By the middle of 1811, Brigadier General Robert Craufurd's Light
Division was emerging as the elite of the Peninsular Army and Wellington
was seeking opportunities to go over to the offensive, following the
expulsion of Marshal Masséna from Portugal.
After a period of outpost duty for the Light Division on the familiar
ground of the Spanish borders, Wellington seized 'the keys to Spain' in
the epic sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz. Still reeling from the
loss of General Craufurd, 'The Division' led the army against Marshal
Marmont and after a protracted period of marching and counter marching,
the French were finally brought to battle at Salamanca. As a result of
King Joseph being driven out of Madrid, the French marshals united and
in the autumn of 1812, the British were driven back to Ciudad Rodrigo in
another gruelling retreat.
With news of Napoleon's disaster in Russia and with reinforcements from
Britain, Wellington prepared his army to drive the French from the
Peninsular. A lightening march across Spain to cut the Great Road found
King Joseph and Marshal Jourdan at Vitoria and the resulting battle, in
which the Light Division fought their way into the heart of the French
position, was a triumph of arms for Wellington's light troops.
The pursuit into the Pyrenees, had a sting in the tail when Marshal
Soult mounted counter offensives in an attempt to relieve San Sebastian
and Pamplona. Having thrown the French back and with the Sixth Coalition
intact, the Light Division fought their way through the mountains and
into Napoleon's France.
With the allies closing in on all sides, the French fought on into 1814
and the Light Bobs had further fighting before the spoils of peace in a
war-weary France could be enjoyed.
