The 1/52nd, along with 1/43rd and 1/95th, returned to the Peninsula in June 1809, where they were designated the "Light Brigade", under the command of General Craufurd. Alighting in Lisbon and hearing of the army's engagement with the French, they undertook a forced march to Talavera, arriving mere hours after the battle. The march was an extraordinary achievement, covering 42 miles in 26 hours, at a time when an infantry march of 15 miles a day was standard. Henceforth, the 1/52nd generally remained in advance of the army, as a forward party, a role which was to be theirs throughout much of the war. In February 1810, Portuguese Cazadores were added to Craufurd's brigade, creating the Light Division, the 1/52nd forming a brigade with 1st Cazadores and four companies from the 95th, under Lt-Col Barclay. While holding a forward outpost, the Light Division was involved in the Battle of the Côa, in July 1810, and took part in the Battle of Bussaco, where the Light Division held the left against the main French charge, which they successfully repulsed, inflicting high casualties; 1200 Frenchmen were killed, wounded or captured, while the Light Division suffered only 120 casualties. When Wellington's army retreated back to the Lines of Torres Vedras, late 1810, the Light Division acted as rearguard. The French were unable to breach the Torres Vedras defences, but engaged the British army in a number of small skirmishes, such as those fought by the Light Division, under the temporary command of Sir William Erskine, at Casal Novo – where they unwittingly came upon 11 French divisions in the fog – and Sabugal (April 1811), an engagement of which Wellington later wrote: "I consider that the action that was fought by the Light Division [...] with the whole of the [French] 2nd Corps, to be the most glorious that British troops were ever engaged in."