle to do anything except prepare for more assaults by the enemy.
The French were able to withdraw at their own pace, regroup and reinforce themselves from the seemingly endless numbers of recruits that made up their six separate armies throughout Spain, all of whom had more men than the entire British army until now.
Welbeloved had seen the Army of Portugal; beaten and starving and harried out of Spain; resurrect itself after a few weeks and come back to fight another close battle at Fuentes de Oñoro. He would not be surprised if they did it again and Soult would certainly not accept defeat at La Albuera without gathering more men and coming back to rescue Badajoz.
It was with these thoughts in mind that he had agreed with General Hill to send the Hornissen out to the north, east and south, far beyond the cavalry screen of Hill’s army, to make contact with the guerrilleros and give advance warning of the approach of any French army, from whatever direction.
* * *
Lieutenant Colonel Günther Roffhack had a very good and friendly relationship with Colonel Lord George Vere. Vere was one of the original band of Hornets and second only to Commodore/Brigadier General Sir Joshua Welbeloved in command of the Naval Brigade.
It was agreed that he and Vere would each take two squadrons and go and explore to the north and south of the River Guadiana. Both of them believed that the greatest chance of action was in the south, as that was the direction from where Soult would most likely be coming.
Both of them would prefer to go south and Roffhack accepted that it would be Vere who did so. He was even mildly amused when Vere offered to toss a coin to determine the issue in an equitable manner.
Being fully aware of Vere’s past history of good fortune on the gaming tables, he had nevertheless accepted the gesture with good grace and accepted the inevitable result in Vere’s favour with equally good grace.
He was now leading A and B Squadrons northward of the river, looking for any signs of enemy activity in the area south of Cáceres and west of the Sierra de Guadeloupe to the frontier with Portugal. More precisely, he was riding with Captain Hans Weiss, whose four troops were exploring the ground to their north, riding a line of ten miles from end to end.
B Squadron, with Captain Otto Fischer was moving eastward, searching the country north of the Guadiana and south of the mountains, keeping an eye open for any guerrilleros who might know where the nearest concentration of French troops was lurking.
Neither squadron was expecting anything from their joint reconnaissance. It was only a month since Masséna had been repulsed at Fuentes de Oñoro and relinquished his command to Marshal Marmont. Lord Wellington was so confident that things would be quiet on the Beira front for several months, that he had taken much of his army with him when he moved to Badajoz.
It was known that a corps under General d’Erlon was detached in New Castille, somewhere north of the Sierra de Morena. This was part of Soult’s Army of the South and no doubt the Marshal would want to have it back in his army when he came back to relieve Badajoz. These forces were of no immediate interest to Roffhack, as they would most likely stay south of the Guadiana if they intended to attempt anything against Wellington.
It looked more and more as if it would be Vere and the other two squadrons who would be in position to face any new French incursions.
* * *
Vere was also relaxed about his reconnaissance. He too regarded Soult as the major threat to Wellington’s siege. He was sure that the marshal would be back eventually when he had gathered enough men together to challenge the allies.
He also knew that Soult’s Army of the South had almost a hundred thousand men, but Andalucia was an enormous area to control and easily a third of those men would be permanently in position to maintain the siege of Cadiz and the containment of Tarifa. Garrisons and sick could easily account for another third.
When he brought twenty five thousand men to the battle of La Albuera, Soult must have reduced the numbers of besiegers and taken the majority of his fighting men away from his eastern frontiers, leaving them to exploitation by Spanish armies in neighbouring Murcia.
Seven thousand Frenchmen had fallen in that last adventure. They could be replaced if General d’Erlon rejoined, but if Soult could get no help from the other French armies; a possibility but an unlikely one; then it was doubtful that he could bring back more than thirty thousand men. Wellington now had over forty thousand allied troops in the area.
As far as Vere was concerned, Soult would burst his breeches to try and relieve Badajoz, but not for the immediate future.
* * *
Major Hagen and Captain Werther with D Squadron had ridden off to the east to make sure that d’Erlon’s corps did not turn up unexpectedly and catch the allies napping. In contrast to the other three squadrons, they were quite expecting to find some signs of French activity. D’Erlon was the general commanding a corps of over twenty thousand men; part of Soult’s Army of the South.
More than half his corps was engaged on garrison duties or was on the sick list, but he had been detached with up to ten thousand men and sent north.
Hagen had no idea why, but he knew that they had still been absent when La Albuera had been fought. The result would very probably have been different if Soult had had another ten thousand men.
The local guerrilleros were able to be of help. They confirmed that a sizeable French army was twenty or thirty miles to the east, moving toward them at foraging speed, rather like a swarm of locusts stripping the country in front of them of every last item of food and forage.
It was as if they knew that they would have to have support that was not yet available and were taking a leisurely approach, making sure that they missed nothing that would sustain them. They were being as thorough as they could possibly be as their army was on the borders of the Estremadura and would need every forage animal and grain of cereal that they could find. After two years in this region, the French armies had reduced this marginally productive area almost to the
status of a desert.
Hagen sent a report back to Vere and moved east to find out more about the advancing ‘locusts’.
* * *
Between the River Guadiana at Badajoz, north to the Tagus at Alcántara, close to the border with Portugal, was sixty miles of mountainous country. In this northern part of the Estremadura, they were not very big mountains, even by English standards, but the soil was nowhere very deep over the rocks and the farmers always had difficulties producing enough food for the few people left living in the region.
Roffhack was hoping to purchase supplies in Alcántara to top up the last deliveries that A and B Squadrons had received by wagon train from Lisbon. He wasn’t optimistic about his chances, but he knew that the French had not yet had the chance to strip the place bare.
After that, he intended to turn east along the south bank of the Tagus and make contact again with Fischer of B Squadron, before returning to the army to report. If he was successful in getting food and wine, he could stay out on reconnaissance for an extra week.
Sergeant Major Grau and his troop were well ahead of A Squadron, looking down into the town and showing particular interest in the bridge over the river that was swarming with uniformed horsemen, moving into the town from the north.
It was a puzzle. He couldn’t decide, based on what he could see of their uniforms, whether they were French or British, but they were too well dressed to be Spanish guerrilleros or even some of their regular units.
Whatever they were, they had no business to be there. Captain Weiss had assured him that no French were within fifty miles and Lord Wellington already had more men idling around Badajoz than could be fed easily.
He sent a message back to report the situation and signalled for his troop to mount up and move down to identify the horsemen. He approached warily, keeping his eyes open for woods, valleys or any place that could be defended if these cavalrymen were hostile and in greater strength than his thirty men when he came up with them.
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