the day. Joseph and Jourdan failed to employ their reserve, for which they were bitterly criticized by Napoleon. Aftermath The Spanish campaign in late 1809 proceeded with the Talavera campaign in the Battle of Almonacid. Talavera The French, in this hard-fought set-piece battle, lost 7,389: 944 killed, 6,294 wounded, 156 prisoners. The Allies lost more: 7,468. The Spanish casualties were about 1,200 and British casualties were 6,268, including 800 killed, over the two days of fighting. This was approximately 25% of the British force, compared to only 18% of the French, although it is clear that the brunt of the French attack fell on the British. Many of the wounded on both sides were burnt to death when the dry grass of the battlefield caught fire, as Lieutenant-General John Elley wrote to his sister: "[...] the ground on which the battle was fought was clothed with corn, long grass and heath. The fire of the artillery was excessive and set fire to the corn and grass, the consequence was a number of the wounded were literally roasted alive. The enemy abandoned great numbers of their wounded, which together with our own we have been collecting [...]"The next day, the 3,000 infantry of the Light Division reinforced the British army after completing a famous march of in 26 hours. Meanwhile, Marshal Soult advanced south, threatening to cut Wellesley off from Portugal. Thinking that the French force was only 15,000 strong, Wellesley moved east on 3 August to block it, leaving 1,500 wounded in the care of the Spanish. Spanish guerillas captured a message from Soult to Joseph that Soult had 30,000 men and brought it to Wellesley. The British commander, realising his line of retreat was about to be cut by a larger French force, sent the Light Brigade on a mad dash for the bridge over the Tagus River at Almaraz. The light infantry reached there on 6 August, just ahead of Soult. By 20 August, all British forces had withdrawn across the mountains and for the next six months, until 27 February 1810, Wellesley's forces took no part in the hard fighting in southern Spain and along the Portuguese border, despite numerous invitations from the Spanish. The Spanish had also promised food to the British if they advanced back into Spain, but Wellington, with an army incapable of living off the land like the French and without its own