Battle of the Gebora
Encyclopedia
The Battle of the Gebora was a minor battle of the Peninsular War
between Spanish
and French
armies. It occurred on 19 February 1811, near Badajoz
, Spain, where an outnumbered French force routed and nearly destroyed the Spanish Army of Extremadura
.
In a bid to help extricate Marshal André Masséna
's army from its position in Portugal—mired in front of Lisbon
's defensive Lines of Torres Vedras
—Marshal Jean de Dieu Soult led part of the French Armée du Midi
(Army of the South) from Andalusia
into the neighbouring Spanish region of Extremadura and laid siege
to the important fortress town of Badajoz. Viscount Wellington
and the Spanish Captain-General Pedro Caro de La Romana
sent a large Spanish army to raise the siege. La Romana, however, died before the army could depart, and command fell to General Gabriel Mendizabal
. Supported by a small force of Portuguese cavalry, the Spaniards reached the town and camped on the nearby heights of San Cristóbal in early February 1811.
When Mendizabal ignored Wellington's instructions and failed to entrench his army, Soult took advantage of the vulnerable Spanish position and sent a small force to attack the Spaniards. On the morning of 19 February, French forces under Marshal Édouard Mortier
quickly defeated the Spanish army, inflicting 1,000 casualties and taking 4,000 prisoners while losing only 400 men. The victory allowed Soult to concentrate on his assault of Badajoz, which fell to the French on 11 March and remained in French hands until the following year.
patrols remained outside the defensive Lines, while Masséna's Army of Portugal concentrated around Sobral, seemingly in preparation to attack the Lines. After a fierce skirmish
on 14 October, the French dug themselves in rather than launch a full-scale assault, remaining entrenched for a month before withdrawing to a position between Santarém
and Rio Maior
.
Napoleon
had previously sent dispatches to Marshal Soult, commander of the Army of the South, urging him to send assistance to Masséna in Portugal. However, the Emperor's orders, which called for only a small force, were based on outdated intelligence, and the situation had changed considerably by the time Soult received them. 30,000 Allied troops and six major fortresses
now stood between the French army and the Portuguese capital, making an attack against Lisbon virtually impossible. Nevertheless compelled to act, Soult instead gathered an army of 20,000 men, mainly from V Corps
, and launched an expedition into Extremadura with the aim of capturing the Spanish fortress at Badajoz and thereby drawing some of the Allied forces away from Masséna and the Lines of Torres Vedras.
Soult divided his army into two contingents and advanced into Extremadura via the two main passes leading from Andalusia into the Guadiana
valley, with the intention of rejoining at Almendralejo
. One of the columns, commanded by General Marie Victor Latour-Maubourg
, met little resistance on its march; on 3 January 1811, the column was confronted by 2,500 Spanish and Portuguese cavalry near Usagre
, but that force was only a screen covering the retreat beyond the Guadiana of a Spanish infantry
division commanded by General Mendizabal. Latour-Maubourg was therefore able to take position near Almendralejo and await the arrival of the second French column.
That second column, commanded by Soult and including General Honoré Gazan's V Corps division
, was escorting the French siege-train and therefore had to take a longer, more practicable route into Extremadura. Bad weather and the desertion of the Spanish drivers caused the artillery
train to become separated from the escorting infantry, a problem that was further complicated when the column was threatened by 5,000 Spanish troops under General Francisco Ballesteros
. When confronted by Marshal Mortier, Ballesteros retreated without suffering serious harm but remained a threat to the rear of the French column. For this reason, Soult directed Gazan's infantry to head off the Spanish force and protect the delayed siege-train, while he himself continued onward to Almendralejo with his cavalry. As a result, Soult finally joined Latour-Maubourg on 6 January with only a fraction of his original column and no heavy artillery.
