With Ciudad Rodrigo in his hands Wellington moved south to lay siege once more to Badajoz, by far the strongest French-held fortress on the Portuguese border. Once again Wellington deceived the French by leaving a thin screen of cavalry behind which his main army was able to march south without being detected.

Badajoz, capital of Estremadura, was a much more formidable proposition than Rodrigo and had been besieged twice before by the British, in May and June 1811. This time Wellington hoped it would be a case of `third time lucky.' Its fortifications formed an enclosure of nine bastions connected by walls of between 20 to 46 feet high with a castle that acted as citadel. The town was also covered by several outworks; the Fort San Christobal, the lunette Werle and the Tete du Pont, all on the right bank of the Guadiana and linked to the town by a Roman bridge. On the left bank were the lunettes Picurina, Pardaleras and San Roque, all strong outworks covering the southern approaches to the town. Inside the town the French garrison consisted of around 5,000 men all ranks, including a detachment of the crack German Hesse d'Armstadt Regiment. Commanding these troops was the governor of the town, Armand Phillipon, who was to prove a brave and resourceful adversary.

Wellington decided to attack Badajoz by breaching its walls on the southern side at the Santa Maria and Trinidad bastions and on March 16th 1812 3,000 British troops broke ground about a thousand yards from Fort Picurina. The weather was atrocious with high winds and cold, heavy rain and for the first week or so the weather was as bad as any of the men digging could remember. In spite of this the digging, loathed by the ordinary soldier as `navvy's work', pushed on briskly. So quick was the progress that a sortie was made on March 19th by the French who captured many valuable entrenching tools as well as doing much damage to the works.

Each day saw the unmasking of a new battery but the French themselves were not idle, constructing all manner of defensive works to make the forthcoming assault all the more dangerous. One of the most effective works constructed by the French was a dam constructed at the lunette San Roque. This dam across the Rivellas had created a false lake or inundation in front of the British trenches and meant that their attack would have to be made across the front of the French guns. This would cramp them in their approach and was something which was to cause the stormers many problems. Attempts were made to blow it up but none were successful. On the night of March 25th, 500 men of the 3rd and Light Divisions stormed the Fort Picurina and next morning work got underway constructing batteries inside it.

With two French armies marching to relieve Badajoz the taking of the place became a time problem for Wellington. He knew that it would take a while for satisfactory breaches to be made but was aware that to wait too long might force him into fighting a covering action similar to that fought by Beresford the year before at Albuera.

Throughout the rest of March and until April 5th the British guns blasted away at to breach the Santa Maria and Trinidad bastions. They were reported practicable at sunset on the 5th but even as he inspected them through his telescope Wellington was informed that approaching French armies were just a few days away. He knew that to take the fortress by storm would cost him hundreds of casualties but as time was running out he gave orders that Badajoz was to be stormed that night.

The British troops duly prepared for the assault they believed would be made that night but shortly before the appointed hour a group of officers arrived in camp with a report that Wellington had postponed the assault until after dark the next night, the 6th. In the meantime a third breach would be made in the curtain wall between the two existing breaches. This delay has often been cited as one of the reasons behind the high casualty figure sustained by the British during the assault because Phillipon took the opportunity to shore up the defences and turn the breaches into death traps. The French had dug a ditch in which Wellington had hoped to form his men but the defenders, unseen, now filled it with water and this was to cause the stormers a great deal of trouble. Also, all the accessible places had been blocked with savage chevaux-de-frise, made from razor sharp sword blades. Fascines, woolpacks and sandbags replaced fallen ramparts and the slopes of the breaches were covered with planks of wood, studded with twelve-inch spikes and chained to the ground. Barrels of gunpowder were placed ready to be rolled down into the ditch to exploded amongst the British and all sorts of shells and explosives were laid along the ramparts ready for use.

Wellington timed the assault to begin shortly before 10 o'clock at night. Picton's 3rd Division was to cross the Rivellas and take the castle by escalade; the 4th Division, under Colville, was to storm the breach in the Trinidad bastion; the Light Division was to storm the Santa Maria bastion and finally, Leith's 5th Division was to take Fort Pardaleras and continue on to storm the San Vincente bastion by escalade. A detachment under Major Wilson of the 48th, meanwhile, was to take the lunette San Roque. It will be noted that the attacks by the 3rd and 5th Divisions were intended to be just diversionary attacks, the breaches being the main points of attack. Yet, as we shall see, these two escalades were to prove the decisive factors in the storming of Badajoz.

By late afternoon on April 6th everything was ready. The hour had been set and the troops waited in darkness as the clock in Badajoz toiled away each hour until finally, at twenty minutes to ten the attack finally got underway.

First into action was the detachment under Major Wilson that attacked the San Roque. After a brief fight the fort was taken with little resistance from the French. Shortly afterwards, the main attack began. The `Forlorn Hope' went first followed by the storming parties who dashed forward to the edge of the ditch, placed their ladders in position and descended. More British troops stormed forward and soon the ditch was filled with men crowding together. Suddenly, a bright flame shot up exposing the British to the French who had been watching and waiting for the ditch to fill up before lighting the fuses that would explode the mines beneath it.

