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bayonet charge talavera 48th Foot Northamptonshire Regiment awarded battle honors Battle of Talavera July 27 28 1809
Battle of Talavera (July 27–28, 1809) was a bloody yet inconclusive battle seventy miles southwest of Madrid, Spain. Although the French army under King Joseph Bonaparte withdrew from the field, the British under Sir Arthur Wellesley (subsequently Duke of Wellington) soon withdrew from Spain, leaving their wounded to the Spanish General Gregorio de la Cuesta, who in turn left them to the French. This reduced trust between the British and the Spanish for the remainder of the Peninsular War. A bayonet charge by the 48th Foot, the Northamptonshire Regiment, who were awarded battle honors by the Duke of Wellington. Victor lobbied his superiors for a massive attack, but Joseph and Jourdan chose to peck away at the Anglo-Spanish position. At dawn, the guns on the Cascajal opened up, causing some loss among the British infantry formed in the open. Having learned the hard way about the destructive power of French artillery, Wellesley soon pulled his redcoats back into cover. Again, Ruffin's division attacked the Medellin. Each battalion was formed in a column of companies with a width of two companies and a depth of three. (French battalions had recently been re-organized into six companies.) Each regiment's three battalions advanced side-by-side with only a small gap between units. This would make each regimental attack roughly 160 files across and 9 ranks deep. When Ruffin's men got within effective range, the British emerged from cover in two-deep lines to overlap the French columns. Riddled by fire from front and flank, and with their rear six ranks unable to fire, the French columns broke and ran.
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