Soult could not besiege
so strong a fortress as Badajoz with his reduced force and therefore changed his plans. Sending his light cavalry
under Brigadier General
André Briche
to take Mérida
and leaving four squadrons of dragoon
s at Albuera
to watch the garrison at Badajoz, he marched with the remainder of his army to invest
Olivenza
. Wellington had previously advised General Pedro Caro de La Romana, commander of the Spanish Army of Extremadura, either to destroy the fortification at Olivenza or to repair its defences and fully garrison it; La Romana in turn had instructed Mendizabal to slight
the fortress, but Mendizabal ignored this order and instead reinforced the garrison with four infantry battalion
s. Soult, arriving on 11 January, was therefore confronted with a strongly garrisoned, but untenable, fortress. The heavy French artillery finally began to arrive on 19 January, and by 22 January, a poorly-repaired breach in the fortress's walls had been reopened. The garrison surrendered on 23 January, with over 4,000 Spanish troops from the Army of Extremadura taken captive.
Soult was now in a difficult position: although he had a large (4,000-strong) contingent of cavalry, deploying two battalions to escort the prisoners taken at Olivenza back to French-held Seville left him only 5,500 infantry with which to continue his campaign. Moreover, although his siege-train had begun to arrive, the continued absence of Gazan's infantry division left him with a weakened army. Despite these problems, Soult decided to besiege Badajoz in hopes that Wellington would send reinforcements to the Spanish fortress and thereby reduce the Allied forces facing Masséna at the Lines of Torres Vedras. On 26 January, Soult marched for Badajoz, sending Latour-Maubourg with six cavalry battalions across the Guadiana to blockade the fortress's northern approach, and by 27 January, the first siege of Badajoz had begun. Gazan's division eventually re-joined Soult's army on 3 February, further strengthening the besieging force by 6,000 men.
Meanwhile, Mendizabal had retreated to the Portuguese border after sending two battalions to reinforce the garrison at Badajoz. Weakened by the defeat at Olivenza and by Ballesteros's continued absence, he sent to La Romana for reinforcements, receiving on 14 January 1,800 men sent from Abrantes
and under the command of Carlos de España. Additionally, about 6,000 troops were sent forward from the Lines of Torres Vedras on 19 January, arriving at Elvas on 29 January. When these forces joined with Mendizabal's remaining 3,000 men, a Spanish cavalry division, and a brigade of Portuguese horse, the Allies had an army almost 15,000 strong, intended to be under the command of La Romana, with which to hold Soult in check. La Romana, however, died of an aneurysm
on 23 January, and command of the army then fell to Mendizabal.
Before his sudden death, La Romana had met with Wellington and agreed on a plan for the campaign—the army was to entrench on the heights of San Cristóbal, with its right flank protected by the fort of San Cristóbal, its front covered by the Gebora and Guadiana rivers, the left guarded by the fortress at Campo Maior
, and Elvas protecting the rear. Although aware of this plan when he took command, Mendizabal chose to ignore the instructions upon arriving on the north bank of the Guadiana on 5 February. Instead, he stationed the bulk of his infantry in Badajoz, leaving only a small contingent of foot soldiers and his cavalry below San Cristóbal. On 7 February, Mendizabal launched a strong sally against the besieging French lines: the Portuguese cavalry, supported by a small group of infantrymen, feinted towards the French left wing while a strong force of 5,000 men attacked the right. The Spaniards under de España drove through the first French parallel to engage one of General Jean-Baptiste Girard's
brigades and were only driven back when Mortier sent several battalions to Girard's aid. De España pulled back to Badajoz, having lost 650 men and causing 400 French casualties.
