THE "DIE HARDS" AT ALBUERA.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 377, 26 April 1915, Page 10

THE "DIE HARDS" AT ALBUERA.

; r >'*s,' . SOLDIER'S LETTER OF 100 YEARS AGO. DISCOVERY IN THE ROYAL » ARCHIVES. • Mr John Forteneue, Librarian and Deputy Archivist at Windsor Castle and Historian of the British Army, lately .discovered among the Royal Aril'( chives an account of the Battle of Albuera, written on the field by Ensign B.Hobliouse, of the 07th Regiment. The London "Times" received his Majesty's gracious permission to publish this historic document, the text of which. is as folliws Field of Battle before. Alburah (sic), May 17, 1811. My ilear Father, —I have to thank God for iiiy preservation during one of the most severp actions that the oldest officers on the field ever experienced. I have not much time to give you an account of the action, nor, indeed, have I it in my power to mention any further than, what happened to our own regiment. Our line, consisting of about 6000; British and as many Portuguese upon our left, was formed in the rear of the small village of Alburali, with a rivulet in our front. About 6 in the morning 10,000 Spaniards under Blake and i&allasteros formed upon our right. About 8 the french (sic) .made their appearance from, an extensive corkwood some distance from the village, advancing in massy columns upon 1 the right of the line. Some large columns of their Artillery with Cavalry pushed forward to menace an attack on the bridge, which was directly in front of our Centre; but the •whole weight of their infantry fell upon the Spaniards on our right. To with-; stand this the Spaniards were not suffi j cient; the British were called upon for their support, which was not long in arriving. General Cole's and Stewart's diwsions marched to their relief in open column (the Whole of them, I believe, like ourselves) during one of the most tremendous and destructive fires that has ever been witnessed.

What I mention at present is particularly of our own Brigade [Houghton's —viz., l/29th, l/57th, l/48tli]. During our advance in column the incessant 'arid well-directed fire of the french artillery mowed down many of our poor fellows. Of course our object was, and should have been sooner, to deploy into line/ which we did about 20 yards in the rear of the right of a small body of Spaniards, who were supporting and returning the enemy's fire with the greatest bravery. We immediately passed - in front of them, and received a most raking and continued cross-fire of musketry from a large body of thy Enemy's -*> infantry*. whose heads were scarcely exposed above the brow of a hill. At this time qur poor fellows dropped around lis in every direction'. In the activity of the officers to keep the men firm, and to supply them with the Ammunition of the fallen men, .you could scarcely avoid treading on the dying and the dead. But all was still firm. In passing the Spaniards the different regiments rof our brigade were separated and fought alone during the remainder of the action. Tho' alone, our fire never slackened, nor were the men the least disheartened. Tho' by closing to the right we appeared to be no more than a company, we still advanced and fired; and the Spaniards moved upon the left "with the greatest bravery.

A Four Hours' Engagement. Just before this, our colonel, major, every captain, and 11 subalterns fell; our King's colours were cut in two; our regimental ones had 17 balls through them, many companies were without officers, and as the light company was next to me, I could not do otherwise than take the command of it, which I did, until it was my turn to take up the shattered colours. After an engagement of at least four hours (which was the time our regiment was actually engaged) a general shout passed down the lines, lind immediately after a cry of " they run, they run." Just as we mounted the heights from which they had fought we saw them running over the plain in the greatest disorder. Marshal Beresford passed us at the time, and ordered us to halt; upon which we drew up, and a shall that was thrown from a great distance blew up the horse of our last field officer, and wounded him slightly. The French artillery, which was covering their retreat, annoyed us most dreadfully on the height; and wo went under the brow to count our numbers. This was indeed a lamentable sight; we entered the field with three field officers, seven captains, 19 subalterns, and 572 men; we appeared on the field, one field officer, who was wounded, six subalterns, two of whom were slightly Wounded, the adjutant without his horse, and 118 men. Among all the in the regiment, another and ■ itoyself were the only ones who had not gome spratch gr shot through their clothes.

