Page 4 Advertisements Column 3

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9320, 21 August 1908, Page 4

send on his advance posts as far as the town of Mafra, in Portuguese Estramadnra, and halt tho main body nino mi lea from that place, and thus outflank the French position at Torres Vedras. He possessed an excellent map of the country and topographical accounts of it, which had been prepared by Sir Charles Stewart, during his command in Portugal. He thus anti^ pated that the battle would be fought in a district of which he had complete knowledge, and that ere long he should bb in Lisbon, with the foe flying before him. The arrival of a new commander disconcerted all these plans. . Sir Harry Burrard would sanction no rash movement, as he called it, with a force as yet incomplete ; and, as senior officer, his will could not be disputed. Sir Arthur, with keen emotions of disappointment, returned to the camp that night ; and the next day afforded proof that he hed erred in what he anticipated j the enemy would do ; for Junot, who had procured better intelligence than his antagonist, was leaving nothing undone to bring into the field a for.co capable of sustaining a battle with the British army. Every man fit for service was drawn from the garrison at Lisbon and tho lorts near it ; and the corps of Loison, Thomieres, Kellerman and Laborde were concentrated without delay at the position of Torres Vedras. By August 20 this was all fully effected. One division was assigned to Laborde^ another to Loison; while Kellerman assumed the command of the reserve, which was composed of Grenadiers. Marshal Junot then advanced in all his strength towards Vimiera, where he knew the British troops were encamped. The town of Vimiera stands in a lovely valley, through which the Maviera winds towards the sea, about three miles distant. On each side the hills rise to a considerable height, especially on the north, where a chain of detached peaks starts with striking abruptness out of the fertile plain. The western termination of these mountains reaches the shore, while the eastern is separated by a deep ravine from the heights over which the road passes from Lourinha. On the north-east of Vimiera there is .a piece of t<able-land covered with laurels and other shrubs; this commands all the approaches from Torres Vedras/ and is, in turn, commanded by the mass of mountains that rise between the left bank of the river and the] sea. , With eight pieces of cannon, the greater portion of the British infantry were posted on these mountains ; Hill's brigade being on the right and Ferguson's on the left, having one battalion on the hoighta above the ravine. A hill on the south-east of Vimiera was occupied by the corps of Fane and Anstruther, the former with his riflemen and the 50th Foot, and the latter were supported by two halt-brigades of nine and six-pounder<s. The high road to Lourinha, and the heights which it crosses, were occupied only by an outpicket, because, as there was no spring water in the neighbourhood, Sir Arthur had intended to shift his camp at ' sunrise. In ttfe village last-named were stationed the British reserves of artillery and cavalry. Marshal Juriop began his march about nightfall;' and, after a tedious and. di^cult route through narrow defilea and mountain passes, about seven o'clock next morning (August 21) the head of his leading column was within tour miles and a half of the British outposts. As the ground he occupied was comparatively hidden from these, he was enabled to form, unseen? his columns of attack; nor was it until the. 1 helmets and sabres of a considerable mass of cavalry were 6een to glitter in the sunehine, as they deployed immediately in front of the picket on the Lourinha road, that Sir Arthur anticipated that there would be an action. Full of grand decision, and never for a moment taken by surprise, his eagle eye perceived in a momept that the principal assault would be made exactly where he had most cause to apprehend it — on- the weakest portion of his line. He therefore ordered the brigades of Generals Nightingale, Ferguson and Bowes to cross the ravine wrth all speed, and thus, before the first shots were exchanged by the advanced posts, his left flank was secure. The enemy came on in two great columns, supported and flanked by a cloud of ekirmisliers. Dressed in long white linen coats and trousers, their muskets were six inches longer in the barrel than the British, but their bayonets were three inches shorter. The locks of their pieces were better constructed, the priming not being so liable to fall out of the pans — an accident which often happened then in the British service. The right column, ■which consisted of 6000 men, poured along the Lourinha road, while the left, £000 *?tro"g. turn- ;<} its efforts against the table-land. As the French troops are always irnnetuous, and usua'lv go into .action uttering cries, the first onset of both these masses was made with great fury; hence, on the left of the table-land "t"e skirmishers were swept away, and the head of the column, as it came surging on. appearc rl almost unchecked in front of tnp 50th Regiment, or West Kent. Veterans of Egypt, this fine old regiment — long popularly known, from the then > colour of its fficincrs, as "The Blaok Half Hundred " — drawn up in (me, permitted this oblong mass to approach till scarcely twenty yards divided them. Then, after pouring in a steady and mosl destructive volley, the oorps prepared to charge. For a moment — but for a moment only — the enemy eto^d a« if resolved to meet the shock. But the bayonets of the 50th were barely crossing theirs when they began to pause, and ere the final rush was made t^ey -wavered, broke, and, with wild halloos, ran down the slope in confusion *nd with precipitation.^ About the same time that this was rrccurrinfr. the second battalion of the 43rd Li<rht Tnfantrv was # attacked with Fin"nlar d^termrnption, in the town of Vimiera. by the 'lesser column. The 43rd were wisted partly in the houses and alnnff. the churchyard wall, from both of which poin+s tV<e.v onpved a fire upon tn* ro*d and absolutely repelled every attempt to dW<V?T e them. «nd clip, same result atton^pd t^e attack wMoh wd« made on the "RrrH<sTi left. Tno'i^n I*** on with pinprular oraliantrv by Honpral T^horde. ffrt* enemy w*>re reT>nW>< : ! vi+t> rrrent wlan^^t^T Hv the r»TGrtions <^f +1""* P2nd lA"^t Tnfontrv and tV" old 97th, or Queen's fsp'-»Tinn T?.eoiTr>f\nt- : Meantime t^o roar of musketry yas r>lcMvJ>pre he^rd among tTio echoing hills t!hv+- nv»r*Min<r th« TrfMinnha road . nn t^n British nVTit. On this quarter :hp Fr«"ch had forced their way. as they n«d done on t-bp other fhnk. through t1i»» linp of : and. comrn<r on with »11 f-V°ir usual p'nn. th^v ne^er p«ns°d until they caw before- t^»*»tn the ; solid array of t^e 36th, the 40th and the 71st Highlanders ; " and several . marching discharges of musketry," sava Lord Londonderry, "were exchanged at a distance which hardly allowed a ■ single bullet to miss its mark." ' One loud and ringing cheer that ' burst alone: the line warned the French of what they had to expect ; but this ; column was composed of well-tried troops, the flower of Junot's army, and < they stood to the last. The onset was ■ awful. The entire front rank of fie 1 pnemy perished; to a man, and p.fter < the action the men who composed it < .vere found lying dpad on the very spot < where, during its formation each had stooii. , ' "They came up to the charge like i men fn'^stomed to victory," records i the "Edinburgh Register" for 1808, i r 'but no troops, however disciplined, < however brave, however accustomed to i victory, have ever withstood the 1 British bayonet. Tn one moment their i Foremost rank fell, like a line of grass i