Napoleon In Spain

Napoleon invades Spain

A series of defeats prompts Napoleon to lead 200,000 men into the peninsula. The British attack near Burgos but are quickly forced into a long retreat punctuated by the battles of Sahagún, Benavente, and Cacabelos, ending with the evacuation of La Coruña in January 1809. Moore was mortally wounded while leading the defense of the city during the Battle of La Coruña. After only two months in Spain, Napoleon handed over command to Marshal Soult and returned to France to prepare for the resumption of hostilities against Austria.

List of proposed battles:

• Vimeiro, August 21, 1808
• Espinosa de los Monteros, November 10, 1808
• Tudela, November 23, 1808
• Coruna, January 16, 1809

November 1808 — January 1809.

A series of defeats prompted Napoleon to send 200,000 men to the peninsula. The British attacked near Burgos, but were quickly forced into a long retreat punctuated by the battles of Sahagún, Benavente, and Cacabelos, which ended with the evacuation of La Coruña in January 1809. Moore was mortally wounded while leading the defense of the city during the Battle of La Coruña. After only two months in Spain, Napoleon handed over command to Marshal Soult and returned to France to prepare for the resumption of hostilities against Austria.

Espinosa de los Monteros

A Spanish army commanded by General Joaquin Blake advanced in the hope of cutting French lines of communication to Bayonne, but was defeated by a French army commanded by Marshal Lefebvre at Zornoza on October 31 and withdrew to Bilbao. Blake then turned back to rescue one of his divisions trapped in the mountains (November 5), before resuming his retreat.

On November 10, three French corps threatened Blake's retreat. Marshal Victor's I Corps pursued him directly through the mountains. Lefebvre's V Corps marched flanking toward Reinosa, well to the southwest of Blake. Marshal Soult's II Corps routed a Spanish army at Gamonal and captured Burgos.

After a skirmish at Valmaceda on November 8, Blake reached Espinosa de los Monteros with 22,000 men. Blake was informed that he was in danger of being cut off. He took advantage of a ridge at Espinosa to take up position north of the Trueba River. On his right, he placed his rearguard of 5,000 experienced soldiers under San Román on a hill near the river. In the center, the ridge descended to a gap held by the vanguard brigade and the 3rd Division.

On the left, the Asturian division held the Las Peñucas ridge. Two divisions and one brigade were in reserve. Victor had about 21,000 infantrymen divided into three divisions. They were to attack from the Campo de Pedralva, a small plain nearby.

The battle began early in the afternoon of November 10, when General Villatte's division arrived well ahead of the rest of the French army. Instead of waiting for Victor, he launched an attack on the Spanish right, masking this attack with six battalions to guard against a counterattack.

After two hours, the Spanish position was holding firm. Around 3 p.m., Victor arrived with his two remaining divisions. These fresh troops attacked the same part of the Spanish right with nine battalions, leaving the rest of the Spanish line intact. This allowed Blake to move his 2nd and 3rd divisions to the right to support San Román. Once again, the French attack was repulsed.

Although the battle continued the next day, most of the casualties were suffered on the first day. Both sides lost about 1,000 men, killed or wounded.

Battle of Tudela

On November 21, Castaños was between Logroño and Tudela. The French III Corps had crossed the Ebro at Logroño, heading east towards Calahorra, while Marshal Ney's column had reached the upper Douro valley and was heading towards Tudela. Castaños' army was in danger of being caught in a pincer movement between two French corps.

Castaños escaped the trap by retreating to Tudela. There, he decided to defend a ten-mile-long front, stretching west of Tudela on the banks of the Ebro, along a small river to Cascante, and then to Tarazona, at the foot of the Sierra de Moncayo. Castaños was well aware that he did not have enough men to defend this line, so he requested assistance from General O'Neille's two divisions at Caparrosa, on the east bank of the Ebro. O'Neille was under the command of Palafox and refused to move without his commander's authorization. This was not granted until noon on November 22. O'Neille reached the east bank of the Ebro, opposite Tudela, late in the day, but then decided to postpone his crossing until the 23rd.

By nightfall on November 22, Castaños' army was stretched very thin. Nearly 45,000 Spanish soldiers were in the vicinity of Tudela, very few of them in the front line. Castaños placed two divisions of his own army at Cascante and Tarazona. His third division was on the east bank of the Ebro, as were the two divisions of the Army of Aragon (O'Neille and Saint March). During the battle on November 23, most of the fighting involved these last three divisions, a force of about 23,000 infantrymen. Castaños also had a large number of cavalrymen (3,600 in total), but he failed to deploy them and was taken completely by surprise.

On the morning of November 23, Lannes divided his corps into two columns. The smaller column, consisting of Lagrange's infantry division and two cavalry brigades, was sent towards Cascante, while the larger column, consisting of Moncey's III Corps, was sent along the Ebro towards Tudela. Lagrange would not take part in the fighting at Tudela. Marshal Lannes' forces numbered just under 34,000 men, including Moncey's four infantry divisions and three cavalry regiments, as well as Lagrange's infantry division and Colbert's cavalry from Ney's corps. On the night before the battle, Lannes' forces had camped at Alfaro, ten miles upstream from Tudela on the Ebro.

As the French advanced, Castaños attempted to get O'Neille's three divisions across the Ebro. General Roca was the first to cross and had just reached his position on the right of the Spanish line when the French launched their first attack. Saint March's division was the second to cross and was also able to take up its assigned place in the line before the French attacked, but O'Neille's division had to repel a force of French skirmishers who had reached the top of the Cabezo Malla ridge before them.