On 9 February, Mendizabal withdrew most of his men from Badajoz, leaving behind a 7,000-strong garrison. The field army
's 9,000 infantry settled on the heights of San Cristóbal while the 3,000 horse encamped behind them on the plains of the Caya. The Spanish commander again ignored Wellington's plan, failing to dig entrenchments on the heights; nor did he send out a cavalry screen to protect his front and monitor the French movements. Soult, however, largely ignored the Spanish army for the next few days, concentrating instead on building up his siege lines and battering Badajoz. Heavy rains also flooded both the Guadiana and Gebora rivers, rendering them impassable, so that between 11–18 February, the French were only able to shell
the southern end of the Spanish line
, pushing the Spaniards further away from Badajoz and the protection of the San Cristóbal fort.
By the afternoon of 18 February, the rains had abated, and lower water levels made the Gebora river fordable again. That evening, Soult sent nine infantry battalions, three cavalry squadrons, and two artillery batteries
, under Mortier's command, to the north bank across a flying bridge over the Guadiana river. Joined by six cavalry regiments under Latour-Maubourg, the French now had 4,500 infantrymen, 2,500 cavalry, and 12 cannon ready to attack the Spanish lines at dawn on 19 February. Due to heavy fog that morning, Mendizabal was unaware of the approaching French until his picket
, only a mile from his front, was driven back by Mortier's infantry fording the Gebora. At the same time, the 2nd Hussar
s, sent by Latour-Maubourg to turn the Spanish left flank, had managed to climb the heights to the north, also undetected, and fell upon one of Carlos de España's unsuspecting regiments.
Mortier demonstrated his tactical prowess in the deployment of his small force: he sent all his cavalry to the north to attack the Spanish left; three battalions were sent south between the fort at San Cristóbal and the Spanish right wing; and his remaining six infantry battalions assaulted the Spanish front. As the fog rose, the French light cavalry under Briche gained the heights and fell upon the Spanish left flank while Latour-Maubourg took three dragoon
regiments to attack the combined Spanish and Portuguese cavalry on the plains of the Caya. Despite outnumbering the French, the Allied horse ignored orders and immediately fled towards Elvas and Campo Maior. They escaped unscathed, largely because Latour-Maubourg ignored them and instead launched his cavalry against the Spanish infantry line.
The engagement of the Spanish right flank was not as immediately decisive. Because the fog had lifted, the Spaniards could see the numerical weakness of the opposing force and formed up with little sign of falling. The musket
ry duel between the two sides had scarcely begun, however, when the French cavalry appeared; the light horse approached along the top of the heights while Latour-Maubourg's dragoons advanced from the rear. In response, Mendizabal formed his troops into two huge divisional squares
supported by artillery which, although initially successful in impeding the French cavalry, eventually became an easy target for the French infantry and artillery. As one Spanish infantryman recounts, "Their artillery played upon it in a most horrible fashion until it became first an oval and then an unformed mass that the cavalry were able to penetrate and take prisoner." Briche's light cavalry thus broke through the two Spanish squares without great difficulty, and the battle was effectively over. A few of the Spanish regiments dispersed; many surrendered; and others joined together to fight their way to Badajoz or the Portuguese border.
Soult was now free to continue his investment of Badajoz; although the town's garrison was now some 8,000 strong due to the influx of soldiers from Mendizabal's destroyed army, it eventually fell to the French on 11 March. Wellington then sent a large Anglo-Portuguese corps, commanded by Sir William Beresford
, to retake the important fortress town, and by 20 April, the second siege of Badajoz had begun. A French attempt to lift this siege resulted, on 16 May, in the bloody Battle of Albuera
, in which Beresford's strong Allied corps maintained the siege, but only barely managed to hold off an outnumbered French army, again commanded by Soult. However, when the French Army of Portugal, now under the command of Marshal Auguste Marmont
, and the Army of the South converged, the combined French force of over 60,000 men forced Wellington, on 20 June, to call off the siege and to pull his 44,000-man besieging army back to Elvas. Thus Badajoz would remain in French hands until the following year, when the Allies finally retook it following the Battle of Badajoz
.