Some British troops who survived the first rush forward said afterwards that it was like a volcano. The columns were blown to pieces by the mines and by the incredible fire of grape and musketry that was poured into the ditch from the ramparts. Hundreds of men were swept away in an instant. The Light Division let out a deafening cheer and leapt into the chasm too, only to be flung back by the furious French fire from behind the breaches. The 4th Division joined in to attack the Trinidad bastion but in the confusion it met with disaster when the leading columns jumped into the ditch filled with water, scores drowning before the mistake was realised.

By now both the 4th and Light Divisions were mixed together and both made for the same point, an unfinished ravelin that, in the darkness, they believed to be one of the breaches. They swarmed over it but again they were met by a blaze of musketry and grape and were swept from it like sand in the wind. They were confused and blinded by the fiery explosions that erupted around them and when a Portuguese brigade joined in the attack it only added to the confusion. Blows were exchanged as the men struggled to free themselves and many were simply carried forward on the points of the bayonets of those behind. The cheering, the shouts and the sounds of the explosions and gunfire were now added to by the roar of the British guns in the trenches.

But in spite of the incredibly brave attempts by the British to mount the breaches no impression could be made and the French, gaining in confidence, came forward, jeering and inviting the British to `come into Badajoz'. Not a single British soldier had entered the town even though over forty rushes were made at the breaches. The situation was critical. The dead lay in ever increasing heaps, many of them burning, while the wounded crawled and staggered around in the darkness seeking shelter. As the frustrated and despairing troops were driven back the desperate British attacks began to fade, leaving behind nearly 2,000 of Wellington's best men smashed upon the defences.

The attack on the castle by Picton's 3rd Division had been raging with equal ferocity. Picton, in fact, had been wounded early in the attack and command passed to General Kempt. The British troops had first to cross the Rivellas which was done by either wading through the water or by crossing the dam. The dam, however, was very narrow and could only be passed in single file. Soon, it was a seething mass of impatient soldiers and when the French guns opened on it many slipped over the edge and drowned in the inundation.

When the enraged British troops finally got to the castle walls the ladders were placed against them and were quickly mounted by the men. At the top they were met by French defenders armed with bayonets, muskets and pikes and they simply pushed the ladders from the walls to send them crashing down amongst the crowds of soldiers waiting below. Time after time the British troops mounted the ladders only to be tossed back by the French who hurled logs, rocks and barrels of gunpowder down on them. An hour had passed but, as at the breaches, no impression could be made. However, just as the French began to sense victory Colonel Ridge, of the 5th Regiment, seized one of the ladders and placed it against the castle where the wall was lower where an embrasure afforded the men some protection. Ridge called out to his men to follow him and soon the ladder was crowded from top to bottom, so quickly in fact that before the French could push it away the weight had become too great and the ladder stayed firmly in place against the wall. Ridge pressed on with his sword guarding his head and with the bayonets of those behind him thrust upwards to protect him. Then, incredibly, he was standing on the castle ramparts.

The British troops rushed furiously up the ladders to support him and at last the tide seemed to turn in their favour. More British troops came up to consolidate the position and soon the castle was in British hands. Tragically, Ridge, the first man to enter the town, was shot dead soon afterwards as he led his men through the gloom of the castle which Phillipon had hoped would provide a last place of refuge in the event of the British attacks on the breaches being successful. Now, that hope had gone and with it went all hope of holding the town.

As the 3rd Division cleared the castle news of its fall gradually filtered back to Phillipon and then to the French troops defending the breaches. The news came as a great shock to them and panic and disorder quickly set in.

Away at the San Vincente bastion the 5th Division had also escaladed the high walls, the men performing a remarkably brave feat in climbing the walls in the face of stiff opposition. Once inside, they made for the breaches with bugles sounding the advance and when they were answered by those of the 3rd Division all French resistance at the breaches collapsed.

All this time Wellington had been watching intently with some dismay as his men were smashed against the defences but just as he was about to sound the recall an officer rode up with the news that Picton's men had taken the castle. Upon hearing this news Wellington ordered the 4th and Light Divisions into the breaches once more but this time they met with only limited resistance. Even so, the breaches were incredibly difficult to negotiate and the men still had trouble getting through.

It was now about two o'clock in the morning of April 7th and Badajoz was finally in British hands, Governor Phillipon managing to escape across the Guadiana to the Fort San Christobal where he and his staff surrendered a few hours later.

Inside the town all hell was let loose as the victorious British troops embarked on the now infamous orgy of debauchery and destruction, fuelled not only by the fury of the assault but also by the large amounts of liquor found inside the town. They had endured a miserable last 21 days in the trenches and had suffered terribly getting inside the town. Once there, however, their anger found vent and they dissolved into a dangerous mob of drunken disorderly soldiers.

In all, the capture of Badajoz cost Wellington some 5,000 men of which 3,000 had become casualties during the assault including five generals, Picton, Kempt, Bowes, Harvey and Colville who were wounded. The 4th and Light Divisions suffered 1,000 casualties, all of whom were struck down in a small area just one hundred yards long in front of the breaches. It was little wonder, therefore, that Wellington was moved to say afterwards, "The capture of Badajoz affords as strong an instance of the gallantry of our troops as has ever been displayed. But I anxiously hope that I shall never again be the instrument of putting them to such a test as that to which they were put last night."