launched numerous waves, until their final retreat at 4:00 p.m. when they moved out of range. Valero de Bernabé considered this day a decisive win, nothing that there were French remains scattered throughout the battleground and piled against their defense. Rumors spread during the days that followed, some citing that either the Duque del Infantado or general Reding would come to help, others that Bonaparte was trapped at the Paular Monastery. Cautious, the town celebrated these by tolling the bells and singing religious songs. As the French exploited these to launch all sort of ammunition, including incendiary bombs and heated cannonballs, Valero de Bernabé suspected that they were responsible for the dubious information. As Zaragosa burned, the lack of food was complicated by the outbreak of an epidemic, killing some of those trapped within and driving others to suicide. The able civilians, both men and women, joined the resistance. Children were also involved in aiding those in the frontline along their mothers. Valero de Bernabé was impressed both by the misery and the heroism that coexisted within the battle. The French had now sieged Zaragosa for two months, with the resistance frustrating marshal Lannes who wrote to Bonaparte that they were being confronted and attacked by the townspeople who refused to surrender, something that he found disconcerting. The French continued focused on taking control of the area of Arrabal, considered a strategic point. Valero de Bernabé's division was located at the Monjas de Altavoz Convent, where the soldiers sought refuge along the nuns that remained there. Religious buildings, due to their structure and sturdiness, were of strategic advantage. On January 27, the French managed to capture the Monastery of Santa Engracia. Three days later the monasteries of the Greek Augustinians and Santa Mónica also fell, taking more than 70 buildings away from the Spanish resistance. Valero de Bernabé was aided by a nun named Sor Dorotea, who shared her own food with him. She was also responsible for saving his life by moving his bed, concerned that it was adjacent to a cold draft, only for its former location to be bombed shortly afterwards. Valero de Bernabé brushed the incident aside, but the nun was startled and fainted. The French continued pushing forward, capturing all of the terrain outside the city by early February, systematically breaching Zaragosa as well. The battle, however, was arduous for the emaciated Spanish and was