Battle of the Nive The Battles of the Nive ( 9 – 13 December 1813 ) were fought towards the end of the Peninsular War . Arthur Wellesley , Marquess of Wellington ' s Anglo - Portuguese and Spanish army defeated Marshal Nicolas Soult ' s French army in a series of battles near the city of Bayonne . Unusually , for most of the battle , Wellington remained with the Reserve delegating command to his senior Lieutenant - Generals Rowland Hill and John Hope . Background . Wellington ' s army had successfully pushed the French army out of Spain , over the Pyrenees , and into south - west France . After his defeat at Nivelle Marshal Soult fell back to a defensive line south of the town of Bayonne along the Adour and Nive rivers . The rivers and the Bay of Biscay near Bayonne form a rough Greek letter Pi ( π ) . The left vertical leg is the coast , the right vertical leg is the Nive and the crossbar is the Adour . Bayonne is located where the Nive joins the Adour . Initially , Wellington ' s army was confined to the area between the Bay of Biscay and the Nive . To gain room to manoeuvre , the British general had to establish his army on the east bank of the Nive . Wellington ' s dilemma was that by separating two wings of his army , he would leave himself open to defeat in detail . Soult , a wily strategist , understood this and tried to take advantage of the situation . By moving the French army through the fortified city of Bayonne , Soult could easily switch his army from one bank of the Nive to the other . Despite poor weather , Hill led five Anglo - Portuguese divisions ( 2nd , 3rd , 6th , Portuguese and Pablo Morillo ' s Spanish Divisions ) across to the east bank of the Nive near Ustaritz on 9 December . Meanwhile , the remainder of the British force under Hope ( 1st , 5th and Light Division s , Thomas Bradford and Alexander Campbell ' s independent Portuguese brigades , Lord Aylmer ' s British brigade and one brigade of the 7th Division ) launched diversionary attacks towards Bayonne on the west bank of the Nive . Wellington ' s Reserve included the 4th and 7th Divisions . About 630 casualties were suffered in these operations . Soult launched a counter - attack with eight divisions against Hope the following day , and despite several fierce actions the British line held until reinforced by more troops coming up from Saint - Jean - de - Luz . The right flank of Hope ' s line was held by one brigade of the 7th Division at the bridge of Urdains . Charles Alten ' s Light Division defended the center near Bassussary . The left , under John Wilson , was held by Bradford and Campbell ' s independent Portuguese brigades north of Barroilhet . The ravine - filled terrain forced the French into these three corridors of attack . The 5th Division lay three miles to the rear while the 1st Division and Lord Aylmer ' s independent British brigade were ten miles away . Though Wellington ordered the line to be fortified , Hope failed to do this . Ignoring the impregnable position at the bridge of Urdains , Soult committed five divisions under Bertrand Clausel against Bassussary and three divisions led by Honoré Charles Reille against Barroilhet . The four divisions leading the attack were fresh while the supporting troops were tired from skirmishing with Hill ' s troops . The Light Division ' s outpost line alertly detected the coming attack , though 50 men were cut off and captured . The French advance soon came upon the ridge of Arcangues , topped by a chateau and a church . After one attack was beaten off with ease by the 4 , 000 men of the Light Division , Clausel settled down to a futile artillery bombardment and probing attacks against the very strongly built structures . Aylmer ' s brigade arrived about 2 pm . The picket line on Hope ' s left flank was quickly gobbled up by Reille ' s attack and 200 men captured . For the most part , the Portuguese held sturdily , but one unit was broken by French cavalry . Fighting their way back to Barroilhet , the Portuguese held onto the village and awaited reinforcements . The 5th Division arrived , but due to a staff blunder , was low on ammunition . Soult sent Eugene - Casimir Villatte ' s Reserve Division from Bayonne and one division from Clausel to assist Reille ' s attack . After hours of heavy fighting , he ordered one last charge . This attack drove to the mayor ' s house of Barroilhet , the French skirmishers wounding and nearly capturing Hope . At this point , the 1st Division came up and Soult called off his attacks soon afterward . That night Soult ' s army was weakened when two Nassau battalions , having learned the result of the Battle of Leipzig the previous month , went over in their entirety from the French to the Allies . A third Nassau battalion was intercepted