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
between Spanish
Enlightenment Spain
The Age of Enlightenment came to Spain in the eighteenth century with a new Bourbon dynasty after the decay of the Spanish economy, bureaucracy, and empire in the latter years of the former Habsburg dynasty...
and French
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
armies. It occurred on 19 February 1811, near Badajoz
Badajoz
Badajoz is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain, situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana, and the Madrid–Lisbon railway. The population in 2007 was 145,257....
, Spain, where an outnumbered French force routed and nearly destroyed the Spanish Army of Extremadura
Extremadura
Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...
.
In a bid to help extricate Marshal André Masséna
André Masséna
André Masséna 1st Duc de Rivoli, 1st Prince d'Essling was a French military commander during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars....
's army from its position in Portugal—mired in front of Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
's defensive Lines of Torres Vedras
Lines of Torres Vedras
The Lines of Torres Vedras were lines of forts built in secrecy to defend Lisbon during the Peninsular War. Named after the nearby town of Torres Vedras, they were ordered by Arthur Wellesley, Viscount Wellington, constructed by Sir Richard Fletcher, 1st Baronet and his Portuguese workers between...
—Marshal Jean de Dieu Soult led part of the French Armée du Midi
Armée du Midi
The Army of Le Midi was a unit of the French army, stationed in the Le Midi region and created by royal decree of Louis XVI on 13 April 1792. It existed under this name for less than five months, and was split by a decree of the National Convention dated 1 October 1792 into the armée des Alpes...
(Army of the South) from Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
into the neighbouring Spanish region of Extremadura and laid siege
Siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...
to the important fortress town of Badajoz. Viscount Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
and the Spanish Captain-General Pedro Caro de La Romana
Pedro Caro y Sureda, 3rd marqués de La Romana
Don Pedro Caro y Sureda, 3rd Marquis of la Romana was a Spanish general of the Peninsular War.-Biography:...
sent a large Spanish army to raise the siege. La Romana, however, died before the army could depart, and command fell to General Gabriel Mendizabal
Gabriel Mendizabal
Gabriel Mendizabal Iraeta was a Spanish military general....
. Supported by a small force of Portuguese cavalry, the Spaniards reached the town and camped on the nearby heights of San Cristóbal in early February 1811.
When Mendizabal ignored Wellington's instructions and failed to entrench his army, Soult took advantage of the vulnerable Spanish position and sent a small force to attack the Spaniards. On the morning of 19 February, French forces under Marshal Édouard Mortier
Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier
Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, 1st Duc de Trévise was a French general and Marshal of France under Napoleon I.-Biography:...
quickly defeated the Spanish army, inflicting 1,000 casualties and taking 4,000 prisoners while losing only 400 men. The victory allowed Soult to concentrate on his assault of Badajoz, which fell to the French on 11 March and remained in French hands until the following year.
Background
Despite his partial victory over Marshal Masséna in Portugal at the Battle of Bussaco in September 1810, Viscount Wellington was forced by Masséna's manoeuvres to retreat behind the extensive Lines of Torres Vedras, a series of forts defending the Portuguese capital of Lisbon. By 10 October 1810, only the British light division and a few cavalryCavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
patrols remained outside the defensive Lines, while Masséna's Army of Portugal concentrated around Sobral, seemingly in preparation to attack the Lines. After a fierce skirmish
Skirmisher
Skirmishers are infantry or cavalry soldiers stationed ahead or alongside a larger body of friendly troops. They are usually placed in a skirmish line to harass the enemy.-Pre-modern:...
on 14 October, the French dug themselves in rather than launch a full-scale assault, remaining entrenched for a month before withdrawing to a position between Santarém
Santarém, Portugal
Santarém is a city in the Santarém Municipality in Portugal. The city itself has a population of 28,760 and the entire municipality has 64,124 inhabitants.It is the capital of Santarém District....
and Rio Maior
Rio Maior
Rio Maior is a municipality in Portugal with a total area of 272.8 km² and a total population of 21,621 inhabitants.The municipality is composed of 14 parishes, and is located in the Santarém District.The present Mayor is Isaura Morais, elected by the PSD....
