Battle of Ordal The Battle of Ordal on 12 and 13 September 1813 saw a First French Empire corps led by Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet make a night assault on a position held by Lieutenant General Lord William Bentinck ' s smaller Anglo - Allied and Spanish advance guard . The Allies , under the tactical direction of Colonel Frederick Adam , were defeated and driven from a strong position at the Ordal defile largely because they failed to post adequate pickets . In an action the next morning at Vilafranca del Penedès , the Allied cavalry clashed with the pursuing French horsemen . The actions occurred during the Peninsular War , part of the Napoleonic Wars . Ordal and El Lledoner are located on Highway N - 340 between Molins de Rei and Vilafranca . Arthur Wellesley , Marquess of Wellington ' s triumph at the Battle of Vitoria made Suchet ' s positions in Valencia and Aragon untenable . Accordingly , the marshal withdrew his soldiers from those two places and concentrated them near Barcelona . As the French withdrew , they were followed up by Bentinck ' s army of 28 , 000 Spanish , British , Germans , and Italians . Suchet resolved to strike at Adam ' s advance guard near Ordal with 12 , 000 soldiers while Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen ' s 7 , 000 men advanced from the northeast . After Adam ' s defeat , Bentinck abandoned Vilafranca and fell back to Tarragona . Soon after , he resigned his command . Suchet ' s victory did not salvage the French position in Catalonia . As his troops were steadily siphoned away to defend eastern France , the marshal was forced to retreat to the Pyrenees , leaving behind several garrisons . These were picked off one by one until only Barcelona remained in French hands at the end of the conflict . Background . After the Siege of Valencia ended with a Spanish capitulation on 9 January 1812 , the victorious French army was temporarily halted by the illness of Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet . The withdrawal of troops for Emperor Napoleon ' s planned invasion of Russia made additional conquests out of the question . Suchet , suffering from strategic overstretch , remained fairly quiet that year . On 21 July 1812 , one of his division commanders , General of Division Jean Isidore Harispe drubbed General José O ' Donnell ' s Spanish army at the First Battle of Castalla . This persuaded Thomas Maitland to abandon his amphibious invasion of Catalonia and land his small Anglo - Allied army at Spanish - controlled Alicante instead . That summer and fall , Arthur Wellesley , Marquess Wellington defeated the French at the Battle of Salamanca , captured Madrid , and was subsequently driven back to Portugal after the Siege of Burgos . During these important events Suchet and Maitland remained mostly inactive . After Maitland became ill in September , he was replaced in turn by Generals John Mackenzie , William Henry Clinton , James Campbell , and John Murray , 8th Baronet . The last - named general repulsed Suchet ' s attack at the Battle of Castalla on 13 April 1813 , but the overly cautious Murray withdrew after his victory . At the prompting of Wellington , Murray mounted a sea - borne attack in June . In the Siege of Tarragona , Murray ' s timidity caused him to pass up a chance to conquer the weakly defended port . Fearing relief efforts by Suchet and General of Division David - Maurice - Joseph Mathieu de La Redorte , he ordered a hasty retreat , needlessly abandoning 18 heavy siege cannons . Murray was immediately superseded by Lord Bentinck . Wellington ' s decisive victory at the Battle of Vitoria on 21 June 1813 made it impossible for Suchet to hold onto the provinces of Valencia and Aragon . Severely harassed by Francisco Espoz y Mina ' s guerillas , General of Brigade Marie Auguste Paris abandoned Saragossa on 10 July and fled over the Pyrenees to France . Suchet evacuated the city of Valencia on 5 July and deliberately pulled back to Tarragona , leaving several French garrisons in his wake . Largely untroubled by Bentinck , the French marshal dismantled the fortifications of Tarragona and fell back toward Barcelona . Suchet paused in his retreat at Vilafranca at the end of July . After staying there about one month , the French withdrew to the Llobregat River . Cautiously , Bentick moved forward to occupy the abandoned territory , reaching Vilafranca on 5 September . At length , the British general linked with Francisco Copons y Navia so that he controlled 28 , 000 troops distributed between Tarragona , Vilafranca del Penedès , and Ordal . Battle . Holding 10 , 500 troops at Vilafranca , Bentinck