ALBUERA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11805, 16 September 1916, Page 1

ALBUERA.

I The tVattle of Albuera, fought May j 16, 1811. between the French under I Marshal Soult, who was advancing to the relief cf beleaguered Badajoz ; and the English, Portuguese and 1 Spaniards, under Marshal Beresford, ranks as one of the bloodiest struggles upon record, notable even in that sanguinary epoch. It is, however, interesting to compare it with present-day battles, since the numbers engaged and the casualties seem insignificant alongside of those of the war at present raging. In four bonis' fitting 15,000 men wero placed hors de combat, the Allies' loss amounting to about 7GOO killed, wounded and' missing. Almost all the general officers were included in the list, and the 1o:;b of some regiments was terrible. For instance, the 57th, which on that day obtained its celebrated name, the " Diehards," from the last injunction of its colonel, Inglis, who fel in the attack, came into action with 570 bayonets, and at the c4o-e had lost, besides the colonel, twenty-two officers and 1 400 rank and file. In other corns the casualties wero less, but the British losses ! upon this occasion wero out of all proportion when compared with those of the other allied forces, for only 20C0 ! Spaniards and GOO Germans and Portuguese were returned as killed or wounded, leavinej the baling cf the total to be completed from tho British regiments. Hence, the unexampled loss of more than 4TKXJ men out of a corps little exceeding 6000 was sustained' by the indomitable British regiments, which, by their immortal valour, converted imminent defeat into glorious, if dearly . purchased and unproductive victory. As for Beresford, though he displayed the greatest personal courage, he gained little or no credit as a general, his arrangements and conduct of the battle having been faulty, and the decisive moment of the day, the great advance of Cole's Fusilier Brigade, having been due to the inspiration of his staff officer, Colonel Hardinge, destined to Inter fame as Governor-Gen-eral of India. .