We were in vain looking for some liolo to show to our brother officers; our anxiety to find one, and our want of success created a laugh against us. Were we not fortunate, my dear father, or rather can we be sufficiently thankful to Divine Providence which preserved us during one of the most dreadful fires of shot, shells, and musketry that the heroes of Egypt, Maida, and j Talavera, who were with us, ever wit--5 aessed? In the commencement our general of brigade, Houghton, was killed; our general, of division, Stewart, was wounded; our brigade, wMch went into action ao strong, returned commanded by a. junior captain; , and our regiment was commanded by a young lieutenant. ! Scenes on the Battlefield. In this situation, as you may suppose, we could do no more; the Portuguese troops, which had not yet been engaged, were brought up in our place, and appeared firm and ready for fresh attack; while the light troops skirmished with retreating parties of the enemy. As for us, we were occupied in looking out for the scattered remains of our brigadeAfter a short, time we found the 48tli Regiment equally reduced as ourselves. [l/48th was on the left; l/57th in the centre; l/29th on the right.] General Stewart, though wounded, was btill on horseback, actively employed in collect-1 ing the different regiments. The second brigade [Abercroinby 's-r-2/28th, 2/34tli, 2/89 th], which was on our left, was found some distance to our left, where they retired after having been relieved by the'..Portuguese, ami behaving, as General Stewart said, most gallantly; their loss, however, was by no means so great as ours. The firing ended late in the afternoon after the French were seen to have reformed their scattered forces and marched back into the wood they, left in the morning. The Portuguese and Spaniards remained on the field of battle, and we, like skeletons, marched back to the left of the lines.

The place which had been the scene of action afforded a sight which I cannot attempt to describe, as I cannot think of it but with horror. The mangled bodies of the dead, the groans of the dying, and the complaints of the wounded are too horrible to reflect upon. The hill was actually covered with the French, who were opposed to us, and proved that our fire had been successful atid that our brave fellows did not die unavenged. During the principal part of the action it rained most violently, and the wind blew in our teeth, which prevented us from seeirjg the enemy during the thickest part of the fire. Their loss was immense, and from some of their wounded officers we learned that they, came into action 25,000 strong. A sergeant to whom I spoke told me there was a corps of 6000 men on the ground where he lay, and it was: with this | body that we were engaged. Soult com-; manded. A French general's uniform was found on the field of battle. Ballasteros (Spanish general) seized it and cried out, though I believe lie knew to the contrary, " Soult is dead, my lads, look at his coat," as he rode iii front of the lines, and he held up the embroidered coat. He said this in my hearing, and it produced an admirable effect; for both Spaniards and British advanced to the attack with redoubled vigour. Wet and War-worn. Though wet to the skin, we slej>t soundly during the night, expecting another attack this morning. The enemy, however, has not as yet thought proper to attempt it. They are still in the wood just in our front. We have been occupied the whole day in collecting our wounded and burying our dead, who were this morning lying on the field of battle in two distinct lines where we stood the fire. We found the bodies of our major and

a captain, who was my particular friend and xnessmate. I mentioned to you the number of officers who suffered; somo men have since joined, which makes us somewhat stronger than I told you. You will, of course, soon see correct lists of our killed and wounded; and I trust some mention will be made of the conduct of our (the 57th) regiment. Not a singlo man of ours was taken prisoner, for we never lost our ground. Previous to the action we had been seven days employed in the siege of Badajoz; and on the night beforo -we raised the siege, on account of Soult's approach, we dug a trench in the face of 12 pieces of cannon within 500 yards of the walls. Of course, all our work there was night work, and from continual watching at Badajoz, our business since, and the almost incessant rains the few officers that are left are nearly overcome by fatigue. Thank God I am myself as well as ever I was in my life, and, as you may suppose, in great spirits, although deprived of every comfort. I have suffered much from losses of baggage and baggage animals, but am thankful it is no worse. . . . Your affectionate sou, BEN J. HOBHOUBE. May 18. —I have opened my letter to say that the whole of the french force is retreating, and that they are now withdrawing their last videttes. We are preparing to pursue. It is supposed that thoy have taken the road to Merida.