On 27 November 1781, roughly 2,500 British and Hanoverian troops leave Gibraltar in three columns before the Spanish can launch their own attack. Highlanders and Hanoverians overrun batteries and trenches, while artificers and pioneers spike guns, burn ammunition, and demolish platforms and siege structures. The force returns after suffering only two killed and 25 wounded, having inflicted more than one hundred casualties and destroyed an estimated fourteen months of work. The episode overturns the usual image of a passive garrison: Gibraltar's defenders use preparation, surprise, and engineering to attack the machinery of the siege itself.
Chapter · 1:44:10-1:51:33
The besieged garrison destroys the Spanish attack works first
Elliott preempts a planned Spanish assault with a night sortie that captures forward batteries, destroys fourteen months of siege work, and demonstrates the offensive value of the garrison's engineers.