Vera

Vera is a small village on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees. It played an important part in Wellington’s 1813 campaign as it has one of the few bridges over the Bidassoa river. The 20 miles journey from Maya is through the river valley through impressive mountain scenery. It is very similar to Scotland, but with more sun than is usual there.

On 13 August 1813 about 10,000 French troops crossed this bridge as part of an offensive to raise the siege of San Sebastian. The attempt failed and they returned in heavy rain, which dramatically raised the level of the river, making the river unfordable. When they reached the bridge they found it defended by 80 men of the 95^th Rifles under the command of a Captain Daniel Cadoux. He held the bridge for two hours, but died in the action along with 16 of his men. The French forced the bridge, but lost 231 casualties in the process.

I first heard about this gallant action when I read a battle report in Wargamers Newsletter in the early 1970’s. I always remembered it, because my Vera is also my sister’s name. So when I saw a sign for the village I was determined to find the bridge. It proved very difficult to do so, and we were lucky that we found a local who spoke a little English and pointed out the direction of the bridge. It is still in use, but not part of the main road and you would not find it unless you were determined to

Sorauren

The village of Sorauren is easy to find, just drive six miles north on the road to Roncesvalles and you are there. The battlefield is equally easy to locate. The village consists of just one street, with the river Ulzama on the left and “Cole’s ridge” on the right. Jan is sitting on the by the road which leads to the river. Ahead is the French position of “Clausel’s ridge”

Jan is sitting on the left of “Cole’s ridge”. To her right the road to Roncesvalles, along which Cole retreated and Soult arrived. Sorauren is out of sight below the ridge on her left. This position was held by a Portuguese brigade, and when Wellington arrived their welcoming cries of “Douro! Douro! Douro!” caused the cautious Soult to delay his attack and allowed British reinforcements to arrive.

Another photo of Jan on “Cole’s ridge”. This was the scene of the main French attack by six divisions. The French reached the crest of the ridge but were driven back by the familiar British two deep lines which could bring 1200 muskets against the 300 forming the head of the French column.

This photo was taken on the extreme left of “Cole’s ridge”, over looking the village below and the road behind along which the British reinforcements would arrive. The French captured this area, but lost it again to a British counter attack.

This is the bridge over the river Ulzama, with the village on the far bank. The building to the right beside the bridge is where we would later have lunch. The French position of “Clausel’s ridge” is on the left and the British “Cole’s ridge” on the right. It was also where Wellington’s arrived and wrote his famous dispatch.

Jan stands in the same spot where Wellington wrote his hasty orders. The village is not much changed since 1813 and the bridge not at all. The dusty track is no longer a main road, but is easy to find and follow.

We were delighted to find a comfortable inn on the village side of the bridge, beside the river and within sight of the bridge itself. Throughout this holiday we found communication difficult. We spoke no Spanish at all, and none of the locals we met spoke any English. The inn owner was no different. We thought we had ordered an omelet, but were bemused to be served a plate of soup with a fried egg floating in the middle, and a plate of chips. However after our scrambles over the hills we were very hungry and enjoyed the strange meal.

Maya

On 25 May 1813 Marshal Soult attacked the passes of May and Roncesvalles with 80,000 men, with the objective of raising the allied siege of Pamplona. Maya is 25 miles of winding mountain roads from Roncesvalles. The pass (now called Olsondo) is easy to locate and has a good car park. Mount Alcorrunz dominates the whole area, but a wide modern road makes it difficult to orientate modern maps with battle maps.

The Pass of Maya was defended by 6,000 men under the command of Sir William Stewart. He placed Cameron’s brigade at the pass itself and Pringle’s brigade a mile further east. Pringle posted a piquet on Mount Gorospil but most of his brigade was two miles further south in the village of Maya.

He was attacked by 21,000 men under the command of General d’Erlon.

From the pass there is a modern road which runs in the same direction as the Chemin des Anglais, however the original road winds through a wooded area which is quite difficult to find. There are a number of forest tracks which lead through this wooded area, but unfortunately we picked the wrong one to follow



We had spent a very hot day exploring the area, and unfortunately wasted part of the effort following the wrong track through a densely wooded area. We then had to retrace our steps back to the pass and were too tired to try again. This was not due to lack of research prior to our visit, but an example of how difficult it can be to reconcile a modern map with a diagram of a battle.