Battle of the Nive
| Battles of the Nive | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Peninsular War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 French Empire |
 United Kingdom Spain Portugal | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult | Arthur Wellesley, 1st Marquess of Wellington | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 62,000 | 64,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 3,000 dead or wounded | 1,750 dead or wounded | ||||||
The Battles of the Nive (9-12 December 1813) was a battle towards the end of the Peninsular War (1808-1814). Wellington's Allied (Anglo-Portuguese-Spanish) army had successfully pushed the French army out of Spain, over the Pyrenees, and into south-west France. After his defeat at Nivelle Marshal Soult created a defensive line south of the town of Bayonne along the Adour and Nive rivers.
Unusually, for most of the battle, Wellington remained with the Reserve delegating command to his senior Generals Rowland Hill and John Hope.
Battle of the Nive
Despite poor weather Hill led five Anglo-Portuguese divisions on the British right across the Nive near Ustaritz on 9 December, while the reminder of the British force under Hope launched diversionary attacks towards Bayonne to the left and centre.
Soult launched a counter-attack with eight divisions against Hill the following day, and despite several fierce actions the British line held until reinforced by more troops coming up from Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Soult's army was somewhat weakened when three German battalions, having learned of the result of the Battle of Leipzig the previous month, went over in their entirety from the French to the Allies.
Both sides lost around 1,600 troops before Soult called off the assault. Sporadic clashes occurred over the next two days though neither side were willing to initiate a full-scale attack.
Battle of St. Pierre
On the night of 12 December a temporary pontoon bridge over the Nive was washed away isolating Hill's 14,000 men and 10 guns east of the river, just as the French were reorganizing for an assault.
Seizing his opportunity Soult sent six divisions - some 62,000 men and 22 guns - to attack. Though delayed by congestion at the bridge over the Adour, Soult's attack against the British positions on the ridge around Saint-Pierre-d'Irube was successful enough for one British unit to flee the field believing the battle lost. However the arrival of reinforcements under Wellington led to the French troops refusing to continue the attack. This near-mutiny in the ranks forced Soult to reluctantly retreat to Bayonne, having lost 3,000 men against British losses of 1,750.
It was on this day that General Hill was heard, for only the second time in the entire war, to use profanity. When Wellington heard about it he remarked that "if Hill has begun to swear, they all must mind what they are about".
Aftermath
Storms and torrential rain precluded any further action for over a month, but eventually in February Wellington advanced around Bayonne leaving Hope to seal up the 17,000-strong French garrison, while Wellington pushed Soult and the rest of his army relentlessly further north, turning his flank at the rivers Joyeuse, Bidouse and Gave d'Oloron, before Soult and Wellington again fought a battle at Orthez.
Nomenclature
The action of 9-12 December is called The Battle of the Nive, while Hill's defensive battle of 13 December is known as The Battle of St. Pierre, while the entire period is collectively referred to as The Battles of the Nive.
Sources
- Chandler, David, Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars, Wordsworth Editions, 1999. ISBN 1 84022 203 4
- Longford, Elizabeth, Wellington: The Years of the Sword, Panther Books Ltd., 1971. ISBN 586 03548 6