battled in every street and building possible. The French continued exhausting all tactics, including proposing the negotiation of surrender in exchange for concessions, which was sardonically declined by Palafox. On August 3, the French breached the door to Santa Engracia. Eleven days later, they began a fire that destroyed the convent and allowed them to capture half if Zaragosa. Another attempt at capitulation was met with more cynicism. The population, accepting their death as a likely outcome, sang songs of defiance in favor of dying before surrendering. Both actions impressed Valero de Bernabé. He participated in the attack that took place on December 21, 1808. Decline of Zaragosa By January, the accumulation of dead bodies had become a worse health risk taking the life of José de Manzo (who was replaced by Gaspar de Teballer), with the Spanish using the French prisoners to remove the bodies of their compatriots. Valero de Bernabé was confounded by the choice of hours to exchange fire, which was mostly limited to the night hours. He recorded the actions of a young woman named Agustina Domenech, who took over a post by herself after all men had fallen and manned a cannon against the French. During the attack that took place on January 2, 1809, Valero de Bernabé managed to take over a strategic building and two pieces of artillery. The remaining survivors of Arrabal were forced to man the batteries without guard changes, due to the losses. Personally, Valero de Bernabé also suffered the loss of Duxtrax, killed in action. During the morning of February 8, the French made a move to take Arrabal, forcing the Spanish to surrender the Convento de Jesús. However, after the military including Valero de Bernabé counterattacked once they breached the adjacent Church, forcing them to retreat after suffering several casualty. His performance at Zaragoza lead to two successive promotions, the first to Lt. Colonel as a direct consequence of this exchange, from which he emerged with an injury in his right leg. His cousin was forced to leave after falling prey to the sickness, with Valero de Bernabé inheriting the responsibilities of the Major General. The part proved risky, as he had to travel to the palace where general Palafox was situated adjacent to Arrabal at least twice a day, being exposed. By this point, most of city of Zaragoza had been reduced to rubble, with the remaining