Nevertheless, Melchor Aymerich had an ace up his sleeve, so to speak. During the march up Pichincha, he had detached his crack "Aragón" battalion from his main force, ordering it to make for the top of the volcano, so as to fall upon the rear of the Patriots when the time came, and break their lines. The "Aragón" battalion — a veteran Spaniard unit that had seen plenty of action both during the Peninsular War and in South America — was now above the Patriots. As luck would have it, just as it was about to charge down onto the faltering Patriot line, it was stopped dead in its tracks by the English, Scots and Irish veterans of "Albión", which made a surprise entry into the battle. As it was, the Albión had actually advanced to a position higher than the Spaniards. Soon, the "Magdalena" battalion joined in the fight, and the "Aragón", after suffering heavy losses, was put out of action. The Colombians from the "Magdalena" then went up to the line to replace the "Paya", which was forced to pull back, and charged upon the Royalist line, which was finally broken.