What's the beef, Wellington?

 We really liked Salamanca. It was interesting, clean and appeared to be thriving. However, one can't visit Salamanca without seeing the Peninsula War battlefield just 7 km away.

Wellington's advance out of Portugal surprised the French and the Allies were able to capture Salamanca easily. Marmont, heading the French army, moved to stop the Allied advance, and to cut them off from Portugal. 

Wellington moved south from Salamanca as Marmont moved west, and they met at Arapiles. Outside that village, to the west rise two lumps, the Lesser and Greater Arapiles.

A crap photo, but it shows how significant the two features are.

The Lesser Arapile from the village of the same name. Just visible to the left is Wellington's vantage point during the battle.

Reggie plays 4wd to visit the Greater Arapile. The two heights are interesting geologically as they stick out from the plain like a mesa. The rocky tops are like natural fortresses.

Marmont sent his troops to and behind the Greater Arapile while the Allies took the Lesser. However, Wellington had a less obstructed view of French movements than Marmont of the Allied, so was able to react with more information. 

The video shows the view from the top of the Lesser Arapile. The Allied advance from Salamanca was hidden behind a ridge while the French were crossing open terrain.

The view from the French position is still magnificent and you wonder how the French command managed to lose control as they did.

The entire battlefield from Greater Arapile.

Two of the French divisions outstripped the advance of the rest of the French army, and Wellington could see this clearly from his vantage point. He took the opportunity and sent his right wing to jump these isolated units. In 40 minutes the French units were destroyed. Marmont may have been able to avoid this but at a crucial time was wounded.

Gratuitous shot of Reggie toward the killing ground of two French divisions. The Allied 3rd Division was able to advance covered by another ridge at rear right of shot. They attacked in combination with Allied cavalry and caught the French completely by surprise somewhere around the darker green patch at rear.

The day was still not lost for the French, as the Allies had failed to capture the Greater Arapile. However, helped by command confusion causes by Marmont's wounding and the death of his two successors in turn, the British prevailed in fighting on the plain between the hills and the village and the French were forced to withdraw.

The strategic implications were great. French invincibility was proven a myth. Joseph had to pull forces out from areas all over Spain, and then to abandon Madrid. We've seen that from Salamanca the French were forced into a continuous retreat all the way to France.

A memorial to the battle on the Greater Arapile. This view is to Arapile village, and Wellington's vantage point. After the defeat of the overextended French van, the bulk of the fighting was in the fields between this hill and the village.

Just a cairn for Lesser Arapile. The Greater is in the distance. Artillery was hauled to the top of both and a duel was fought throughout the day. Pack's division advanced across the ground between the two lumps. You can just make out Reggie on what must have been the form-up point.

I really liked this battlefield visit. The two Arapiles gave fantastic views over the battlefield and all the way to Salamanca. There is a museum in the village that gets good reviews but was closed when we visited. There are also several plaques in Spanish and English and they also have QR links to audioguides (though the voice acting was not great).

But there was more history to see here. Around the corner was the site of the oldest bull fighting ring recorded. 1st C AD!

There was no info on this site and it has clearly been renovated for current use.

The bull ring, with the Arapiles in the distance. I wonder if any French soldiers wondered about the stones he was sitting on? The French advance was from left of shot to the left of the Greater Arapile in centre rear.

The ring is clearly still in use though there is no information about that either.

We didn't do a big drive, but it was through mile after mile of olive groves. Lunch was in a town that appeared to be the ham centre of Spain: there were processing plants and shops all along the main street of Guijeras. Not much good to Judi.

Park-up is in Canaveral, though you'd be hard pressed to see any connection to the Cape. We had a good chat with an English couple, our first real talk with anyone since leaving the UK that was not over t'internet!