and disarmed . This event subtracted 2 , 000 infantry from the French army . Both sides lost around 1 , 600 troops before Soult called off the assault . Of these , the Anglo - Allies lost 500 captured , the largest total of any one day of fighting under Wellington . Clausel turned in an unusually uninspired performance on 10 December . Sporadic clashes occurred over the next two days though neither side was willing to initiate a full - scale attack . Battle of St . Pierre . On the night of 12 December , a temporary pontoon bridge over the Nive at Villefranque was washed away . This isolated Hill ' s 14 , 000 men and 10 guns on the east bank of the river , just as the French were reorganizing for an assault . The nearest bridge was at Ustaritz , which meant that the Reserve had to march three times farther than if the washed - out bridge had been intact . Seizing his opportunity , Soult rapidly switched six divisions and 22 guns to the east bank of the Nive and attacked Hill . Though delayed by congestion at the bridge over the Adour , Soult ' s attack against the British positions on the ridge around Saint - Pierre - d ' Irube was powerful enough for one British lieutenant colonel to flee the field , taking his battalion ( 1 / 3rd " Buffs " Foot ) with him . Soult outnumbered Hill ' s corps by three - to - one . Defending a line between Petit Mougerre and the Nive , the Allied corps held on for hours in a bitter fight . The capable Hill performed superbly , feeding in his few reserves with skill and exhorting his troops . However , after the arrival of reinforcements under Wellington , the French troops refused to continue the attack . The French near - mutiny forced Soult to reluctantly retreat into Bayonne , having lost 3 , 000 men against Anglo - Portuguese losses of 1 , 750 . The Allied army commander rode up to his subordinate and congratulated him , " Hill , the day ' s your own . " It was on this day that General Hill was heard , for only the second time in the entire war , to use profanity . When Wellington heard about it he remarked that " " if Hill has begun to swear , they all must mind what they are about " " . Aftermath . Storms and torrential rain precluded any further action for two months . Eventually , between 23 and 27 February , Wellington cut off Bayonne by crossing the mouth of the Adour west of the city . Leaving Hope to seal up the 17 , 000 - strong French garrison , Wellington relentlessly pursued Soult and the rest of his army to the east . He turned the French marshal ' s flank at the rivers Joyeuse , Bidouse and Gave d ' Oloron before Soult and Wellington fought the Battle of Orthez . Guerrillas . Wellington greatly feared an outbreak of guerrilla warfare against his soldiers by the French people . He was mindful that after the Battle of Nivelle , Spanish troops had indulged in plundering French civilians . Accordingly , he took pains to send most of his Spanish units back to their home country , rightly concerned that they would inflict the same atrocities on French civilians that their own had suffered from Napoleon ' s armies . At first , only Pablo Morillo ' s division was brought forward because it depended on the British payroll and supply train . As in Spain , Wellington harshly punished any British soldiers caught marauding . As it happened , the French troops , hardened by years of plundering foreign civilians , began to despoil their own citizens . Actually , despite their French citizenship , the inhabitants south and east of Bayonne were Basque people for the most part , often unable to speak and / or understand French as it had been the case before crossing the River Bidasoa . Soult tried to crack down on looting , hanging offenders and even shooting a much - decorated captain , but he was unable to stop it . As one historian noted , " The civilians soon came to the conclusion that only a swift allied victory could save their countryside . " Consequently , Wellington had little to fear from French guerrilla action . Commentary . Soult ' s strategy was masterful . Twice he fell upon isolated allied forces in greatly superior strength . As usual , his tactical direction left a lot to be desired . Wellington can be criticized for not anticipating Soult ' s moves and being away from the critical point in both battles . Wellington spoke truthfully when he later said , " I will tell you the difference between Soult and me : when he gets into a difficulty , his troops don ' t get him out of it ; mine always do . " Nomenclature . The action of 9 – 12 December is called The Battle of the Nive , while Hill ' s defensive battle of 13 December is known as The Battle of St . Pierre , while the entire period is collectively referred to as The Battles of the Nive in our source .