.
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
had previously sent dispatches to Marshal Soult, commander of the Army of the South, urging him to send assistance to Masséna in Portugal. However, the Emperor's orders, which called for only a small force, were based on outdated intelligence, and the situation had changed considerably by the time Soult received them. 30,000 Allied troops and six major fortresses
Fortification
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
now stood between the French army and the Portuguese capital, making an attack against Lisbon virtually impossible. Nevertheless compelled to act, Soult instead gathered an army of 20,000 men, mainly from V Corps
Corps
A corps is either a large formation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service...
, and launched an expedition into Extremadura with the aim of capturing the Spanish fortress at Badajoz and thereby drawing some of the Allied forces away from Masséna and the Lines of Torres Vedras.
Soult divided his army into two contingents and advanced into Extremadura via the two main passes leading from Andalusia into the Guadiana
Guadiana
The Guadiana , or Odiana, is an international river located on the Portuguese–Spanish border, separating Extremadura and Andalucia from Alentejo and Algarve...
valley, with the intention of rejoining at Almendralejo
Almendralejo
Almendralejo is a town in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain. It is situated 59 km south-east of Badajoz, on the main road and rail route between Mérida and Seville. , it has a population of 33,975. There was a battle and massacre here in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War.Sights...
. One of the columns, commanded by General Marie Victor Latour-Maubourg
Marie Victor de Fay, marquis de Latour-Maubourg
Marie Victor Nicolas de Fay, marquis de Latour-Maubourg was a French cavalry commander starting under the Ancien Régime of France, and rising to prominence during the First French Empire...
, met little resistance on its march; on 3 January 1811, the column was confronted by 2,500 Spanish and Portuguese cavalry near Usagre
Usagre
Usagre is a municipality located in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 2033 inhabitants....
, but that force was only a screen covering the retreat beyond the Guadiana of a Spanish infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
division commanded by General Mendizabal. Latour-Maubourg was therefore able to take position near Almendralejo and await the arrival of the second French column.
That second column, commanded by Soult and including General Honoré Gazan's V Corps division
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
, was escorting the French siege-train and therefore had to take a longer, more practicable route into Extremadura. Bad weather and the desertion of the Spanish drivers caused the artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
train to become separated from the escorting infantry, a problem that was further complicated when the column was threatened by 5,000 Spanish troops under General Francisco Ballesteros
Francisco Ballesteros
Francisco Ballesteros, emerged as a career Spanish General during the Peninsular War.Ballasteros served against the First French Republic in the 1793 War of the Pyrenees...
. When confronted by Marshal Mortier, Ballesteros retreated without suffering serious harm but remained a threat to the rear of the French column. For this reason, Soult directed Gazan's infantry to head off the Spanish force and protect the delayed siege-train, while he himself continued onward to Almendralejo with his cavalry. As a result, Soult finally joined Latour-Maubourg on 6 January with only a fraction of his original column and no heavy artillery.
Prelude to battle
Siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by attrition or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit". Generally speaking, siege warfare is a form of constant, low intensity conflict characterized by one party holding a strong, static...
so strong a fortress as Badajoz with his reduced force and therefore changed his plans. Sending his light cavalry
Light cavalry
Light cavalry refers to lightly armed and lightly armored troops mounted on horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the riders are heavily armored...
under Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
André Briche
André Briche
André-Louis-Elisabeth-Marie Briche was a French General of the First French Empire who saw action during the Peninsular War. He was Colonel of the 10th Regiment of Hussars between 1806 and 1809, before being promoted to Général de Brigade...
to take Mérida
Mérida, Spain
Mérida is the capital of the autonomous community of Extremadura, western central Spain. It has a population of 57,127 . The Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida is a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1993.- Climate :...
