19 July 1808, dawn to 10 am
Dupont attacks
At dawn on 19 July Dupont’s vanguard under General Théodore Chabert runs into Reding’s leading troops a few kilometres short of Bailén. Reding deploys his two divisions in a line with 20 guns among olive groves cut by deep ravines. Chabert attacks with his 3,000 men and is thrown back with heavy losses. Dupont posts General Barbou’s division at the Rumblar to hold off Castaños and orders every other unit forward.
General Theodor von Reding, portrait by an unknown artist, private collectionWikimedia Commons, unknown author, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Theodor Reding von Biberegg.jpg)
Expecting Castaños behind him at any moment, Dupont sends his troops in as they come up and keeps no reserve. Chabert and General Duprès attack the Spanish left, held by the Walloon Guards, with an infantry brigade and the chasseurs à cheval, and gain no ground. Duprès is mortally wounded, and the French guns are knocked out by the heavier Spanish artillery. On the other wing the cuirassiers ride down a Spanish infantry regiment and sabre the gunners, but the Spanish line extends, keeps up its fire and forces them to give up the guns.
Sources
- Maximilien Sébastien Foy, History of the War in the Peninsula under Napoleon, vol. II (1827).
- Charles Oman, A History of the Peninsular War, vol. I (1902).
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