Battle of Redinha The Battle of Redinha was a rearguard action which took place on March 12 , 1811 , during Masséna ' s retreat from Portugal , by a French division under Marshal Ney against a considerably larger Anglo - Portuguese force under Wellington . Challenging the Allies with only one or two divisions , Ney ' s 7 , 000 troops were pitched against 25 , 000 - 30 , 000 men . The success of Ney ' s action delayed the Allied advance and bought valuable time for the withdrawal of the main body of the French army . Redinha was the second and most successful rearguard action fought during Masséna ' s retreat from the Lines of Torres Vedras in the spring of 1811 . Having held off the British at Pombal on 11 March , Marshal Ney and the French rearguard had retreated to Redinha . Here he took up an apparently vulnerable position , with Mermet ' s division on a plateau south of the village , and Marchand ' s division north of the village on the far side of the Ancos River , linked by a narrow bridge , but Wellington was aware that he was close to much larger French formations , and proceeded very carefully . Background . By February 1810 Masséna , stalled for six months at the Lines of Torres Vedras , his men famished and demoralized , accepted the advice of his despondent lieutenants and began preparations to extricate the French army from Portugal . With his customary " sang - froid " Masséna drafted orders calling for the army to quit the Tagus abruptly between 4 and 6 March , aiming to secure Coimbra as a base from which to throw bridges over the Mondego River and afford the army a passage to safety . The French pursued a retrograde movement along the Mondego valley — which Masséna had long contemplated , were it not for Napoleon ' s express orders forbidding him to budge from the Tagus — hoping for better foraging country as they exhausted their last reserves of biscuit . Aware that his preliminary measures of channelling wounded or ill men , heavy guns , and large wagons , would alert the British and Portuguese to his intentions , Masséna took measures to forestall an Allied attempt against his lines . In the Tagus valley where the French were established in depth , a handful of bayonets would suffice to keep Wellington at bay , but along the coastal roads , rapid movements might allow the enemy to seize Leiria , Pombal , or Condeixa , cutting the French line of retreat and forcing Masséna south into the Zêzere valley , an inhospitable and dangerous region . By March 5 , every corps in the French army was in motion : a concentration at Punhete under Loison masked the broader movements , Loison feint ing an attempt to force the Tagus . Marshal Ney raced from Tomar towards the heights of Leiria with two divisions ( Mermet and Marchand ) and a cavalry brigade ( Montbrun ) , adding Conroux ' s division on the march and putting some 22 , 000 men on the approach to the sea . Meanwhile , Reynier moved from Santarém to Tomar , descending the heights at Miranda do Corvo and establishing himself on the left bank of the Mondego . Junot would march to Torres Novas , passing Ney , crossing Pombal , and racing on to Coimbra . Loison , after destroying the decoy bridges at Punhete March 7 , joined Ney at Leiria , forming Masséna ' s rearguard . Wellington moves . The Allies stood still between March 4 and 6 , tracking the French manoeuvres and trying to discern Masséna ' s intentions with certainty . To Wellington the apparent French retreat was itself a welcome relief , and the general opted to wait out events rather than risk compromising his advantage with precipitous actions against the enemy ( nor was Wellington eager to try conclusions with a commander as reputed as Masséna , even an apparently beaten Masséna , unless it were on his own terms ) . Unbeknownst to the French , however , several Allied detachments ( largely Portuguese recruits ) had already seized many positions along the Mondego . Consequently , the Allies did not march until the morning of the 6th , with Wellington directing a circumspect and cautious pursuit of Ney . French parties under Montbrun reconnoitred the Mondego the morning of March 11 but found the river , in full flood , impossible to ford , and Coimbra occupied by Portuguese militia under Nicholas Trant The next day , a location was discovered at Pereira , eight miles upstream , where the river might be passed by a set of bridges , providing some 36 hours could be gained for their construction . Pombal . Wellington ' s first check came at the village of Pombal , which Ney initially yielded to the approaching Allied column s without a fight the morning of March 11 . As the British filed into the village , Ney ordered an abrupt about - face and counterattacked with three battalion s , brusquely pushing the enemy from the town and throwing the British columns into disorder , with some troops being driven into the river and drowned . The French battalions then put Pombal to the torch , stalling the Allied pursuit and buying Masséna the crucial hours needed to occupy Coimbra — though , as it turned out , the opportunity was missed . Battle . Initial movements . Wellington