and leaving four squadrons of dragoon
Dragoon
The word dragoon originally meant mounted infantry, who were trained in horse riding as well as infantry fighting skills. However, usage altered over time and during the 18th century, dragoons evolved into conventional light cavalry units and personnel...
s at Albuera
La Albuera
La Albuera is a village southeast of Badajoz, Extremadura, Spain. It was scene of a battle between the British troops under William Carr Beresford and the French ones led by Marshal Soult, in the course of the Peninsular war. it had a population of c. 2,000 inhabitants....
to watch the garrison at Badajoz, he marched with the remainder of his army to invest
Investment (military)
Investment is the military tactic of surrounding an enemy fort with armed forces to prevent entry or escape.A circumvallation is a line of fortifications, built by the attackers around the besieged fortification facing towards the enemy fort...
Olivenza
Olivenza
Olivenza or Olivença is a town in the autonomous community of Extremadura, situated on a disputed section of the border between Portugal and Spain...
. Wellington had previously advised General Pedro Caro de La Romana, commander of the Spanish Army of Extremadura, either to destroy the fortification at Olivenza or to repair its defences and fully garrison it; La Romana in turn had instructed Mendizabal to slight
Slighting
A slighting is the deliberate destruction, partial or complete, of a fortification without opposition. During the English Civil War this was to render it unusable as a fort.-Middle Ages:...
the fortress, but Mendizabal ignored this order and instead reinforced the garrison with four infantry battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
s. Soult, arriving on 11 January, was therefore confronted with a strongly garrisoned, but untenable, fortress. The heavy French artillery finally began to arrive on 19 January, and by 22 January, a poorly-repaired breach in the fortress's walls had been reopened. The garrison surrendered on 23 January, with over 4,000 Spanish troops from the Army of Extremadura taken captive.
Soult was now in a difficult position: although he had a large (4,000-strong) contingent of cavalry, deploying two battalions to escort the prisoners taken at Olivenza back to French-held Seville left him only 5,500 infantry with which to continue his campaign. Moreover, although his siege-train had begun to arrive, the continued absence of Gazan's infantry division left him with a weakened army. Despite these problems, Soult decided to besiege Badajoz in hopes that Wellington would send reinforcements to the Spanish fortress and thereby reduce the Allied forces facing Masséna at the Lines of Torres Vedras. On 26 January, Soult marched for Badajoz, sending Latour-Maubourg with six cavalry battalions across the Guadiana to blockade the fortress's northern approach, and by 27 January, the first siege of Badajoz had begun. Gazan's division eventually re-joined Soult's army on 3 February, further strengthening the besieging force by 6,000 men.
Meanwhile, Mendizabal had retreated to the Portuguese border after sending two battalions to reinforce the garrison at Badajoz. Weakened by the defeat at Olivenza and by Ballesteros's continued absence, he sent to La Romana for reinforcements, receiving on 14 January 1,800 men sent from Abrantes
Abrantes
Abrantes is a municipality in Portugal, with a population of 41,560 inhabitants, located on the southern margin of the Tagus River.-History:...
and under the command of Carlos de España. Additionally, about 6,000 troops were sent forward from the Lines of Torres Vedras on 19 January, arriving at Elvas on 29 January. When these forces joined with Mendizabal's remaining 3,000 men, a Spanish cavalry division, and a brigade of Portuguese horse, the Allies had an army almost 15,000 strong, intended to be under the command of La Romana, with which to hold Soult in check. La Romana, however, died of an aneurysm
Aneurysm
An aneurysm or aneurism is a localized, blood-filled balloon-like bulge in the wall of a blood vessel. Aneurysms can commonly occur in arteries at the base of the brain and an aortic aneurysm occurs in the main artery carrying blood from the left ventricle of the heart...
on 23 January, and command of the army then fell to Mendizabal.
