Editing Battle of Tudela (section)

==Battle==
[[File:Campo batalla224.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.6|Plan of the battle]]

On the morning of 23 November 1808 Lagrange's infantry and two cavalry brigades were sent towards Cascante. The rest of the force was sent along the Ebro towards Tudela.

At this time O'Neylle was trying to get his three divisions across the Ebro. Roca's was across first and reached its position on the right of the Spanish line just as the French attacked.

Saint-Marcq's division was second across and also took up position before the attack.

[[File:Batalla224.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Recreation of the battle on the hill of Santa Barbara with the tower of the cathedral in the background]]

By the time O'Neylle's own division was crossing it had to fight French skirmishers who were at the top of the Cabezo Malla ridge.

The initial French attack was carried out in a piecemeal fashion by the vanguard when it was realised that the Spanish were not in position. Although this attack was repelled it showed the weakness of the Spanish positions, especially the {{convert|5|km|mi|0}} gap between Castaños and La Peña's force at Cascante.

The battle would ultimately be decided by La Peña and Grimarest. By noon on 23 November 1808 they had received orders to move: La Peña to close the gap at Tudela and Grimarest to Cascante. Both men failed to carry out these orders other than La Peña moving two battalions and a detachment of provincial Grenadiers to Urzante. La Peña's lack of initiative allowed the two French cavalry brigades of Colbert and General of Brigade [[Alexandre, vicomte Digeon]] to pin him in place.
 
The second French attack was made with much greater force. On the French left General of Division [[Antoine Morlot]]'s division attacked Roca's division on the heights above Tudela. On the French right General of Division [[Maurice Mathieu]]'s division made a frontal assault on the smaller O'Neylle division while also making outflanking moves. The attacks on both left and right were successful with both Spanish divisions being pushed off the ridges they occupied.

Then the French cavalry under General of Division [[Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes]] charged the gap between Roca and Saint-Marcq causing the collapse of the Spanish right.

La Peña and Grimarest finally united at Cascante late in the day giving them a total of 21,000 men against Lagrange's division which was 6,000 strong plus Colbert and Digeon. After the defeat of the rest of the Spanish army however La Peña and Grimarest withdrew after dark. Their poor performance was also reflected in the casualties of only 200 on the Spanish left compared to 3,000 on the right plus 1,000 prisoners.{{sfn|Rickard|2008}}