This first French attack was led by Lannes's vanguard. Upon arriving in front of Tudela, the marshal realized that the Spanish were not yet in position and decided to risk an impromptu attack with his leading brigades. This attack was repulsed, but it revealed how weak the Spanish position was. Even after the three divisions at Tudela were in place, there was still a three-mile gap with La Peña's forces at Cascante.

The outcome of the battle would be decided by the actions of La Peña and Grimarest. At noon, both men received orders to move: La Peña was to close the gap with the troops at Tudela, and Grimarest was to move to Cascante. Neither responded. La Peña moved two brigades slightly eastward but took no further action, leaving his division pinned down by two French cavalry brigades. At noon, Castaños himself attempted to reach La Peña to order him to move in person, but his movements were detected by French cavalry and he was only able to escape after a long chase.

Marshal Lannes' second attack was carried out with much greater force. On the French left, Morlot's division attacked Roca's division on the heights above Tudela. On the right, Mathieu's division launched a frontal assault against O'Neille, while attempting to outflank him. Both attacks were successful. Roca's division broke when French troops began to reach the top of the ridge, while O'Neille's was pushed back from the ridge and outflanked. Finally, the French cavalry under Lefebvre-Desnouettes charged into the gap between Roca and Saint March, and the entire Spanish right collapsed.

Meanwhile, on the left, La Peña and Grimarest had finally joined forces at Cascante, giving them a total of about 18,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry. They were opposed by Legrange's division of 6,000 men and a small number of dragoons. After witnessing the defeat of the rest of the Spanish army, they withdrew under cover of darkness. The Spanish left suffered only 200 dead and wounded, while the right lost 3,000 dead and wounded and 1,000 prisoners.

Battle of La Coruña

January 16, 1809

After a desperate retreat through the mountains of northwestern Spain, the British army reached the coast at Betanzos on the morning of January 10, 1809.

On January 12, the first column of French infantry arrived and a day of skirmishes ensued. On January 13, French cavalry under Franceschi found a way to cross the river at Celas, seven miles inland. At this point, Moore ordered Paget to fall back to the heights around La Coruña. Meanwhile, the French crossed the river and then concentrated on repairing the bridge at El Burgo.

On January 14, French artillery managed to cross the bridge, but Soult did not rush towards La Coruña. His army corps was still very scattered. In the afternoon, the British transport fleet reached La Coruña. When fighting began on January 16, the British had embarked their sick and wounded, most of their cavalry, and all but nine of their sixty guns.

There were still 15,000 men left in Moore's army. Many units that had virtually disintegrated during the retreat rallied, especially when they realized that a battle was brewing. Moore decided to defend Monte Mero, a ridge south of La Coruña. It was a reasonably strong position, protected on its left by the Ría del Burgo, but the right end of the ridge was within range of the artillery on the next ridge, the Altos de Peñasquedo, the main French position. To protect his exposed right flank, Moore posted a third of his army as a flank guard, with Fraser's division on the Altos de San Margarita, on the other side of the valley (the division was based in La Coruña with orders to march as soon as fighting began), and Paget's division in Oza, in the valley itself.

The French forces were vastly superior. Soult had 4,500 cavalry and about 40 guns, with just over 27,000 infantry. Even though the French had lost a third of their army during the pursuit, they still had 20,000 infantrymen left. Some French accounts mention only 13,000 infantrymen for Soult, suggesting that the French had lost (or detached) up to half their strength without fighting a single battle!

Delaborde's division was on the French right, Merle in the center, and Mermet on the left, with Lahoussaye and Franceschi to Mermet's left. Soult noticed the weakness of the British position and decided to attack their right flank. A powerful artillery battery was placed on the hills opposite Baird's division. Delaborde and Merle were to attack the British left and center to prevent them from moving reinforcements to the right. Mermet's division was to attack Bentinck's brigade and attempt to outflank its right flank. Lahoussaye's cavalry was to advance through the valley towards the coast, while Franceschi headed directly for La Coruña.

Soult's starting position was on the heights of Palavea and Penasquedo. The terrain was rough, with no roads along the ridges, and it took the French until noon on January 16 to get into position. Moore became increasingly convinced that the French would not attack that day and ordered Paget's division to return to La Coruña to board the transports; between 1:30 and 2:00 p.m., the French attack began.

On the British left, near the river, Delaborde had orders to block the British, but his attack was timid, to say the least. Some fighting took place in the village of Piedralonga, in the valley below the British lines, but it never escalated into a serious confrontation.

The main French attack took place on the British right. The eight cavalry regiments commanded by Lahoussaye and Franceschi began to outflank the British right, eight infantry battalions (two brigades) from Mermet's division advanced from the heights of Penasquedo and moved up the slope towards the British position, Mermet's third brigade began to advance around the British right flank, and French artillery bombarded the British lines. Very early in the battle, General Baird, commander of this flank, was seriously wounded when a cannonball pierced his arm, forcing Moore to take personal command. He recalled Paget from La Coruña and ordered Fraser to take up his observation position to guard against the French cavalry.

The 4th Regiment, on the far right of the line, was ordered to fold back its right flank to guard against a flanking movement, while the 42nd and 50th Regiments advanced to a position from which they could fire volleys at the French columns. After the arrival of the guards called in as reinforcements, the French were forced to retreat and the victorious British were able to embark.