I Think I Really Do Have an Ulcer

by Geoffrey Watson

  Yew may have noticed that I am American born. There were many at the Admiralty in those days who could not accept that and the fact that I entered the navy in an unconventional way, sponsored by Lord Nelson. Promotion meant that they would never give me a ship to command, and indeed, they never have.”

  He grinned suddenly. Yew could say that when yor face don’t fit, put on a drab coat and try not to be noticed too much.”

  Wellington gave his loud, braying laugh. “From what I have read, that is one ambition where you have been singularly unsuccessful, although I have to admit that you have managed to gather a remarkable number of enemies in high places.”

  “That is true, My Lord. When I think about them, I am grateful that they chose not to be my friends. It is the other reason why I preferred to remain with Cockburn. In those days I was not the model of restraint and rectitude that I am today. I should likely have ended up hanged for assaulting one of the more idiotic senior officers who had more ‘interest’ than brains.

  “You may be right on both counts, although your enemies have found powerful allies in those traditionalists who profess themselves horrified at the way you wage war. It is why so much of what you do is so little remarked upon officially. Your friends do not want to provoke jealousy in our own forces from those who are presently neutral in opinion, but quite unable to match your success.”

  “That sounds as though such commanders are happy if the Hornets get them out of scrapes, as long as none of the glory is taken from them. Strangely enough, I confide that most of my men may not be unhappy with that attitude. The uniform they wear makes them appear slightly mysterious and clandestine and something would surely be lost if our every action became the subject of newspaper discussion.

  On reflection, though, all this does make it more difficult to integrate us into yor army. Perhaps it were better if we reverted to our official title as the Naval Brigade, although even the Admiralty is aware that three quarters of our men do not know a ship from a captain’s barge.”

  Wellington’s expression seemed to indicate that he might be included in that total, but he did make use of the opening that Welbeloved gave him. “That has brought the subject back neatly to the reason for the petty difficulties I have been enduring. The plain fact is, Sir Joshua, that we no longer have a naval brigade. It has grown large enough to become a naval division and the Admiralty has acknowledged this, although they have no way, officially, of providing a divisional commander.

  As you know, a division in the army is commanded by a Major General, which is why Craufurd has now been promoted; having built up the Light Brigade into the Light Division.

  They tell me that the equivalent naval rank is rear admiral and that you cannot be a rear admiral, as you are really too far down the captain’s list even to be a commodore, but for these special circumstances.

  In any case, rear admirals do not command marines. They bring in army officers if they need that level of seniority.

  You cannot then be a rear admiral and the Horse guards cannot make you a major general if you are not in the army.”

  “Surely, My Lord, all this is quite irrelevant. I am not likely to be giving orders to anyone outside the Hornets and even my temporary rank of commodore is not necessary for that purpose. As yew have just observed, regarding my past record, rank is not important to me.”

  “It is, however, important to me, Welbeloved. You are now commanding a division and should hold the rank for such a command. I have too few able commanders of field rank to abandon hope of having another one that I can use in an emergency.

  I made guarded proposals – I don’t like the word threats – to the effect that I was considering turning the Hornets over to the Spanish. Quite impossible of course; they couldn’t afford to pay you, but should certainly make you a full general without any argument.

  The Admiralty has therefore fallen into line and suggested a compromise. They shall create a new, temporary rank of Major General of Marines. I should like you to accept it, even though there is no increase in pay. What do you say?”

  He looked so much the supplicant and had obviously worked very hard to get his way that Welbeloved could not bring himself to deny him. “It would be churlish of me to turn down yor offer, My Lord. I had no great ambitions, other than to do harm to the French cause, when I formed my first platoon of Hornets. Even then, I am unsure whether I was motivated by thoughts of revenge for the murder by the French of my first wife and daughter in Naples, or by being a newly promoted Post Captain without a ship, or indeed any prospect of a ship.

  Without yor support, we should likely have remained an awkward squad of sixty men, irritating the French around the coast and exhorting the guerrilleros to become marginally better robbers and bandits than they already were.

  Now that the Admiralty calls me a major general, it shall not make my subordinates any less insubordinate than they were before. I shall also have to find ways of converting all my companies into frigates, so that they may go out and act as yor eyes and ears in whatever part of Spain yew need to know most about, while yew set about reducing Rodrigo and Badajoz.”

  Wellington looked rueful. “For a while there, Sir Joshua, I was confident that I was ahead of you. At least, I was sure that you had no inkling of your new status.

  Now, in one sentence and without drawing breath, you tell me that you are about to do exactly what I intended to suggest shall be the most useful task you may perform. At the same time, in order to put me at a disadvantage, you take me to sea and introduce me to naval warfare.”

  He let his new major general digest all that and continued with a hint of amusement: “Let us then direct your frigates in their duties. Your German flotilla can remain with Hill. I do not expect any trouble from Soult and his man d’Erlon unless I provoke him and I shall do nothing to provoke him until I am ready to invest Badajoz. Theirs is a waiting and watching duty.”

