page_title: Battle of Tolosa (1813)
section_title: Action 26 June
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Tolosa (1813) / Battle / Action 26 June
context_page_description: The Battle of Tolosa saw a British-Portuguese-Spanish column led by Thomas Graham attempt to cut off a retreating Franco-Italian force under Maximilien Sébastien Foy. Assisted by Antoine Louis Popon de Maucune's division, which fortuitously appeared, the French parried Graham's initial attacks then slipped away when threatened with envelopment. The town of Tolosa is located about 20 kilometres south of San Sebastián. The clash occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the wider Napoleonic Wars.
  In the late spring of 1813, the Allied army of Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington launched a powerful offensive designed to drive King Joseph Bonaparte's Imperial French army from Spain. On 21 June, Wellington's army inflicted a decisive defeat on Joseph's troops at the Battle of Vitoria. As the defeated French armies withdrew toward the Pyrenees, Wellington tried to intercept Foy's column in the north and Bertrand Clausel's forces in the south. Neither Foy nor Clausel had fought at Vitoria. Graham caught up with Foy's column, but after some fighting, the French got away.
context_section_description: Foy commanded about 16,000 troops at Tolosa. These were Foy's division (3,000), Maucune's division (3,000), Saint Paul's Italians (1,500), Bilbao and Durango garrisons (3,000), Tolosa and nearby garrisons (2,500) and Vincent Martel Deconchy's Army of the North brigade (2,000). Maucune's 5th Division included two battalions each of the 15th, 66th, 82nd and 86th Line Infantry Regiments. Deconchy's brigade consisted of two battalions of the 64th Line Infantry, one battalion of the 22nd Line, four companies of the 34th Line and two companies of the 1st Light. Foy's 1st Division comprised the same units as it was in April. Saint Paul's brigade was made up of the same units as Palombini's division, but without the cavalry. The composition of Rouget's brigade was not stated.
  The main highway to France runs to the northeast through Tolosa. The town lies in the Oria River valley and is surrounded by high hills. Since the town was on a main communication route, the French had buttressed Tolosa's ancient walls with blockhouses and protected the town gates with palisades. Foy placed Deconchy's brigade in Tolosa. Michel Louis Joseph Bonté's brigade and the Italians held a position southeast of town behind a stream. Foy's second brigade defended the hill of Jagoz, closer to the town. Rouget's brigade held the high ground on the west bank of the Oria. Maucune's division was on the main highway behind the town, in reserve. Foy's position was strong against an enemy attacking it along the highway. Any outflanking attempt would be time-consuming.
  Graham saw that Foy's position must be outflanked. Directly facing the town on the main highway were the bulk of the 1st Division, followed by Pack's brigade and Girón's divisions. Longa and Porlier were sent on a wide sweep to the right via the villages of Altzo and Gaztelu to cut the road to Pamplona, which emerges from the east side of Tolosa. Bradford's brigade, supported by the KGL line infantry from 1st Division, was sent on a shorter hook to the right. One of Pack's battalions and the light infantry from Girón's 3rd Division were sent on a sweep to the left in order to attack the west side of town. Graham also asked Gabriel de Mendizábal Iraeta and his Vizcayan guerillas to move east from Azpeitia and block the main highway north of Tolosa. The Allied center would wait until the flank attacks were well underway.
  Bradford's attack against Bonté's brigade, which was led by elements of the 4th Caçadores loaned from Pack's brigade, was able to quickly gain a foothold across the stream. Foy later blamed Bonté for not keeping a good watch and for disobeying orders. Bonté's first counterattack failed to eliminate the foothold so he threw in the Italian brigade as well. Bradford's attack stalled; according to Graham, the Portuguese brigade did not fight well after its opening assault. On the left, the Spanish-Portuguese column was blocked by a sheer cliff face. Late in the afternoon, Graham heard the far-away sounds of musketry from Longa's division on the right and Mendizábal's guerillas on the left. The British commander ordered the three KGL line infantry battalions on the right-center to attack, while the two KGL light infantry battalions assaulted Tolosa, supported by the Guards brigade and Girón's 3rd Division.
  Led by its commander Christian Friedrich Wilhelm von Ompteda, the 1st KGL Light Battalion tried to storm the Vitoria gate on the south side of town. They were stopped by intense musket fire and fell back into a nearby convent. Again, Ompteda led his soldiers forward but fire from the walls and crossfire from the blockhouses repulsed the second charge. The battalion sustained losses of 63 killed and wounded in the abortive assaults. The French soldiers under Bonté and Saint Paul were hit in the left flank by the KGL line battalions and pushed back against the Pamplona gate on the east side of town. Unable to enter Tolosa because the gate was blocked by fortifications, the French and Italians broke out of the trap and streamed to the north along the base of the town wall. The pursuing K
caption: Thomas Graham
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