accompanied Frederick Adam ' s 1 , 500 - man Advanced Guard east to the Ordal Cross heights early on 12 September . This position , which blocked a good road , was well known for its defensive strength . The Spanish army built some field works there , which were largely demolished in 1810 . Moving southeast from Sant Sadurni d ' Anoia , Colonel Torres arrived at the Ordal heights with 2 , 300 Spanish troops from General Pedro Sarsfield ' s division . A cavalry patrol was sent east and found no Frenchmen . Before riding back to Vilafranca , Bentinck assured Adam that the position was secure . Adam ' s unit consisted of the 2nd battalion of the 27th Foot , one rifle company each from " De Roll ' s " Swiss Regiment and the 4th Line Infantry Battalion of the King ' s German Legion , one battalion of the " Calabrian " Free Corps , and four pieces of artillery . Torres commanded the " Badajoz " , the " Tiradores de Cadiz " , and " Volunteers of Aragon " Infantry Regiments . Another source substitutes the " Grenadiers of Ultonia " for the " Badajoz " and notes that each Spanish unit had only one battalion each . Adam posted the " Calabrian " Free Corps on his left flank . Four guns were placed across the highway and supported by the two rifle companies and two companies of the 27th Foot . Torres deployed his men in line to the right of the guns . At the far right , Adam placed the remaining eight companies of the 27th Foot . A group of 150 horsemen waited in the rear ; these were from the Brunswick Hussar Regiment . As evening came on , Adam had his men sleep in their battle positions . He neglected his local security by not sending out patrols or picketing the Lledoner bridge , which spanned a deep ravine only in front of the Ordal heights . That evening Suchet started west from Molins de Rei with 12 , 000 troops in the 2nd Division of Harispe , the 3rd Division of General of Division Pierre - Joseph Habert , and cavalry . Harispe ' s division was made up of two battalions each of the 7th , 44th , and 116th Line Infantry Regiments . Habert ' s division comprised two battalions each of the 14th , 16th , and 117th Line Infantry Regiments . Suchet ' s 1 , 750 - strong cavalry contingent included four squadrons each of the 4th Hussar , 13th Cuirassier , and Westphalian Chevau - léger Regiments , plus three squadrons of the 24th Dragoon Regiment . Historian Digby Smith listed General of Division André Joseph Boussart as the cavalry division commander and General of Brigade " Meyers " as his second in command , probably Bernard Meinrad Fridalin Meyer de Schauensee . However , another source states that Boussart died one month earlier . Other evidence suggests that General of Brigade Jacques - Antoine - Adrien Delort led Suchet ' s cavalry at this time . A second French column under General of Division Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen that numbered 7 , 000 men started from Martorell and marched southwest . Like Suchet ' s column , its goal was to attack Bentinck ' s force at Vilafranca . The sources do not give the composition of Decaen ' s force . Suchet left Molins de Rei in the early evening . Marching rapidly , his troops arrived in front of the Ordal position at 11 : 00 PM . To his amazement , he found that the Allies failed to post any pickets . Suchet hustled his troops across the unguarded bridge and moved them uphill toward the drowsy Allies . As the French troops moved forward , telltale noises aroused the interest of a Spanish cavalry patrol , which trotted forward to see what was happening . These horsemen were greeted by a blast of musketry , which awakened Adam ' s men . At the front of Harispe ' s division , General of Brigade Jean Mesclop led the 7th Line to the attack . Halfway up the hill , the 7th Line bumped into an entrenchment held by four Spanish infantry companies . The defenders fell back to a second field work higher up the hillside . After being joined by more Spaniards , these soldiers mounted a counterattack , which briefly pushed back the 7th Line . Joined by the 44th Line , the 7th Line attacked again and rolled over the Spanish redoubt , killing many of its defenders . Suchet fed troops into the fight , sending Habert ' s division to the left and placing Harispe ' s second brigade in support of Mesclop . As the French attack developed , it spread farther and farther to the left to put pressure on the Allied right flank . Thomas Robert Bugeaud , then only a captain in the 116th Line , led his troops across the ravine on a narrow path just to the south of the bridge . This battalion arrived in front of the main body of the 27th Foot . Early in the action , Adam was wounded and handed over command to Colonel Reeves who was later wounded as well . Meanwhile , the Spanish fought well under their commanders , including Colonel Antony Bray of the " Tiradores de Cadiz " and the Grenadiers under Rafael Larruda . However , the weight of the French attack finally flanked and broke the Anglo - Spanish right . As the allied soldiers fled , Suchet launched Delort in pursuit with the 4th Hussars . The Brunswick Hussars momentarily checked the pursuit , but the 4th Hussars managed to overrun and capture all four British guns which had been withdrawn before the end of the fight . Altogether the 4th Hussars rounded up nearly 500 prisoners . After losing very few men in the action , the Calabrians under Colonel Carey retreated to the northwest . During the night , they ran into the head of Decaen ' s column and had to quickly reverse course to the south . After passing behind Suchet ' s advancing column , Carey ' s men reached the coast where they were taken off by Allied shipping , having lost 51 men . Torres ' troops and about 150 men of the 27th Foot made off in the direction of Sant Sadurni and , from there , reached Vilafranca without incident . Result . Spanish casualties numbered 87 killed , 239 wounded , and 132 missing . Adam ' s brigade suffered 75 killed , 109 wounded , and 333 missing . Altogether , the Allies lost 975 men at Ordal . French losses are estimated at about 300 . Another authority states that the French lost 270 men and that the 27th Foot alone suffered 360 casualties . A third source reported far heavier French losses , 171 killed and 600 to 700 wounded . After hearing the news of Ordal and finding that Decaen was bearing down on him from the northeast , Bentinck evacuated Vilafranca . On the opposite side of town , he personally deployed his cavalry as a rear guard . His 770 troopers included two squadrons each of the 20th Light Dragoon s , Brunswick Hussars , and Sicilian Cavalry Regiments , plus one troop of the Foreign Hussar Regiment . Anglo - Allied losses were 25 killed , 69 wounded , and 40 missing for a total of 134 . French casualties numbered 7 officers and 100 men out of 1 , 750 sabers in four regiments . With this action , Suchet ' s pursuit ended . After the battle , Bentinck admitted his defeat in a dispatch to Wellington . He praised the bravery of his British and Spanish soldiers . Then he turned over command to Lieutenant General William Henry Clinton and sailed back to Sicily . After the war , Torres and Bray were decorated for bravery in action . By late 1813 , Suchet ' s forces in Catalonia numbered 46 , 000 men . His field force included General of Division Louis François Félix Musnier ' s 3 , 561 - man 1st Division , General of Brigade Claude Marie Joseph de Valdotte Pannetier ' s 3 , 073 - strong 2nd Division , Mathieu ' s 2 , 373 - man 3rd Division , Habert ' s 3 , 975 - strong 4th Division , General of Division Jean Maximilien Lamarque ' s 4 , 205 - man 5th Division , 2 , 501 cavalry , and 3 , 000 gunners and others . The French had 9 , 493 troops in garrisons at Tortosa , Lleida , and Sagunto , 1 , 605 at Gerona , 1 , 742 at Figueras , 5 , 844 at Barcelona , and 4 , 918 at smaller fortresses . The new commander , Clinton declined to tangle with the wily Suchet . With no action forthcoming , the Anglo - Allied army in eastern Spain was broken up and sent to reinforce Sicily or Wellington ' s army . Meanwhile , Suchet was forced to disband his German units as their states abandoned the French alliance . After Napoleon ordered many of his troops away to defend eastern France , Suchet had only 17 , 000 men left in his field army . He evacuated most of Catalonia except for Barcelona and Figueras . By forging Suchet ' s signature , a rogue staff officer named Juan Van Halen was able to secure the surrender of 1 , 900 troops and the fortresses of Lleida , Mequinenza , and Monzón . Only General of Brigade Louis Benoît Robert at Tortosa was not fooled by the trick . Eventually , Suchet was compelled to fall back to the Pyrenees . By April 1814 , his army counted only 16 , 110 troops . Of these , Lamarque ' s division had 8 , 491 men in 11 battalions , Mesclop ' s brigade numbered 3 , 990 soldiers in seven battalions , the cavalry included 1 , 449 troopers in seven squadrons , and the artillery had 2 , 180 artillerists and others to man 24 guns . By the end , the fortified places had all fallen to the Anglo - Spanish except at Barcelona where Habert maintained a fanatical resistance . Weeks after Napoleon abdicated , Habert was finally persuaded to surrender and the last vestige of French occupation finally flickered out .