Wellesley occupied Garcia Villa with Picton's division. As the town seemed to be the key to the position the Viscount decided to support Picton on the right with Alten's division, and, on the left, by occupying the Cerro Murillo with Leith's and Cotton's commands. He ordered his units to take their places and stand on the defensive. Unexpectedly coming on some muddy ground, Alten swung his light division into it to take advantage of the protection it afforded from the French cavalry.
As the dusty French columns made their way up the road north through Villa Costa, Marmont observed the British deployment and quickly made his plans. He ordered II corps to advance on Garcia Villa, overturn the British, and capture the village. Clausel was to support Brenier's attack on the fight by moving toward the Cerro Murillo while passing to the southeast of Villa Costa.
Brenier's corps, led by Maucune's division, advanced precipitously, with no apparent plan other than to engage the British in Garcia Villa as rapidly as possible. Wellesley, watching the French advance, turned to Picton and said, "The French are coming on in the same old way." Picton answered, "Then, Sir, we shall greet them in the same old way. (These guys really talk this way!)
At 1:00 pm., Maucune's division began to push in Picton's and Alten's skirmishers, but withering fire from the British infantry and artillery disordered both of Maucune's brigades.
At this point, Picton personally led forward Long's cavalry brigade. Due to the smoke and the confusion of disorder, the French light infantry of the 1st brigade failed to form square, so Brenier launched Boyer's dragoons to the infantry's aid. In the ensuing combat, the French were seriously beaten. Flushed with victory, Long's light cavalry, despite Picton's presence and efforts, could not be recalled, but smashed uncontrollably into the equally disordered French 2nd Brigade. Also failing to form square, this French line infantry unit was routed in its turn. Long's cavalry, blown from their mad rush, were swirling between the lines, attempting to reorganize.
Brenier, attempting to stabilize his corps' position, at about 1:30, ordered Soult's light cavalry to charge Long's brigade. In their attempt to get at the disordered British horsemen, Soult's troopers came under punishing flanking fire from Alten's light division. By the time the French cavalry closed with Long's men, they were also disordered, and once again Long's gallant lads sent the French horsemen packing. After less than an hour's fighting, the French II corps was already reduced by 1700 men, and was incapable of further attacks (having already reached the corps' fatigue level).
Meanwhile, events on the French right had hardly taken a better turn. Ordered to advance to the east of Villa Costa, I corps had unexpectedly come upon a series of drainage ditches. To avoid these, Clausel swung his troops to the west of the town, a maneuver that not only delayed I corps, but, to allow these troops to pass by, left Thomieres' division far to the rear of Maucune's division when it met with its disaster. Historians still dispute whether or not Marmont verbally ordered Clausel to capture the Cerro Murillo (the players disagree as to what was said at the pre-game planning session). What is not in question is that the I corps did attack.
Clausel led with Foy's division, closely followed by Sarrut, with Curto's cavalry closed up on the far right. At 1:30 p.m., as Foy's division breasted the Cerro Murillo, it came under heavy fire from Leith's brigades. Foy's 1st brigade was disordered, charged by Anson's (reacting) reserve cavalry brigade, failed to form square, and in spite of intervention by Curto's (reacting) light cavalry, the lead French units were driven off the hilltop.
By 1:30 p.m. the French advance, across the entire front, had been repulsed. Marmont, cool, though quite frustrated, decided to protect Brenier's routed units with Thomieres' division, while Sarrut passed through Foy's remaining brigade, which was ordered to withdraw to the left of II corps. Once reordered, the Marshal would decide whether to continue the attack or attempt some other maneuver.
The French had just time enough to sort themselves out before the Allies counterattacked. Wellesley, seeing the French repulse and confusion, determined to finish Marmnt before he could restore his army to good order. He ordered Alten on the right and Picton in the center to advance and drive the battered II corps from the field. Located in the muddy ground, the light division took some disorganizing hits and was unable to attack before Thomieres and the II corps reserve artillery could get deployed. Alten's brigades were temporarily halted by the heavy French fire. Meanwhile, Picton's advance was held by the inspired resistance of Foy's remaining brigade, while the rallied troops of Maucune and Boyer reformed behind them.
On the French right, Clausel, a bee in his bonnet, continued to "misinterpret" Marmont's orders by sending in Sarrut's infantry and an attached horse artillery battery in a second attempt on the Cerro Murillo. Supported by Curto's regrouped cavalry, Sarrut used intelligent combined arms attacks to rout two of Leith's brigades, and sent Cotton's cavalry back from the faces of his squares. Seeing in these events, the first French successes of the day, a chance to recoup his fortunes, Marmont then ordered Clausel to ignore Keith's Portuguese brigade, still holding the Allied left and swing Sarrut's advance to his left to attack Garcia Villa from the east.
Due to the pressure on the rest of the French line, Sarrut's advance was unsupported. Hurt by Picton's fire, and now facing the rallied units of Leith and Cotton, Sarrut got caught in a counterattack that routed his division and left the general wounded on the field.
The deafeat of Sarrut's division, combined with Aften finally driving back Thomieres and the dispersal of Foy's shattered brigades in the French center, led Marmont to order a withdrawal (the French side threw in the towel). This effectively ended the battle around 4:00 p.m. (9 Turns), with a British victory.
Critique
Marmont's French Army of Portugal never recovered from Brenier's hasty, isolated, and ill-advised advance on Garcia Villa with Maucune's division, and Foy's repulse on the right didn't help, either. Although supported by cavalry, Maucune's two brigades were facing two entire divisions (including a cavalry element) and a horse artillery battery while separated from Thomieres' division. To better explain what happened, this decisive series of events is detailed in the accompanying sidebar.
At this point, Wellesley, securely occupying the Cerro Murillo and Garcia Villa, had all but won the battle. He needed only to keep his army in hand, and the chances of the weakened French succeeding would have been very small. Instead, he aggressively opted to destroy Brenier's corps, and launched an otherwise unsupported attack with two of his divisions. The unexpected delays imposed on the light division left Picton's division in serious difficulty for a period. At the same time, Sarrut's attack was initially successful, but unsupported, and appeared more dangerous that was actually the case.
Grand tactically, there was little at which to marvel. Wellesley's objectives were straight-forward and secured in a workmanlike manner. The decision to support Picton's right with Alten left only Cotton's cavalry in reserve. After the repulse of the initial French attacks, with all the British cavalry temporarily blown, he inappropriately chose to advance with only Urban's fresh (but pretty worthless) Portuguese cavalry available for support.
As for the French, other than a direct attack on Garcia Villa, there was no grand tactical plan, save perhaps to go forward and get killed. Once the British secured their defensive position, there was no need for the French to advance hastily, yet, that is exactly what Brenier did with Maucune's division. Without proper support, the II corps was effectively wrecked in the twinkling of an eye. Once this had happened, the French should have taken the time to regroup before trying again, but I corps stubbornly continued its advance on the Cerro Murillo. With a better organized army, more capable of maneuver and operations on an extended front, the French conducted a piecemeal direct frontal attack that got what it served, a bloody repulse.
Battle of Villa Costa 1812 Napoleon's Battles Scenario
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