Before his sudden death, La Romana had met with Wellington and agreed on a plan for the campaign—the army was to entrench on the heights of San Cristóbal, with its right flank protected by the fort of San Cristóbal, its front covered by the Gebora and Guadiana rivers, the left guarded by the fortress at Campo Maior
Campo Maior
Campo Maior , is a municipality in the Portalegre District, Alentejo Region, Portugal.The municipality has an area of 247,26 km² and a population of 8359 . It is divided into 3 parishes . It is bordered by Spain on the North and East, by Elvas Municipality on the Southeast, and by Arronches...
, and Elvas protecting the rear. Although aware of this plan when he took command, Mendizabal chose to ignore the instructions upon arriving on the north bank of the Guadiana on 5 February. Instead, he stationed the bulk of his infantry in Badajoz, leaving only a small contingent of foot soldiers and his cavalry below San Cristóbal. On 7 February, Mendizabal launched a strong sally against the besieging French lines: the Portuguese cavalry, supported by a small group of infantrymen, feinted towards the French left wing while a strong force of 5,000 men attacked the right. The Spaniards under de España drove through the first French parallel to engage one of General Jean-Baptiste Girard's
Jean-Baptiste Girard (soldier)
Jean-Baptiste Girard , was a French soldier, général and baron d'Empire, who fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.-Biography:...
brigades and were only driven back when Mortier sent several battalions to Girard's aid. De España pulled back to Badajoz, having lost 650 men and causing 400 French casualties.
On 9 February, Mendizabal withdrew most of his men from Badajoz, leaving behind a 7,000-strong garrison. The field army
Field army
A Field Army, or Area Army, usually referred to simply as an Army, is a term used by many national military forces for a military formation superior to a corps and beneath an army group....
's 9,000 infantry settled on the heights of San Cristóbal while the 3,000 horse encamped behind them on the plains of the Caya. The Spanish commander again ignored Wellington's plan, failing to dig entrenchments on the heights; nor did he send out a cavalry screen to protect his front and monitor the French movements. Soult, however, largely ignored the Spanish army for the next few days, concentrating instead on building up his siege lines and battering Badajoz. Heavy rains also flooded both the Guadiana and Gebora rivers, rendering them impassable, so that between 11–18 February, the French were only able to shell
Shell (projectile)
A shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot . Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used...
the southern end of the Spanish line
Line (formation)
The line formation is a standard tactical formation which has been used in Early modern warfare.It continues the phalanx formation or shield wall of infantry armed with polearms in use during antiquity and the Middle Ages....
, pushing the Spaniards further away from Badajoz and the protection of the San Cristóbal fort.
Battle
Artillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
, under Mortier's command, to the north bank across a flying bridge over the Guadiana river. Joined by six cavalry regiments under Latour-Maubourg, the French now had 4,500 infantrymen, 2,500 cavalry, and 12 cannon ready to attack the Spanish lines at dawn on 19 February. Due to heavy fog that morning, Mendizabal was unaware of the approaching French until his picket
Picket (military)
In military terminology, a picket refers to soldiers or troops placed on a line forward of a position to warn against an enemy advance. It can also refer to any unit performing a similar function...
, only a mile from his front, was driven back by Mortier's infantry fording the Gebora. At the same time, the 2nd Hussar
Hussar
Hussar refers to a number of types of light cavalry which originated in Hungary in the 14th century, tracing its roots from Serbian medieval cavalry tradition, brought to Hungary in the course of the Serb migrations, which began in the late 14th century....
s, sent by Latour-Maubourg to turn the Spanish left flank, had managed to climb the heights to the north, also undetected, and fell upon one of Carlos de España's unsuspecting regiments.
