Editing Battle of Vimeiro (section)

==Prelude==
{{See also|Battle of Vimeiro order of battle}}

After Roliça, Wellesley had established a position near Vimeiro. By holding the village, plus some ridges to the west, the British commander covered a beachhead at Maceira Bay a little further to the west. Since most of his reinforcements had arrived by 20 August, Wellesley planned to advance south on Lisbon. Eight independent infantry brigades under [[Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill|Rowland Hill]], [[Ronald Craufurd Ferguson]], [[Miles Nightingall]], [[Barnard Foord Bowes]], [[Catlin Craufurd]], [[Henry Fane (British Army officer)|Henry Fane]], [[Robert Anstruther (British Army officer)|Robert Anstruther]] and [[Wroth Acland]] formed the core of Wellesley's forces. Rounding out his force were 17 cannons, 240 light cavalry led by C. D. Taylor and about 2,000 Portuguese troops under [[Nicholas Trant]], giving a total of 20,000 men.{{sfn|Southey|1828b|pp=201–205}}

Junot organised his 14,000-man force into two infantry divisions and a cavalry division under [[Pierre Margaron]]. [[Henri François Delaborde]]'s infantry division  contained two brigades under [[Antoine François Brenier de Montmorand|Antoine François Brenier]] and [[Jean Guillaume Barthélemy Thomières]], while [[Louis Henri Loison]]'s division included two brigades commanded by [[Jean-Baptiste Solignac]] and Hugues Charlot. In addition, [[François Étienne de Kellermann]] commanded a 2,100-man reserve made up of four converged grenadier battalions. These units were created by taking the grenadier company from each of Junot's infantry battalions. The French took 23 cannons into battle with them.{{sfn|Southey|1828b|pp=201–205}}

Wellesley placed Anstruther's and Fane's brigades in front of Vimeiro, with Acland's men in support. At first, his five remaining brigades held only the western ridge. Junot planned to send Thomières, Solignac and Charlot's infantry brigades to capture Vimeiro, while Brenier's 4,300-man brigade and some dragoons swung in a wide flanking manoeuvre to seize an empty ridge to the northeast of the village. Wellesley detected Brenier's move and switched Nightingall, Ferguson and Bowes to the northeastern ridge. Once Junot realised that British troops occupied the ridge, he sent Solignac's brigade to the right to assist Brenier's attack. The French commander decided to launch his attack on the town immediately, instead of waiting for his flanking move to develop.{{sfn|Southey|1828b|pp=201–205}}