advanced his army in three columns , the right made up of Picton and Pack ' s divisions , the left of Erskine ' s , and the centre that of Cole ' s troops , supported by cavalry under John Slade , Wellington attempted to outflank Ney ' s position . When one column closed in , the French attacked with ( depending on the terrain ) musket fire , bayonet or cavalry . Each time the allied columns pressed the French too hard , his troops took the column in the flank and drove it back . Combat of Redinha . Ney ' s rearguard formed a new position on the heights next to the river Soure , overlooking the allies moving across a small plain on one side and the village of Redinha and the Ancos river on the other . His troops formed two rank lines , supported by artillery , skirmishers placed in strategic locations to the front and cavalry positioned further back . When the Light Division , Pack ’ s Portuguese Division and Picton ’ s 3rd Division had been joined by the 4th Division , with the 1st and 6th Divisions close behind , did Wellington begin his attack . The 3rd Division attacked the skirmishers on the heights of the French left , the Light Division attacked those on the right , with Cole ' s troops advancing on the French centre . Picton ' s division succeeded in mastering the heights and the French fell back . The allies followed but were brought in range of all six of Ney ' s guns and the British fell back with heavy losses . A bayonet charge from three small battalions of the 27th , the 59th and all Ney ' s tirailleurs drove the British - Portuguese all the way back to the foot of the heights . On Ney ' s right , the Light Division suffered a similar fate . They managed to eject the French skirmishers posted in the wood but were met and driven back by infantry and cavalry hidden from view . Cole ' s men were unable to make any progress . With both of his flanks driven back , Wellington advanced his centre to attack the position of the French in front . Ney responded with the 25th Light and the 50th of the line , supported by artillery and the 3rd Hussars and the 6th Dragoons . There was a discharge of musketry and artillery , followed by another bayonet and cavalry charge , and the Anglo - Portuguese centre was thrown into confusion . At this point when the allied centre faltered , Ney might have been on the verge of winning a spectacular victory had he been able to more fully engage Mermet ' s division , driving the allies into the valley Arunca . But the Duke of Elchingen was prudent and recalled his troops back to the bridge , and for an hour continued repulsed further assaults on his position , breaking the ranks of the Anglo - Portuguese with intense musket fire . By four o ' clock Ney had broken all the allied assaults , until Wellington rallied his entire army in four lines and advanced them on the French position , again attempting to turn both flanks . Ney , with no reserves left , fired a salvo from his cannon , creating a screen of smoke to conceal the withdrawal of his troops across the river . Redinha was put to the torch and Ney assumed a new positioned on the other side of the Ancos river . Wellington ' s again attempted to turn both flanks but Ney withdrew his rearguard to prevent being trapped , retiring to the village of Condeixa . Aftermath . As a consequence , the Allies were forced to halt and recuperate for a day on the river Soure . They had lost a minimum 205 men , possibly much more owing to the work of the French artillery — French sources put their casualties higher than 1 , 800 — compared to only 229 men for the French . Wellington ' s contemporaries , both French and British , criticized his handling of the battle . An unlikely dissenter was the Baron de Marbot who , as an eyewitness , deemed the battle of no consequence and deplored the false pride of two generals which cost so many brave men their lives with no result . Historian John Fortescue likewise defended Wellington , contending that : Ney has been praised for his remarkable handling of the rearguard . For the loss of 229 men he had held Wellington up for an entire day , giving Masséna the time he needed to force his way across the Mondego River . Wellington himself believed the entire French army was upon him , and was disappointed to discover that it was merely a rear - guard . Unfortunately for the French Masséna failed to take advantage of that chance . Crucially , in the two days bought by Ney , Masséna had not attempted a coup de main against Coimbra , even though Trant ' s rather weak garrison had orders to retire immediately if strongly pressed . At the end of 12 March the French were still to the south of the river , and in danger of being trapped by Wellington . The only alternative route open to Masséna was to retreat east towards the Spanish border , and the only road available led east from Condeixa . With the British close to that village , on the morning of 13 March Masséna began the long costly retreat back into Spain which marked the complete failure of his great invasion of Portugal . The next action would be at Condeixa , followed by the battles of Casal de Novo and finally , Foz de Arouce .