Mortier demonstrated his tactical prowess in the deployment of his small force: he sent all his cavalry to the north to attack the Spanish left; three battalions were sent south between the fort at San Cristóbal and the Spanish right wing; and his remaining six infantry battalions assaulted the Spanish front. As the fog rose, the French light cavalry under Briche gained the heights and fell upon the Spanish left flank while Latour-Maubourg took three dragoon
Dragoon
The word dragoon originally meant mounted infantry, who were trained in horse riding as well as infantry fighting skills. However, usage altered over time and during the 18th century, dragoons evolved into conventional light cavalry units and personnel...
regiments to attack the combined Spanish and Portuguese cavalry on the plains of the Caya. Despite outnumbering the French, the Allied horse ignored orders and immediately fled towards Elvas and Campo Maior. They escaped unscathed, largely because Latour-Maubourg ignored them and instead launched his cavalry against the Spanish infantry line.
Musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
ry duel between the two sides had scarcely begun, however, when the French cavalry appeared; the light horse approached along the top of the heights while Latour-Maubourg's dragoons advanced from the rear. In response, Mendizabal formed his troops into two huge divisional squares
Infantry square
An infantry square is a combat formation an infantry unit forms in close order when threatened with cavalry attack.-Very early history:The formation was described by Plutarch and used by the Romans, and was developed from an earlier circular formation...
supported by artillery which, although initially successful in impeding the French cavalry, eventually became an easy target for the French infantry and artillery. As one Spanish infantryman recounts, "Their artillery played upon it in a most horrible fashion until it became first an oval and then an unformed mass that the cavalry were able to penetrate and take prisoner." Briche's light cavalry thus broke through the two Spanish squares without great difficulty, and the battle was effectively over. A few of the Spanish regiments dispersed; many surrendered; and others joined together to fight their way to Badajoz or the Portuguese border.
Consequences
The battle was a serious setback for the Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese allies; Wellington had earlier warned the Spanish generals that the Army of Extremadura was "the last body of troops which their country possesses", and later wrote that "[t]he defeat of Mendizabal is the greatest misfortune, which was not previously expected, that has yet occurred to us." The army had been essentially destroyed; although 2,500 infantry had escaped into Badajoz—and a slightly smaller number to Portugal—about 1,000 Spaniards had been killed or wounded, 4,000 were taken prisoner, and 17 cannon had been lost. The French, for their part, suffered only minor casualties. Soult initially reported his losses as 30 killed and 140 wounded, but those figures were eventually revised to around 400 casualties, mainly from the cavalry.Soult was now free to continue his investment of Badajoz; although the town's garrison was now some 8,000 strong due to the influx of soldiers from Mendizabal's destroyed army, it eventually fell to the French on 11 March. Wellington then sent a large Anglo-Portuguese corps, commanded by Sir William Beresford
William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford
General William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, 1st Marquis of Campo Maior, GCB, GCH, GCTE, PC , was a British soldier and politician...
, to retake the important fortress town, and by 20 April, the second siege of Badajoz had begun. A French attempt to lift this siege resulted, on 16 May, in the bloody Battle of Albuera
Battle of Albuera
The Battle of Albuera was an indecisive battle during the Peninsular War. A mixed British, Spanish and Portuguese corps engaged elements of the French Armée du Midi at the small Spanish village of Albuera, about 20 kilometres south of the frontier fortress-town of Badajoz, Spain.From...
, in which Beresford's strong Allied corps maintained the siege, but only barely managed to hold off an outnumbered French army, again commanded by Soult. However, when the French Army of Portugal, now under the command of Marshal Auguste Marmont
Auguste Marmont
Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont, 1st Duke of Ragusa was a French General, nobleman and Marshal of France.-Biography:...
, and the Army of the South converged, the combined French force of over 60,000 men forced Wellington, on 20 June, to call off the siege and to pull his 44,000-man besieging army back to Elvas. Thus Badajoz would remain in French hands until the following year, when the Allies finally retook it following the Battle of Badajoz
Battle of Badajoz (1812)
In the Battle of Badajoz , the Anglo-Portuguese Army, under the Earl of Wellington, besieged Badajoz, Spain and forced the surrender of the French garrison....
.