page_title: Battle of Orthez
section_title: Action
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Orthez / Battle / Action
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Portrait du général Maximilien Sébastien Foy portant l'ordre du croissant turc, par Horace Vernet.
context_page_description: The Battle of Orthez saw the Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese Army under Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington attack an Imperial French army led by Marshal Nicolas Soult in southern France. The outnumbered French repelled several Allied assaults on their right flank, but their center and left flank were overcome and Soult was compelled to retreat. At first the withdrawal was conducted in good order, but it eventually ended in a scramble for safety and many French soldiers became prisoners. The engagement occurred near the end of the Peninsular War.
  In mid-February, Wellington's army broke out of its small area of conquered territory near Bayonne. Moving east, the Allies drove the French back from several river lines. After a pause in the campaign, the western-most Allied corps surrounded and isolated Bayonne. Resuming their eastward drive, the remaining two Allied corps pushed Soult's army back to Orthez where the French marshal offered battle. In subsequent operations, Soult decided to abandon the large western port of Bordeaux and fall back east toward Toulouse. The next action was the Battle of Toulouse.
context_section_description: The morning of 27 February 1814 saw a light frost, but the ground was not frozen. At 8:30 a.m. the 4th Division assaulted Taupin's soldiers at Saint-Boès. The initial rush seized the church which stood on a separate hill. The brigade of Robert Ross swept through Saint-Boès but was repulsed by the battery on the Plassotte knoll. When his soldiers fell back into the village, Cole brought up a KGL battery to duel with Taupin's guns. The battery immediately became the target of the French batteries on the Plassotte and Luc knolls; two guns were knocked out and Captain Frederick Sympher was killed. Cole deployed José Vasconcellos' Portuguese brigade on Ross' right and sent his line forward again. The result was a second repulse in which Ross went down with a wound. The subsequent counterattack by Taupin's troops recovered part of Saint-Boès. For a time there was a lull as the two sides fired away at each other from the houses, but Vasconcellos' men had no cover and began to edge backward. Wellington sent over the 1st Caçadores Battalion from the Light Division. Cole's line collapsed just as the reinforcement arrived. Taupin recovered the entire village and drove the Allies back to their starting point. Ross' brigade suffered 279 casualties and Vasconcellos' brigade lost 295.
  Picton's probing attacks against the French center also met stiff resistance. Picton split the 3rd Division, sending Thomas Brisbane's brigade up the right spur toward Foy's position and Keane's brigade up the left spur toward Darmagnac's division. Keane was supported by Manley Power's Portuguese brigade from 3rd Division. Brisbane was followed up the right spur by Clinton's 6th Division. Since the valleys between the spurs were deep and muddy, both advances were restricted to narrow fronts. Picton's skirmishers quickly drove back the French outposts. When the leading brigades came under accurate artillery fire from the Escorial and Lafaurie knolls, Picton held back his formed troops and reinforced his skirmish line to seven British light companies, three 5th/60th Foot rifle companies and the entire 11th Caçadores Battalion. This heavy skirmish line moved forward until it came into contact with Soult's main defense line, but it was unable to press any farther. For two hours, Picton waited for Beresford's attack to make progress as the two sides skirmished.
  Wellington quickly changed his plans after seeing his flank attack fail. He converted his holding attack with the 3rd and 6th Divisions into a head on assault. The new assault began around 11:30 am. The British commander sent every available unit against the French right flank and center. He held back only 2/95th Foot and 3/95th Foot, the Portuguese 3rd Caçadores Battalion and the 17th Line Infantry Regiment from the Light Division. The brigades of Ross and Vasconcellos were withdrawn and replaced by the 7th Division. The struggle for Saint-Boès broke out anew when Walker's division and William Anson's brigade of 4th Division attacked, supported by two British artillery batteries firing from the church knoll. Four battalions attacked in the center led by the 6th Foot. Two battalions were deployed to the left and John Milley Doyle's Portuguese brigade was on the right. Taupin's tired soldiers, who had been fighting for about four hours, were driven back behind the Plassotte knoll where they rallied.
  When it advanced, Brisbane's brigade came under artillery fire that caused many casualties. The brigade finally reached some dead ground where the guns could not hit them, but French skirmishers began picking off the soldiers. After some urging by Edward Pakenham, Brisbane continued the attack. The 1/45th Foot fought its way close to the top of the ridge where Joseph François Fririon's brigade of Foy's division held the ridgeline. On the left of Brisbane's brigade, the 1/88th Foot had two companies guarding the divisional artillery battery as it began pounding the French line. Soult spotted the threat and ordered a squadron of the 21st Chasseurs-à-Cheval to charge. The cavalry overran the two companies, infli
caption: Maximilien Foy
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