The British stay at the Miserere's Corral wasn't comfortable. After losing the initiative
an advance picket was formed at the current Callao Avenue
where the fire exchange was constant and deadly for both sides.
Whitelocke, quartered at White's ranch, was beginning to yield under the pressure of command.
He believed that his officers were plotting against him and that Gower was planning to takeover command.
As a result of this he ordered a reduction of communications between his staff
and his second in command.
On July 4 Gower's attack plan was taking form.
But his idea was full of mistakes that eventually
were going to cost the British victory.
The first mistake was to separate his forces, allowing the Spaniards to attack each column
separately.
This took away the major advantage
the British had: their discipline in open field combat. By attacking the city
he put his forces in a disadvantageous situation.
Finally, and to make things worse, Gower ordered the troops
to march with their muskets unloaded. The idea was to keep the soldiers moving faster
by not letting them to return the defenders fire.
But the plan was conceived under the assumption that the townspeople would lock in their houses,
just the way it happened during Beresford's invasion, and that the resistance would be concentrated
at the Plaza Mayor and the Fort.
Gower underestimated the strength of the defenses
and he believed that once his troops reached the coast the Spaniards would surrender
as soon as they realize the city was surrounded.
The British officers that were going to execute the plan
weren't impressed by it, but most of them didn't speak against nor give a better alternative.
he widespread belief in the British superiority made
defeat unthinkable.
Only Denis Pack, who saw by himself
what the inhabitants of the city were capable, expressed his doubts, but having the rank of Colonel
made his opinion of little importance and was quickly dismissed.
It was announced that the attack was to commence on July 4 on midday, but Whitelocke wanted to avoid
any plan that could cause heavy casualties and was determined to request the city surrender
one more time.
When Gower and Craufurd expressed their disapproval Whitelocke lose his temper
and shouted at Gower stating that he was sabotaging the operation and he considered him
his personal enemy.
Meanwhile Auchmuty and Pack expressed
their doubts on the time chosen to launch the attack. They didn't have enough time to communicate
the orders to the troops and, by attacking at midday;
the columns would be visible from the city's towers.
Pack once more tried to talk about
the worst mistakes of the plan, but Gower showed his anger at the delay
and the Colonel saw better to keep his opinions to himself.
At nightfall it was clear for the troops, not only they had to execute
a bad plan buy also they lack the tools needed to force the entrance in the houses
they were planned to occupy.
Some officers, like Auchmuty, tried to procure
the tools by themselves, but most of the troop marched with totally ineffective equipment.
At 5 o'clock of July 5 the troops occupy their designated positions to commence the attack.
Most troops were nervous and preoccupied.
British soldiers hate to march into combat with
unloaded muskets and few had experience in urban combat.
When the first sun rays appeared in the horizon the troops started the attack.
On the other side the Spaniards had a loosely organized defense, with eight thousand
soldiers mixed with irregular militias and civilians alike.
Generally the Catalanes carried the guerrilla actions,
he Patricios, with 23 regiments, had a presence in all the city; the Gallegos were concentrated
at the Retiro with Concha's marines; Cantabros and Montañeses were located
near the Santo Domingo church; the Arribeños and Correntinos were near La Merced church and the artillery
was located at the Fort and at Retiro. The cavalry was dismounted and was used as the reserve.
Auchmuty's column marched down the Marcelo T de Alvear Street until arriving at
the corner of Suipacha, where he received and intense fire that make him take
take the Paraguay Street until reaching a little stream, called Zanjón de Matorras, which allowed him to
reach the coast under cover.
Major Francis Miller's column marched down
the Sante Fe Street and had a similar destiny, following Auchmuty's footsteps to the coast.
Meanwhile, on Juncal Street, the troops under Lieutenant Colonel
John Nugent's command reached the Socorro Church where he received fire from a close Spanish position.
The British troops assaulted the place and kill all the defenders with their bayonets.
Unable to advance further on Juncal, defended by cannons, Nugent decided to
assault Riglos' weekend house, from where he advanced under cover to the barracks,
which he quickly captured.
Nugent was able to turn around
an operative cannon and started to bomb the Bullring.
Auchmuty, hearing Nugent's fire assaulted the Bullring and forced their surrender at 9:00hs
after a fierce defense by De la Concha's marines.
Meanwhile, six columns had to advance between the Sarmiento and Viamonte Streets. Four
advanced without any major incident and occupy a couple of houses near
the river between the 25 de Mayo Street and the current Alem Avenue.
