 Soult, a wily strategist, understood this and tried to take advantage of the situation.By moving the French army through the fortified city of Bayonne, Soult could easily switch his army from one bank of the Nive to the other.Despite poor weather, Hill led five Anglo-Portuguese divisions (2nd, 3rd, 6th, Portuguese and Pablo Morillo's Spanish Divisions) across to the east bank of the Nive near Ustaritz on 9 December.