4799 x 3659 px | 40,6 x 31 cm | 16 x 12,2 inches | 300dpi
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Battle of Bussaco (or Buçaco, pronounced [buˈsaku] in Portuguese) (September 27, 1810) resulted in the defeat of French forces by Lord Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese army in Portugal during the Peninsular War. Having occupied the heights of Bussaco (a 10-mile long ridge located at 40°20'40"N, 8°20'15"W) with 25, 000 British and the same number of Portuguese, Wellington was attacked five times successively by 65, 000 French under Marshal André Masséna. Masséna was uncertain as to the disposition and strength of the opposing forces because Wellington deployed them on the reverse slope of the ridge, where they could neither be easily seen nor easily softened up with artillery. The actual assaults were delivered by the corps of Marshal Michel Ney and Major-General Jean Reynier, but after much fierce fighting they failed to dislodge the allied forces and were driven off with a loss of 4, 500 killed or wounded, as against Anglo-Portuguese losses of about 1, 250. Reynier's troops struck in the early morning mist. Heudelet sent his leading brigade straight up the slope in a formation one company wide and eight battalions deep. When the leading regiment reached the top of the ridge, they found themselves facing one British and two Portuguese battalions in line, plus 12 cannon. The French tried to change formation from column into a line. Pelet says, "The column began to deploy as if at an exercise." But the Allies brought intense musketry to bear. Soon, the French infantrymen were thrown into confusion. However, they clung to a precarious toehold on the ridge. Several hundred yards to the north, Merle's division thrust up the ridge in a similar formation. Picton hurriedly massed his defenders by utilizing the ridgetop road. Met at the crest by two British and two Portuguese battalions in a concave line, the French tried unsuccessfully to deploy into line. Crushed by converging fire, the French fled down the slope. Merle was wounded while his brigade commander Jean Graindorge f
