The action marked the final phase of the British army's advance into the interior of Spain, before they began their harrowing retreat to the coast and ultimate evacuation by sea.

Sir John Moore led a British army into the heart of northwestern Spain with the aim of aiding the Spanish in their struggle against French occupation.

[3] The French fielded a brigade under César Alexandre Debelle composed of the 1st Provisional Chasseurs à cheval and the 8th Dragoons.

"[4] In the dawn light the French regiments, catching sight of the 15th Hussars to the south, formed up in two lines with the 1st Provisional Chasseurs (commanded by Colonel Tascher, a relative of the Empress Josephine - though he may not have been present) in front and the 8th Dragoons behind them.

The impact when the hussars met the chasseurs was terrible, as one British officer recorded: "horses and men were overthrown and a shriek of terror, intermixed with oaths, groans and prayers for mercy issued from the whole extent of their front.

[9] The presence of the British army had, as Moore intended, focused Napoleon's attention upon it allowing the Spanish forces some time to reorganise and regroup after the defeats they had suffered.

[5] The British Hussars were to gain one more victory over their French counterparts during the Corunna campaign when, on 29 December 1808, at the Battle of Benavente they drove Napoleon's elite Chasseurs à cheval of the Imperial Guard into the River Esla, capturing their commanding general, Lefebvre-Desnouettes.