The Battle of Ordal on 12 and 13 September 1813 saw a First French Empire corps led by Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet make a night assault on a position held by Lieutenant General Lord William Bentinck's smaller Anglo-Allied and Spanish advance guard.

The Allies, under the tactical direction of Colonel Frederick Adam, were defeated and driven from a strong position at the Ordal defile largely because they failed to post adequate pickets.

In an action the next morning at Vilafranca del Penedès, the Allied cavalry clashed with the pursuing French horsemen.

Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington's triumph at the Battle of Vitoria made Suchet's positions in Valencia and Aragon untenable.

As his troops were steadily siphoned away to defend eastern France, the marshal was forced to retreat to the Pyrenees, leaving behind several garrisons.

After the Siege of Valencia ended with a Spanish capitulation on 9 January 1812,[2] the victorious French army was temporarily halted by the illness of Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet.

This persuaded Thomas Maitland to abandon his amphibious invasion of Catalonia and land his small Anglo-Allied army at Spanish-controlled Alicante instead.

That summer and fall, Arthur Wellesley, Marquess Wellington defeated the French at the Battle of Salamanca, captured Madrid, and was subsequently driven back to Portugal after the Siege of Burgos.

[5] The last-named general repulsed Suchet's attack at the Battle of Castalla on 13 April 1813, but the overcautious Murray withdrew after his victory.

Fearing relief efforts by Suchet and General of Division David-Maurice-Joseph Mathieu de La Redorte, he ordered a hasty retreat, needlessly abandoning 18 heavy siege cannons.

[7] Wellington's decisive victory at the Battle of Vitoria on 21 June 1813 made it impossible for Suchet to hold onto the provinces of Valencia and Aragon.

Severely harassed by Francisco Espoz y Mina's guerillas, General of Brigade Marie Auguste Paris abandoned Saragossa on 10 July and fled over the Pyrenees to France.

[8] Suchet evacuated the city of Valencia on 5 July[9] and deliberately pulled back to Tarragona, leaving several French garrisons in his wake.

Largely untroubled by Bentinck, the French marshal dismantled the fortifications of Tarragona and fell back toward Barcelona.

[9] At length, the British general linked with Francisco Copons y Navia so that he controlled 28,000 troops distributed between Tarragona, Vilafranca del Penedès, and Ordal.

[8] Holding 10,500 troops at Vilafranca, Bentinck accompanied Frederick Adam's 1,500-man Advanced Guard east to the Ordal Cross heights early on 12 September.

Moving southeast from Sant Sadurni d'Anoia, Colonel Torres arrived at the Ordal heights with 2,300 Spanish troops from General Pedro Sarsfield's division.

He neglected his local security by not sending out patrols or picketing the Lledoner bridge, which spanned a deep ravine only 0.75 miles (1.21 km) in front of the Ordal heights.

[14] A second French column under General of Division Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen that numbered 7,000 men started from Martorell and marched southwest.

Suchet fed troops into the fight, sending Habert's division to the left and placing Harispe's second brigade in support of Mesclop.

Thomas Robert Bugeaud, then only a captain in the 116th Line, led his troops across the ravine on a narrow path just to the south of the bridge.

Meanwhile, the Spanish fought well under their commanders, including Colonel Antony Bray of the Tiradores de Cadiz and the Grenadiers under Rafael Larruda.

The French had 9,493 troops in garrisons at Tortosa, Lleida, and Sagunto, 1,605 at Gerona, 1,742 at Figueras, 5,844 at Barcelona, and 4,918 at smaller fortresses.

By forging Suchet's signature, a rogue staff officer named Juan Van Halen was able to secure the surrender of 1,900 troops and the fortresses of Lleida, Mequinenza, and Monzón.