e Douro, upon which they could have subsisted for a long time.

Therefore, calling back the troops that were already on the march
to relieve Badajos, which had not yet surrendered, he advanced with
all speed upon Pombal, his object being to force the French to take
the line of retreat through Miranda for the frontier, and so to
prevent him from crossing the Mondego.

Ney commanded the rear guard, and carried out the operation with
the same mixture of vigour, valour, and prudence with which he,
afterwards, performed the same duty to the French army on its
retreat from Moscow. He fought at Pombal and at Redinha, and that
so strenuously that, had it not been for Trant, Wilson, and other
partisans who defended all the fords and bridges, Massena would
have been able to have crossed the Mondego. Wellington however
turned, one by one, the positions occupied by Ney; and Massena,
believing that the force at Coimbra was far stronger than it really
was, changed his plans and took up a position at Cazal Nova.

Here he left Ney and marched for Miranda but, although Ney covered
the movement with admirable skill, disputing every ridge and post
of vantage, the British pressed forward so hotly that Massena was
obliged to destroy all his baggage and ammunition. Ney rashly
remained on the east side of the river Cerra, in front of the
village of Foz d'Aronce and, being attacked suddenly, was driven
across the river with a loss of 500 men; many being drowned by
missing the fords, and others crushed to death in the passage.
However, Ney held the line of the river, blew up the bridge, and
his division withdrew in good order.

Massena tarnished the reputation, gained by the manner in which he
had drawn off his army from its dangerous position, by the ruthless
spirit with which the operation was conducted; covering his retreat
by burning every village through which he passed, and even ordering
the town of Leiria to be destroyed, although altogether out of the
line he was following.

After this fight the British pursuit slackened somewhat, for
Wellington received the news of the surrender of Badajoz and,
seeing that Portugal was thus open to invasion by Soult, on the
south, despatched Cole's division to join that of Beresford;
although this left him inferior in force to the army he was
pursuing. The advance was retarded by the necessity of making
bridges across the Cerra, which was now in flood, and the delay
enabled Massena to fall back