"We had hardly left Gratallops when we came under musketery fire. Soon, bands of armed men could be seen gathering on the slopes to our right and their fire enfiladed the road along which we would have to pass. It became apparent that we would have to flush them out of their position and to this effect we clambered up the slope and charged the enemy. However, when we reached the plateau, we realised that these troops had been but the vanguard of a detachment offrom five to six hundred men issuing out of Povoleda. These troops were already in range. Some of our men deployed and took up a defensive position to cover the retreat of the rest. The enemy advanced to the attack; our troops pushed them back with the bayonet whilst the rest clambered up the mountain.
The enemy, confident of success with overwhelming numbers, pressed its attacks without interuption. They sent some troops out on our right to harry us whilst sending their main body against our left. They attacked three times in quick succession and each time were bravely repulsed. Even so, the Spanish sharpshooters and armed peasants had pretty much surrounded us and we had suffered more than seventy casualties – that is, more than half of our force. Captain Dulceron, of the 115th Line and Lieutenant Barthaire of the same regiment, and Lieutenant Suchodolski of the 1st Regiment of the Vistula Legion, were amongst the wounded. We thought Lieutenant Leclerc of the 1st Regiment of the Vistula Legion had been killed, but we later learnt that he had advanced too far on the right, got cut off, wounded and made prisoner.
Night put an end to the combat. It would have been impossible to continue the retreat on account of having no means to transport the wounded. Our mules had been lost even before we left the main road. In addition all the roads to Mora had been cut by the guerrillas, who were increasing in numbers by the minute…"
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Armand
goes to sea with the Terrain Mat.
