artillery scored a lucky hit on a Spanish artillery caisson behind the right wing. The resulting explosion set off a series of blasts that provoked Blake's men into a panicky flight from the field. The French lost about 200 casualties while their opponents lost ten times as many, plus 20 ammunition wagons. One source credited Laval with command of the 1st Division in this engagement. Having cleared the Ebro valley, Suchet sent Musnier to fight guerillas to the north, while Laval battled the Spanish to the south. For the remainder of 1809, the III Corps waged local anti-guerilla operations. A January 1810 order of battle shows that Habert commanded Suchet's 3rd Division, though he still ranked as a general of brigade. Its strength was 4,329 men in seven battalions. At this time King Joseph Bonaparte insisted that Suchet capture Valencia. Accordingly, the III Corps commander advanced to the gates of that port city on 6 March, but within four days abandoned the futile blockade and retreated. Instead, Suchet advanced on Lleida (Lerida), arriving before the city on 15 April and inflicting a stinging repulse to a Spanish relief force on 23 April at Margalef. The French sat down to begin the Siege of Lerida on 29 April. During the operation, Habert's division included two battalions each of the 5th Light and 116th Line Infantry Regiments, three battalions of the 117th Line, and two foot artillery batteries. The Spanish governor Garcia Conde surrendered on 13 May with 7,000 men. Suchet followed this success with the Siege of Mequinenza by investing the town and its fortress on a bluff high above the Ebro River, on 15 May. After cutting a new road up the height, the French dragged their siege guns within range and began a bombardment of the castle. The Spanish commander capitulated with 1,000 men around 5 June. Habert's 3rd Division participated in the operation. Suchet's next assignment was to seize the fortress-city of Tortosa, a strategically important location which controlled the lower Ebro crossing between Barcelona and Valencia. The III Corps managed to isolate the city, but was unable to begin a formal siege for many months because of the activities of Spanish guerillas and regular armies in both Aragon and Catalonia. However, Suchet finally got his heavy artillery forward and Marshal Jacques MacDonald arrived with his VII Corps to cover the proposed operation by 10 December. The Siege