  His eyes then took on a wicked glint. “With regard to the rest of your fleet, I assume that some may need to be careened to have their bottoms scraped and coppered, but all that you can assemble should proceed: that is the naval term, I think; to the areas occupied by the Armies of the North and Portugal.

  Let them provoke the French to their hearts’ content, but I need to know all about the strength of their forces, where they are garrisoned or deployed, how many are sick, how well they are eating and how many men they must keep stationed to quell local insurgencies. Particular attention must be given to capturing as many messengers as possible for their despatches.

  In short, I wish to know more about the problems facing Marmont and Dorsenne than they know themselves. Is that something that your frigates can do for me, Major General?”

  Welbeloved was quiet for a few seconds before he tried to reproduce the wicked gleam he had noticed in Wellington’s eyes.

  “At the risk of irritating yew more than I usually do, My Lord, I shall tell you what I have planned.

  George Vere, with the German flotilla is to remain anchored on blockade duty around Badajoz. Vere shall consult with General Hill on all proposed harassment of d’Erlon and Soult.

  MacKay and the British flotilla shall return to Santiago del Valle and set up a rota for at least three frigates at a time to harass the French and encourage local guerrilleros in eastern Castille to do the same. That is in most of the territory covered by the guerrilla leader, El Empecinado.

  Major Addenbrooke shall bring the Spanish frigates here. Captain Burfoot has just returned from working with Santocildes and Addenbrooke shall now have four frigates to command. I have jumped Sergeant Major Dai Evans up to captain the new D Company. They shall reorganise and patrol western Castille, León and the area around Salamanca.

  Major Gonçalves also now has a complete flotilla of four frigates, with Brevet Captain Figueredo in charge of the new unit. The Portuguese shall regroup around Oporto for two weeks, before moving into the Asturias and Northern Spain to keep an eye on Dorsenne.

 
All these moves seem to coincide with yor wishes and I came here this evening to seek yor approval before sending them all out. All this, of course, is based on the assumption that the French have shot their bolt for the remainder of the year and cannot concentrate against us again.”

  Wellington drained his glass of robust Portuguese red wine and leaned back in his chair. “I should not wish to amend a single line of your orders, Sir Joshua. It has not escaped my notice, however, that you have ignored the struggle in the south and have taken no account of Suchet and his invasion of Valencia.”

  “Indeed that is so, My Lord. Commodore Cockburn at Gibraltar keeps me informed about French attempts against Cadiz, Tarifa and Gibraltar. I find that whole area has stalemate writ large and do not consider that the Hornets can affect the outcome until yew may need to distract Soult before yew tackle Badajoz.

  I understand that Valencia is a struggle entirely between the French and the Spanish at this time and my only interest is whether Suchet shall be allowed to steal troops from Joseph, Marmont or Dorsenne in order to subdue the province. I had not thought that yor interest should be much different.”

  “Not in the least, at this time. You are quite right. I shall, of course, keep all my options open, but until I am free to invest Rodrigo and Badajoz without interference from Marmont or Soult, any other option is not worth discussing. Rodrigo shall be my first objective, hence my interest in Marmont and Dorsenne.

  They shall not expect me to move until the Spring. I may not be able to do so, but if you and the guerrilleros can force him to disperse his garrisons, he shall need three weeks to concentrate his army against me. Once I begin the investment, the Light Division shall sit across his line of communications. If he does not find out when we are starting, it could gain us another two weeks.

  It took Ney five weeks to reduce the town last year. I am told that the garrison now is only two thousand. If Marmont allows me five weeks without challenge, we shall be inside and the walls shall be repaired against anything they can do.”

  CHAPTER 8

  By late October, as promised, Welbeloved had the Spanish battalion effectively monitoring everything moving into and out of Marmont’s base at Salamanca.

  Gonçalves had moved north of the Cantabrian Mountains into the Asturias and had reactivated the original supply base at Ribadeo.

  The British battalion returned to Santiago del Valle for a reunion with wives, mistresses and the growing numbers of very young children, all living together happily in an ever expanding crèche, ruled over by Isabella Hickson and patronised by her doting father; Tio Pepe, nominal commander of the Spanish battalion, leader of the local guerrilleros, manager of the Condesa’s estates, but only second in command and entirely subordinate to his daughter in the nursery.

  Even the Condesa acknowledged that this was Isabella’s territory and was happy to leave Welbeloved’s two sons in her strict and very capable hands, while she attended to the business of protecting her estate and providing for all her dependants as well as a variable population of Hornets and Wasps.

  It should be mentioned that this large mountain area was only part of the Condesa’s estate. The greater part was presently in the hands of the French-appointed pretender as Conde de Alba, who had gained the recognition of his title by denouncing the Condesa and presenting most of the family treasures and pictures to the Intrusive King Joseph Bonaparte.

  That part of the estate used by the Condesa and the Hornets was very isolated, up in the mountains and almost encircled by the vast bend in the River Alberche. One road in and one road out were easily defended and Tio Pepe was most particular not to draw French attention to the activities that went on there.

