Graham arrives, Arinez falls

At noon Graham’s column appears on the Bilbao road, and Jourdan, seeing the danger of being surrounded, orders Gazan to fall back towards Vitoria. Graham drives Sarrut’s division back across the river but cannot force the crossing against Reille’s troops. Further east Longa’s Spaniards defeat Joseph’s Spanish Royal Guard and cut the road to Bayonne.

Model of the battle in the Armoury Museum of Álava in Vitoria-Gasteiz, photographed in 2008Wikimedia Commons, Zarateman, Public domain (Vitoria - Museo de Armeria 06.JPG)

Picton’s 3rd Division of Dalhousie’s column crosses the river with Kempt’s help. The French guns, 40 to 50 of them by Picton’s account, and a counterattack on its open flank cost it 1,800 men, more than a third of all allied losses in the battle. Cole’s 4th Division crosses further west, and when Gazan and d’Erlon try to stand at the village of Arinez, the 4th, Light, 3rd and 7th Divisions take it in one line.

Sources

Ian Fletcher, Vittoria 1813: Wellington Sweeps the French from Spain (2005).
Michael Glover, The Peninsular War 1807–1814 (2001).

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