Busaco 27th September 1810: Turns 9 - 16

JUNOT'S ASSAULT

Turn 9

Massena decides it is now time to commit Junot's Corps to the assault. As much of the allied army remains out of view on the reverse slope, a dice roll determined where Junot commits his assault. The result was the northern end of the ridge to the right of Ney. All orders are passed successfully and the Corps begins its move.

Turn 10

As Junot's Corps closes the gap they begin to come under fire from 2 allied batteries on the ridge.

Turn 11

Junot's mass of skirmishers begin to engage with their opposite numbers with neither side coming out on top. 

Continued -

Turn 12

Junot's Corps is now almost ready to launch their assault.

Turn 13

Junot orders a general advance.

Turn 14

As Junot's advance closes on the ridge a couple of battalions falter as they are hit by cannon balls.

Turn 15

Skirmishers are recalled and the French columns come under fire from musketry on the ridge for the first time.

Turn 16

Junot's columns begin the long slow climb to the ridge and are met with an eruption of fire from across the allied line. Junot has decided to maintain a slow steady pace to maintain order but at what cost? 2 battalions in particular suffer badly with heavy casualties but their morale holds so far.

NEY'S ASSAULT

Turn 9

With Junot attacking to his right, Ney redeploys Mermet's division, which had been supporting his two attacking divisions, towards the centre of the allied line linking up with Reynier's Corps. This also had the effect of relieving some of the congestion on the spur.

Maucune's Brigade makes another attempt at assaulting the ridge with one battalion, the 2/69th Line, successfully making contact with the Portuguese 2/1st Line of Pack's Brigade (middle left). Once again the allied line held forcing the French battalion to retreat with heavy losses.

2 battalions of Maucune's Brigade, the 6th Light battalions, failed to rally this turn and fled the field.

Turn 10

Ney recalls his battalions to reform in preparation for a new assault using fresh troops. 3 battalions attempting to extricate themselves suffer badly from sustained musket fire causing them to flee the field. 2 of those are from Maucune's Brigade. That brigade has now virtually ceased to exist with just one battalion remaining. The brigade, such as it is, fails its morale test and will break the next turn.

Turn 11

As Ney's Corps continue to reform their skirmishers also engage the British and Portuguese who have been deployed from the ridge as a counter.

Turn 13

Turns 12 and 13 Ney awaits Mermet's 2nd Division (left of photo) to get into position in the hope of launching a co-ordinated attack.

Turn 14

Ney is close to the point where he launches his charge, particularly as Junot to his right is about to draw level with his own corps.

An ADC arrives in Sula to take over command of Ferey's Brigade.

Turn 15

Ney decides now is the time and orders his forces on the Spur and in Sula to begin their renewed assault. As with Junot, the allies open fire on the advancing columns inflicting several casualties.

Turn 16

A view along the length of Ney's Corps linking with Reynier's Corps near the village of San Antonio.

Loison and Marchand's Divisions begin their mass attack and as with Junot, keep a steady pace as they are raked by musket volleys from the ridge. 

Mermet's Division begins their attack with Merle's depleted Division linking with them to the north of San Antonio. Coleman's Portuguese Brigade (bottom right) arrives in the nick of time.

REYNIER'S ASSAULT

Turn 9

An overview of Reynier's assault.

Merle's Division fails to receive its change of order and continues to hold off resuming his assault. However, he chooses to widen is front deploying Graindorge's Brigade alongside that of Sarrut.

The division's skirmishers enjoy success inflicting more casualties on Thompson's RA battery taking its losses beyond 50% and as a result it disperses from the field. 

Arnaud's Brigade struggled to make headway on the right with many battalions having to reform. Foy though had another chance of a breakthrough. The 2/70th Line ploughed into the 1/8th Portuguese Line battalion of Eben's Brigade rolling a double '6'. They captured the Portuguese battalion's colour and pushed it back with heavy loss (middle left of photo).

Turn 10

Merle change of order succeeds and his division is ordered to launch a fresh assault.

Half of Foy's Brigade are ordered to hold the village rather than launch fresh fruitless attacks.

The 2/70th Line struggled to follow up its success and was replaced by Arnaud's 3/47th Line who charged the Portuguese 2/8th Line who had been unformed by their pushed back 1st battalion. The 2/8th Line lost their nerve and retreated before impact. 3 French battalions were now on the verge of occupying a section of the ridge (middle of photo).

Seeing the threat, Barnes ordered his lead battalion, the 3/1st Line to form a line. It passed its formation test and successfully completed the manoeuvre (middle right). His brigade's remaining battalions formed attack columns.

At the top of the photo the Portuguese infantry continued to hold off Arnaud's columns. 

Turn 11

3 battalions from Merle's Division lead the attack on the ridge. They take the risk of becoming unformed charging at full speed! 2 battalions succeed in maintaining their formation but only one punches through the wall of musket balls. The 2/36th Line suffer heavy casualties during the climb making contact with the Portuguese 1/9th Line. Champlemond joins the melee to stiffen Portuguese resolve and they comprehensively defeat the French battalion. The 2/36th flee the field having lost more than 50% of their strength.

Another attempt was made to gain the ridge with the 1/17th Light battalion advancing along the road up the slope. The increasingly worn 1/45th Line initially faltered as the French battalion struck them but redeemed themselves in the ensuing melee sending them back down the slope with heavy loss.

