General Bertrand Clauzel, third in seniority, assumed command and ordered a counter-attack by the French reserve toward the depleted Allied centre.

The Spanish troops took no part in the battle as they were positioned to block French escape routes and suffered just six casualties.

The French were forced to abandon Andalusia permanently while the loss of Madrid irreparably damaged King Joseph's pro-French government.

[6] In May, acting on Wellington's orders General Hill took a force of 7,000 men to destroy the bridge at Almaraz, breaking the only direct communications between Soult's and Marmont's armies.

[7] On 13 June Wellington crossed the Agueda and advanced eastward to Salamanca,[8] a town that was a major supply depot for the French army.

[9] For several weeks Wellington found his movements north of Salamanca blocked by Marmont's army, which constantly swelled with reinforcements.

The Duke immediately ordered the major part of his army to attack the overextended French left wing.

Pierre François Xavier Boyer led 1,500 dragoons and Jean-Baptiste Theodore Curto commanded 1,900 light cavalry.

Carlos de España commanded a 3,400-man Spanish division, while Denis Pack (2,600) and Thomas Bradford (1,900) led the independent Portuguese brigades.

Hoylet Framingham commanded eight British (RHA: Ross, Bull, Macdonald; RA: Lawson's, Gardiner, Greene, Douglas, May) and one Portuguese (Arriaga) six-gun artillery batteries.

Marmont's army moved south early on 22 July, its leading elements reaching an area southeast of Salamanca.

Spotting a dust cloud in the distance, Marmont assumed that most of the British army was in retreat and that he faced only a rearguard.

The Marshal's army planned to move along an L-shaped ridge, with its angle near a steep height known as the Greater Arapile.

Bonet, Sarrut and Boyer advanced close to the Greater Arapile, while Foy and Ferey held the short side of the L. When the British 3rd Division and D'Urban's brigade reached the top of the French L, they attacked Thomières.

Seeing British cavalry in the area, Maucune formed his division into squares, the standard formation to receive a mounted attack, but a poor choice when defending against infantry.

Le Marchant, knowing he had achieved a magnificent success having crushed eight French battalions, was leading a squadron when he was shot in the spine and killed.

Records conflict, however, with Marmont claiming that he was wounded as his wing became overextended, and his incapacitation led to the error not being corrected before Wellington attacked.

As the rest of the French army streamed away, Clauzel ordered Ferey to hold off the victorious Allies at all costs.

Wellington, believing that the Alba de Tormes crossing was blocked by a Spanish battalion in a fortified castle, directed his pursuit along a different road.

The Battle of Salamanca was a damaging defeat for the French and while they regrouped, Anglo-Portuguese forces entered Madrid on 6 August.

A failure by Spanish troops to guard a crucial escape route over the bridge at Alba de Tormes tainted the victory.

He kept his dispositions hidden nearly the whole day: he allowed us to develop our movement before he pronounced his own: he played a close game: he utilized the oblique order in the style of Frederick the Great.

"[15]The following day, Wellington's King's German Legion (KGL) heavy dragoons performed the astounding feat of "breaking a square" and over-running a portion of the French rearguard at the Battle of Garcia Hernandez.