  The French must have had suspicions that all was not as it appeared, not least because of the usurper Conde’s complaints, but they had more important things to do than investigate, when there was never any appreciable guerrilla activity close to the stronghold.

  Once the Hornets had been deployed to Welbeloved’s satisfaction, it quickly became apparent that the three battalions of the Naval Division were in much the same position as the French. They had both taken on far too much territory for the numbers of men that were available.

  Welbeloved’s original intention had been to encourage the local bands of guerrilleros to combine their activities with the Hornets and dominate all the countryside between the large towns garrisoned by the French.

  To do so would have meant co-operating with the partisans controlled by Tio Pepe and those of his friend El Empecinado, who between them controlled the guerrilla campaign in large parts of León and Castille.

  Both these commanders now found themselves short of men. The Hornets themselves had recruited well over a hundred from Tio Pepe for their new Third Battalion: naturally the best that were available. El Empecinado had taken the greater part of his command south-east to help resist the French invasion of Valencia. Only the most important garrisons in León and Castille were still attracting guerrilla attention.

  At about this time, Marmont moved his headquarters from Salamanca to Almaraz on the River Tagus. It was a sensible move as the Tagus valley was capable of supporting the number of troops garrisoned there and the pontoon bridge was almost the only communication link between Marmont in the north and Soult in the south. Any threat to Badajoz meant that Almaraz became the only way of uniting their armies.

  Two companies of Avispónes from the Spanish Third Battalion settled themselves on the route to Almaraz, two stayed around Salamanca and Gonçalves sent two companies of Vespãos from his Portuguese Second Battalion from the Asturias to cover the region north of Salamanca.

  All the Hornets then cut their cloth to suit their requirements. Their duties were curtailed and they concentrated on intelligence gathering and highway robbery. They sat astride the main highways between the most important garrisons and intercepted as many imperial despatches as they could.

  The French were already fully aware of the need to escort all such messages in strength. It drained their resources, but they had no option. Two squadrons of cavalry were at grave risk against a company of Hornets and this is where much of their information came from. When, in desperation, convoys of despatches were sent guarded by four squadrons at a time, the Hornets turned their hands to pillaging convoys of arms, ammunition, remounts and even recruits. Anything protected by infantry and cavalry in numbers of less than five hundred, was at risk from only company strength Hornets if a good ambush place could be found.

  Many of the captured despatches were found to have been written in the imperial cypher. These were sent direct to Wellington, whose staff included an expert, self-taught code breaker. The language skills of Captain Pom Bal Li were also of enormous help in this exercise.

  Local despatches between garrisons then brought them news of significant reorganisation. The Army of the North was to restrict itself to north-eastern Spain, while Marshal Marmont acquired three more divisions from General Dorsenne and additional responsibility for the Asturias and León.

  Welbeloved thought about it long and hard. On the one hand, the Army of Portugal had been strengthened by sixteen thousand men. On the other hand, Marmont now had to administer territory that Dorsenne had required more than three divisions to keep subdued.

  It did appear that the move had effectively weakened Marmont’s ability to counter any move by Wellington. In only a few months, the Army of Portugal had changed from a fighting army with a single base at Salamanca and a small garrison at Ciudad Rodrigo, into a largely static army with more than half its strength in garrisons over a vast area from the Asturias in the north, through León and Salamanca, to Almaraz on the Tagus in the very heart of the country.

  Worse was to follow in a few weeks. The French had captured Tarragona in Catalonia in June and with his marshal’s baton, that he had received following that conquest, clutched tightly in his hand, Marshal Suchet had moved on to attempt the conquest of Valencia. Towards the end of December, General Montbrun, the comm
ander of Marmont’s Dragoon Division, was detached with a total of twelve thousand men to go and help him.

  Rumours of Napoleon’s rift with the Russian Tsar were becoming louder and louder, together with stories of whole regiments of Polish, German and other troops leaving the Armies of the North and the South and returning to France.

  Welbeloved’s reaction was to concentrate his First, Second and Third Battalions on every road entering and leaving Salamanca and Ciudad Rodrigo and to take himself back to the Beira Frontier to talk to Lord Wellington.

  * * *

  Arthur Wellesley, First Viscount Wellington looked up from his writing desk as Welbeloved and MacKay entered the room. It was the week after Christmas and an hour after his lordship had finished dinner. It was the time when he normally spent three or four hours writing despatches and generally administering his command.

  “Seasonal greetings, Gentlemen! I thought I should be seeing you about now, Sir Joshua. The captured despatches and general intelligence that you have been providing in abundance paints a completely different picture to what it was only three months ago.

  I cannot believe that Buonaparte has not come himself to deal with us. I have been expecting him almost every month in the past two years and I am told that he has had ample opportunities to do so in between his crushing of the armies of the rest of Europe. I am almost persuaded that he does not care to meet me.

  Now I have had information that corroborates what you have been telling me. He shall soon be moving against the Tsar and is withdrawing thousands of troops from Soult and Dorsenne to swell his armies. What was nigh on impossible for us three months ago is now temptingly beckoning.