Editing Battle of Salamanca (section)

==Background==
In April 1812, following the successful [[Siege of Badajoz (1812)|Siege of Badajoz]] during the [[Peninsular War#Allied campaign in Spain|allied campaign in Spain]], Wellington and the greater part of the Anglo-Portuguese army marched north to expel Marmont's French army who had temporarily invaded Portugal. Following Marmont's retreat to Salamanca Wellington took position behind the Agueda and Coa rivers.{{sfn|Oman|1996|pp=290–296}} In May, acting on Wellington's orders General Hill took a force of 7,000 men to destroy the bridge at Almaraz, breaking the only direct communications between Soult's and Marmont's armies.{{sfn|Oman|1996|p=320}}

On 13 June Wellington crossed the Agueda and advanced eastward to Salamanca,{{sfn|Oman|1996|p=335}} a town that was a major supply depot for the French army. The French had converted three convents into powerful forts to defend the town and the bridge across the river [[Tormes]]. On 19 June the first battery opened fire but it was not until 27 June that, with two of the convents battered and in flames and with no sign of relief, the French troops asked for surrender terms.{{sfn|Porter|1889|pp=312-315}}

For several weeks Wellington found his movements north of Salamanca blocked by Marmont's army, which constantly swelled with reinforcements. With the armies often marching close together, separated by the river, and Marmont repeatedly threatening Wellington's [[Military supply chain management|supply line]]. Moving east, the French crossed to the south bank of the [[Tormes]] across another bridge at [[Huerta]] and by marching south then west hoped to turn the flank of Wellingtons' army. By the day of the battle Wellington had decided to withdraw his army all the way back to Portugal, but observed that with the two armies marching parallel to each other, with the British on the inside line, the French became strung out and Marmont had made the tactical error of separating his left flank from the main body of his army. The Duke immediately ordered the major part of his army to attack the overextended French left wing.

===Forces===
{{details|Salamanca order of battle}}

Marshal Marmont's 50,000-man Army of Portugal contained eight infantry and two cavalry divisions, plus 78 artillery pieces. The infantry divisions were [[Maximilien Sebastien Foy]]'s 1st (4,900), [[Bertrand Clausel|Bertrand Clauzel]]'s 2nd (6,300), [[Claude François Ferey]]'s 3rd (5,400), [[Jacques Thomas Sarrut]]'s 4th (5,000), [[Antoine Louis Popon de Maucune]]'s 5th (5,000), [[Antoine François Brenier de Montmorand]]'s 6th (4,300), [[Jean Guillaume Barthélemy Thomières]]'s 7th (4,300), and [[Jean Pierre François Bonet]]'s 8th (6,400). [[Pierre François Xavier Boyer]] led 1,500 dragoons and [[Jean-Baptiste Theodore Curto]] commanded 1,900 light cavalry. [[Louis Tirlet]] directed 3,300 artillerymen and there were also 1,300 engineers, military police and wagon drivers.

Wellington's 48,500-man army included eight infantry divisions, formed mainly by British and Portuguese units (also German and one of French royalists), and two independent brigades, five cavalry brigades and 54 cannons. The infantry divisions were [[Henry Frederick Campbell]]'s [[History of the British 1st Division between 1809–1909|1st]] (6,200), [[Edward Pakenham]]'s [[3rd Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|3rd]] (5,800), [[Lowry Cole]]'s [[4th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|4th]] (5,191), [[James Leith (British Army infantry officer)|James Leith]]'s [[5th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|5th]] (6,700), [[Henry Clinton (Napoleonic Wars)|Henry Clinton]]'s [[6th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|6th]] (5,500), [[John Hope (British Army officer, born 1765)|John Hope]]'s [[7th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|7th]] (5,100) and [[Charles Alten]]'s [[Light Division|Light]] (3,500). [[Carlos de España]] commanded a 3,400-man Spanish division, while [[Denis Pack]] (2,600) and [[Thomas Bradford]] (1,900) led the independent Portuguese brigades.

[[Stapleton Stapleton-Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere|Stapleton Cotton]] supervised the cavalry brigades. These included 1,000 British heavy dragoons ([[1st Cavalry Brigade (United Kingdom)|1st Cavalry Brigade]]) led by [[John Le Marchant (British Army cavalry officer)|John Le Marchant]], 1,000 British light dragoons ([[2nd Cavalry Brigade (United Kingdom)|2nd Cavalry Brigade]]) under [[George Anson (1769-1849)|George Anson]], 700 Anglo-German light horse under [[Victor Alten]], 800 King's German Legion (KGL) heavy dragoons led by [[Eberhardt Otto George von Bock]] and 500 Portuguese dragoons under [[Benjamin d'Urban]]. Hoylet Framingham commanded eight British (RHA: [[A Battery (The Chestnut Troop) Royal Horse Artillery|Ross]], [[I Parachute Battery (Bull's Troop) Royal Horse Artillery|Bull]], Macdonald; RA: [[97 Battery (Lawson's Company) Royal Artillery|Lawson's]], Gardiner, Greene, Douglas, May) and one Portuguese ([[Sebastião de Arriaga|Arriaga]]) six-gun artillery batteries.