Editing Peninsular War (section)

====Battles of the Nivelle and the Nive====
On the night of 9 November 1813 Wellington brought up his right from the Pyrenean passes to the northward of [[Maya, Baztan|Maya]] and towards the [[Nivelle (river)|Nivelle]]. [[Marshal Soult]]'s army (about 79,000), in three entrenched lines, stretched from the sea in front of [[Saint-Jean-de-Luz]] along commanding ground to [[Amotz]] and thence, behind the river, to [[Mondarrain|Mont Mondarrain]] near the [[Nive]].{{sfn|Robinson|1911|p=96}} Wellington on 10 November 1813 attacked and drove the French to [[Bayonne]]. The allied loss during the [[Battle of Nivelle]] was about 2,700; that of the French, 4,000, 51 guns, and all their magazines. The next day Wellington closed in upon Bayonne from the sea to the left bank of the [[Nive]].{{sfn|Robinson|1911|p=96}}

After this there was a period of comparative inaction, though during it the French were driven from the bridges at Urdains{{efn|The bridge crosses the Urdains brook (a tributary of the Nive) just north of the [[Château d'Urdain]].}} and [[Cambo-les-Bains]]. [[George Bell (British Army officer)|George Bell]], a junior British officer in the [[34th Foot]] during this period of inaction, told in his biography of an "Irish sentry who was found with a French and an English musket on his two shoulders, guarding a bridge over a brook on behalf of both armies. For he explained to the officer going the rounds that his French neighbour had gone off on his behalf, with his last precious half-dollar, to buy brandy for both, and had left his musket in pledge till his return. The French officer going his rounds on the other side of the brook then turned up, and explained that he had caught his sentry, without arms and carrying two bottles, a long way to the rear. If either of them reported what had happened to their colonels, both sentries would be court-martialled and shot. Wherefore both subalterns agreed to hush up the matter".{{sfn|Oman|1930|p=295}} The weather had become bad, and the Nive unfordable; but there were additional and serious causes of delay. The Portuguese and Spanish authorities were neglecting the payment and supply of their troops. Wellington had also difficulties of a similar kind with his own government, and also the Spanish soldiers, in revenge for many French outrages, had become guilty of grave excesses in France, so that Wellington took the extreme step of sending 25,000 of them back to Spain and resigning the command of their army (though his resignation was subsequently withdrawn). So great was the tension at this crisis that a rupture with Spain seemed possible, but this did not happen.{{sfn|Robinson|1911|p=96}}{{efn|On 11 December, Napoleon, beleaguered and desperate, agreed to a separate peace with Spain under the [[Treaty of Valençay]], under which he would release and recognize Ferdinand in exchange for a complete cessation of hostilities. But the Spanish had no intention of trusting Napoleon and the fighting continued.{{citation needed|date=December 2014}}}}

Wellington occupied the right as well as the left bank of the Nive on 9 December 1813 with a portion of his force only under [[Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill|Rowland Hill]] and [[William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford|Beresford]], [[Ustaritz]] and Cambo-les-Bains, his loss being slight, and thence pushed down the river towards [[Villefranque, Pyrénées-Atlantiques|Villefranque]], where Soult barred his way across the road to Bayonne. The allied army was now divided into two portions by the Nive; and Soult from Bayonne at once took advantage of his central position to attack it with all his available force, first on the left bank and then on the right.{{sfn|Robinson|1911|p=96}} Desperate fighting now ensued, but owing to the intersected ground, Soult was compelled to advance slowly, and Wellington coming up with Beresford from the right bank, the French retired baffled.{{sfn|Robinson|1911|p=96}} Renewed French attacks on 13 December were also stopped. The losses in the four days' fighting in the battles before Bayonne (or [[battles of the Nive]]) were-Allies about 5,000, French about 7,000.{{sfn|Robinson|1911|p=96}}{{efn|On the evening of 10 December, some 1,400 troops from three German battalions deserted in response to a secret message from the [[Duke of Nassau]]—one of the many German rulers who had surrendered following the [[Battle of Leipzig]]—ordering them to surrender to the Allies. In addition, Soult and Suchet lost the rest of their German units—another 3,000 men—as it was felt that they became unreliable. This left the [[Adour]]'s defenders much depleted and incapable of further offensive action.{{sfn|Esdaile|2003|p=481}} }}

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File:Bataille de la Nivelle.jpg|The Battle of Nivelle
File:Battle of St Jean de Luz - December 10th 1813 - Fonds Ancely - B315556101 A HEATH 023.jpg|The [[Battle of St Jean de Luz]], 10 December 1813 by [[Thomas Sutherland (artist)|Thomas Sutherland]]
</gallery>