THE BATTLEFIELD

The Serra de Busaco (Portuguese Bucaco) is a single, continuous line of heights that extends nine miles north-westwards from the Mondego to the main chain of the Alcolsa mountains. It varies in height along its length, the highest point being some 1,864 feet above sea level and almost 1,000 feet above the surrounding countryside.

Three roads ran across the mountain. The most southerly of these roads, which ran from San Paulo to Palmases, crossed the ridge three miles north of the Mondego. The middle road, from San Antonio de Cantaro to Palherios, was a further three miles north of the southern route. The northernmost road, which was the only paved road and the one along which the French would approach the ridge, wound its way from the village of Moura, passed the northern wall of a Carmelite convent and descended southwestwards to Coimbra.

The wooded grounds of the convent were surrounded by a ten feet high stone wall inside which stood a small chapel inside a simple low quadrangle. The rest of the eastern hillside was bare heath broken by large boulders, steep-sided ravines and rocky spurs, and the dwarf brushwood and heather which covered the hillside made climbing the slope difficult and tiring.

The centre of the Serra has a broad, flat top, some 300 or 400 yards wide, along which large bodies of all arms could move laterally with ease to support any threatened point. The right of the ridge is a narrow saddle back broken at intervals with large outcrops of rock, and the rapid transfer of troops along this section was not possible.

But a few yards down the reverse side of the ridge there was a rough country track which Wellington's engineers, with the assistance of some local labour, had widened and straightened so that both infantry and artillery could be moved entirely out of sight of the enemy. The only part of the mountain that Wellington could not easily reinforce was the extreme left, or northern, section.

Historical Background
The Defenders (and OOB)
The Attackers (and OOB)
The Battle

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