Editing Battle of Ocaña (section)

===Maneuvers===
The Spanish campaign in the autumn of 1809 called for their armies to lunge at Madrid from both north and south. They called for assistance from [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Arthur Wellesley, Viscount Wellington]], but after experiencing a lack of cooperation from the Spanish during the [[Battle of Talavera|Talavera campaign]] the British general refused. The French were nearly surprised by the southern thrust. By 9 November, the southern army was within 35 miles of Madrid with only 7,000 French troops blocking them. Then Aréizaga lost his nerve and halted for three days. He then pressed on toward Madrid but ran into two French divisions and pulled back. Several days of fruitless countermarching found the thoroughly alerted French concentrated and moving to intercept the Spanish army.{{sfn|Glover|2001|p=115}}