Major Richard Vandeleur's column, when arriving at Suipacha Street, received
heavy fire from the Spanish positions. The British troops marched at full speed until reaching the river, where they
find a huge trench and defensive positions at the four corners.
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Duff's column
had the worst luck and clash directly with the
Spanish defenses.
At Suipacha Street the troops were unable to take the San Miguel Church
and it was evident that they were in a very complicated situation.
Duff abandoned the church and advance with his troops until the Florida Street
where they had to take cover and entrench themselves in a couple of houses.
At the south side the 45º regiment advanced with minimal opposition until they occupy
the building known as "The Residence", which was under British control until their surrender.
Pack and Craufurd's columns were the ones that suffered the most
being in the middle of the action and suffering heavy casualties.
ack splited his forces in two. His idea was to take the San Ignacio church
with one column, commanded by Pack himself, advancing on Bolivar Street to Alsina Street.
The second column was under Lieutenant Colonel Henry Cadogan, and would advance on Perú Street
entering the church by the back door and capturing the Rancheria Barracks.
Both columns advanced to Alsina Street where they were received by heavy fire
from all directions.
The Patricios, commanded by Cornelio de Saavedra and Juan
José Viamonte, decimated the British.
The fire was so heavy that Cadogan's column was destroyed and he had to retreat,
arriving at the corner of Perú and Belgrano Street, where he occupied a house known
as the "House of the viceroy's old wife".
Pack also had heavy casualties
and had to retreat until he arrived at the Venezuela Street, where he learned that
Craufurd had occupied the Santo Domingo church. He then moved
his troops to the church.
The church had been occupied with little resistance.
From the rooftops and the tower, the British, opened fire over
the Spanish defenses causing many casualties.
At 7:30 a part of the 45º regiment
ommanded by Lieutenant Colonel William Guard, arrived at Santo Domingo church
to reinforce Craufurd's forces.
The British officers were contemplating
the possibility to advance to de Plaza Mayor, something Pack didn't agree, after seeing how strong
the enemy defenses were. But Craufurd, a very impetuous man, prepared everything
for the attack.
Gower's orders had forbidden the troops
to advance to the Plaza Mayor once they had reached their designated objectives, but
for some reason the south wing of the attack hadn't had that instructions transcribed
on their orders.
The last movement of the plan included
a distraction attack at the center, by Yrigoyen Street, to attract
as many defenders as possible to that area.
But the troops commanded by Lieutenant
Colonel Peter Kington were quickly overwhelmed during the attack and he had to retreat when
the Spanish troops started to surround him.
By eleven the combat was starting to be
more and more favorable to the Spanish side.
Duff maintained a resistance at the houses of Mitre and Florida Street, but
after a while the forces commanded by Martín Rodriguez open their way
to the back of the position and forced the British to surrender.
Meanwhile, at the coast, Vandeleur's forces couldn't resist for too long
the violent Spanish attack and after having heavy casualties he had to surrender when they were
completely surrounded.
With every defeated British column
more and more Spanish soldiers were freed to attack the columns that still resisted.
This made Lumley's position to become very dangerous as he was soon to
be surrounded an overwhelmed.
Colonel Francisco Javier de Elío requested Lumley's surrender by telling him that
his position was untenable.
The Brit refused and Elío advance
by the shoreline with two guns to bomb the houses.
Lumley ordered his men to charge the Spanish position, forcing Elío to retreat
abandoning his guns.
But the victory was brief. The new position
was under the range of the Fort and the British had to retreat
to avoid the artillery fire.
By two o'clock it was clear to
Lumley that his situation was critical and he ordered his troops to retreat to El Retiro where
he would join forces with Auchmuty.
On the other side of the city Cadogan was commanding
a desperate resistance at the house of the "Viceroy's Old Wife".
The amount of dead
and wounded was so large that the storm drains poured blood just like water.
With no more options Cadogan surrendered at eleven o'clock.
Quickly the troops that defeated Cadogan move to Santo Domingo where they
concentrate their fire over the British.
At midday Liniers informed
Craufurd of the other British columns surrender and requested him his capitulation,
something the British officer refused.
But it was clear for Craufurd that his situation
was dangerous and he ordered to retreat to "The Residencia".
But by 1 o'clock the Spaniards had surrounded the church and when the British tried
to force an exit they were riddled with fire and left 40 men dead on the street.
Liniers ordered the bombardment of the church to force the surrender.
Many guns were placed
near Santo Domingo and it was also attacked from the Fort.
The British resisted as much as they could but at 3 o'clock it was clear
the situation was untenable and Craufurd surrendered to Colonel Elío.
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