COMMEMORATION OF 200 ANNIVERSARY OF THE SIEGES OF BADAJOZ
From the bastions of Santiago (today "monumental parking") and from that of San Juan (today impersonal blocks of ten heights), the batteries of the square were throwing dozens of cannon-shots on the big waves of Napoleonic troops that were trying to advance towards the interior of the square. From Pardaleras's fort (today Latin American's Museum of Modern Art), taken by the Gallic troops, the imperial gunners were trying to demolish repeatedly the curtain that was joining the bastions of San Juan and Santiago. Strong blazes were igniting the night, stopping to see the destruction and the terror that within the walls, the defenseless civil population was suffering. Between flash and flash, it was possible to glimpse the great gap that was opened in the semiruined wall.Under her, an enormous bank of stones and land, it was facilitating the way where the final assault might be effected to the city. Under her, an enormous bank of stones and land, it was facilitating the way where the final assault might be effected to the city.
Hundreds of dead men and injured men were accumulated in trenches and parapets, victims of the thousands of impacts of musketry, cannons and mortars. The audacity of the defenders was unheard-of, so in spite of the terrible site, every day they were breaking the fence and were throwing his cavalry against the French rear, cultivated field of death and I disconcert places as dispersed as the Hill of the Wind, that of San Miguel or Orinaza's Slopes. In one of these crucial moments, the intrepid general put out between the gunboats, is reached by the grapeshot that crosses his body, this time of definitive form.
