Battle of Nive

Battles of the Nive
Part of the Peninsular War
Date 9–13 December 1813 Location Bayonne, France Result Allied victory
Belligerents
French Empire	United Kingdom Portugal Spain
Commanders and leaders
Marshal Soult	Marquess of Wellington Luís do Rego Barreto
Strength
62,000	64,000
Casualties and losses
5,914 casualties, 16 guns 2,000 deserted or interned	5,047 casualties

The Battles of the Nive (9–13 December 1813) were fought towards the end of the Peninsular War. Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish army defeated Marshal Nicolas Soult's French army in a series of battles near the city of Bayonne.

Unusually, for most of the battle, Wellington remained with the Reserve delegating command to his senior Lieutenant-Generals Rowland Hill and John Hope.

Wellington's army had successfully pushed the French army out of Spain, over the Pyrenees, and into south-west France. After his defeat at Nivelle, Marshal Soult fell back to a defensive line south of the town of Bayonne along the Adour and Nive rivers.

The rivers and the Bay of Biscay near Bayonne form a rough Greek letter Pi (π). The left vertical leg is the coast, the right vertical leg is the Nive and the crossbar is the Adour. Bayonne is located where the Nive joins the Adour. Initially, Wellington's army was confined to the area between the Bay of Biscay and the Nive. To gain room to manoeuvre, the British general had to establish his army on the east bank of the Nive. Wellington's dilemma was that by separating two wings of his army, he would leave himself open to defeat in detail. Soult, a wily strategist, understood this and tried to take advantage of the situation. By moving the French army through the fortified city of Bayonne, Soult could easily switch his army from one bank of the Nive to the other.

Despite poor weather, Hill led five Anglo-Portuguese divisions (2nd, 3rd, 6th, Portuguese and Pablo Morillo's Spanish Divisions) across to the east bank of the Nive near Ustaritz on 9 December. Meanwhile, the remainder of the British force under Hope (1st, 5th and Light Divisions, Thomas Bradford and Alexander Campbell's independent Portuguese brigades, Lord Aylmer's British brigade and one brigade of the 7th Division) launched diversionary attacks towards Bayonne on the west bank of the Nive. Wellington's Reserve included the 4th and 7th Divisions. About 630 casualties were suffered in these operations.

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