The 4/70th Line takes up the reigns and charges the unformed 1/8th Portuguese Line (bottom of photo) hoping to keep the momentum going and create a firm foothold on the ridge. It is hoped the 3/47th Line of Arnaud's Brigade charges the the British 3/1st Line (upper middle of photo). Arnaud though is carrying an injury restricting him to ordering one charge per turn which is focussed elsewhere. It therefore relies on battalion initiative to launch the charge which it fails.

This is bad news for the 4/70th who now cross the ridge facing flanking fire from the 3/1st Line and the unformed Portuguese battalion, the target of their charge. Although some of the British volley hits the 3/47th (2 hits) a total of 6 is inflicted on the 4/70th. The result being that the charging French battalion suffer a catastrophic loss of morale and flee the field. The photo shows the aftermath.

Arnaud selects one battalion to make a charge on the ridge held by Spry's Portuguese Brigade with 3 more testing for battalion initiative charges. A 5 or 6 is required and incredibly all 3 pass! 1 battalion charges the 1/15th Line with a block of 3 more charging the 2/3rd Line. Only 1 succeeds in making contact with the 2/3rd (right of photo). Spry, seeing the 2/3rd falter in the face of the charge, joined the battalion for the melee.

The French battalion rolls a double '6' but Spry luckily escapes with his horse shot from beneath him. The Portuguese battalion is not so fortunate and routs with heavy loss. A brigade test generates a faltering result turning the rout into a dispersal from the field.  

Turn 12

Merle's Division makes another attempt on the ridge but fails to make any headway. Worse was to come. 2 of Sarrut's battalions are retreating and attempt to rally. Sarrut even joins one of them but to no avail. Both flee the field and with only 2 of his 8 battalions left, the inevitable happens and they fail a brigade morale check. 

Graindorge's Brigade is still in good shape but his 4 battalions are going to struggle to make up the shortfall.

The British 3/1st Line fixes bayonets and lead by Barnes charge the column of the 3/47th Line (middle of photo). The French battalion stands firm fighting the British to a draw. More French battalions are rushed onto the ridge hoping to exploit the breach in the allied line.

Top right, Spry's Portuguese battalions continue to hold off the French columns. 

Turn 13

An overview of Reynier's assault.

Eben moves his two regular Portuguese battalions to join up with his Lusitanian Legion (top right).

As the melee continues between Barnes' 3/1st Line and the French 3/47th Line, Arnaud orders the 1/47th Line to join in. The latter moves into contact and the now heavily outnumbered British battalion is in a fight for its life. A herculean effort sees the 3/1st Line prevail overturning both French battalions causing them to retreat with heavy loss.

Foy orders the 2/70th Line to charge the Portuguese 21st Line which promptly routs (bottom left). Rather than pursue the routing troops and risk becoming isolated, the French battalion wheels to threaten the rear of Mackinnon's 1/74th Line. The latter about-faces to meet the threat but is unable to fire for fear of hitting the column of the 1/9th Line that has moved to counter the French threat (middle bottom).

Graindorge prepares his brigade for another attempt on the ridge.

Turn 14

In the previous photo you will have seen the French 2/70th Line about to hit the the British 1/74th Line. Unfortunately for the French the British had the initiative this turn allowing the 1/9th Line of Barnes' Brigade to charge the rear of the French column. With no time to respond the French routed but were still caught by the 1/9th. In the middle of the photo you will see the result which caused the French battalion to flee the field.

This magnified the problems of the retreating 1st and 3rd battalions of Arnaud's 47th battalion (right of photo) who failed to rally and also fled the field. This triggered 2 brigade morale checks, those of Foy and Arnaud, both of which narrowly passed.

The one bright spot for Arnaud was the charge of the 4/47th Line who ploughed into the Portuguese 1/15th Line of Spry's Brigade. The Portuguese were routed with heavy loss (middle left of photo).

Graindorge's attack had been cancelled and an immediate withdrawal order was made. They, and the survivors of Sarrut's Brigade, will connect with the arriving Mermet's Division for a renewed assault on the ridge. 

Turn 15

Heudelet's Division is perilously close to extinction with 2 more battalions failing to rally and fleeing the field, one each from Arnaud's and Foy's Brigades. Despite this, and against the odds, both brigades pass their morale tests, albeit only just.

Barnes orders the 2/38th Line to charge the last remaining French battalion on the ridge but the British battalion loses its nerve before contact and falters. It was pretty much a wasted effort anyway as the French battalion, the 4/47th Line of Arnaud's Brigade, had been ordered to withdraw.

The allied line uses the respite to address its line preparing for any further attacks.

Turn 16

The 2 surviving battalions of Foy's Brigade holds San Antonio.

Arnaud's last 3 battered battalions pull back to form a defensive line supported by Soult's cavalry.

I will finish this segment with a few additional photos showing the situation across the battlefield.

Reserve cavalry are not much use for the assault on the ridge and are therefore held back to support the infantry should the worst happen.

Another view of Ney's and Junot's assaults.

An overview of the battlefield at the end of turn 16.

I will cover the climax of the battle in the next post. This will be the biggest test of the allied line as two entire corps attempt to take the ridge.