Siege of San Sebastian
Encyclopedia
In the Siege of San Sebastián (7 July - 8 September 1813) Allied forces under the command of General Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
captured the city of San Sebastián
in northern Spain from its French garrison under Brigadier-General Louis Rey
. The attack resulted in the ransacking and devastation of the town by fire.
on 21 June 1813, Wellington's army moved into the western Pyrenees to face Marshal Nicolas Soult
's reorganized French army. To clear his rear area and to obtain a port to supply his forces, Wellington laid siege to San Sebastián.
To prosecute the siege, Lieut-Gen Thomas Graham
commanded an 11,000-strong corps that included Maj-Gen Kenneth Howard
's 1st Division, Maj-Gen John Oswald's 5th Division and Brig-Gen Denis Pack's Portuguese brigade. Graham deployed 40 heavy siege guns.
), numbering 9,104 inhabitants at the time, was a rather liberal town as opposed to the more conservative province of Gipuzkoa, open to different influences from overseas, the north (Gascony
and France
altogether) and the south (Spain
). Additionally, the make-up of the town had been conspicuously mixed ethnic Gascon
and Basque
since its foundation, while Gascon language may have died out at this point of the town's history.
After Napoleon's takeover in France, elder brother Joseph I
was proclaimed king of Spain in 1808. Francisco Amorós, who is cited in many accounts as "French-minded", was then appointed chief magistrate of the town. While it seems that the new authorities and aides weren't especially highly regarded by the population, it holds true that peace prevailed the whole period running up to 1813, and French troops were generally well accepted. This balance swung when French troops on retreat under Emmanuel Rey's command and refugees fleeing Vitoria
after the French defeat arrived in the city in June.
San Sebastián
stood on a peninsula into the Bay of Biscay
that ran generally north and south. The southern face of the city's fortifications was very strong. On its eastern side, the city was protected by the estuary of the Urumea River. British engineers detected a weak point near the riverfront at the city's southeastern corner. Assaults were possible across the river bed at low tide from both the south and the east. Breaching batteries were constructed to the south of the city and in sandhills on the east side of the estuary.
British seapower could not be utilized because the Biscayan blockading fleet was understrength. In fact, French vessels regularly brought in supplies and reinforcements, while taking out wounded and sick soldiers. Because of this, Wellington could not expect to starve out the city. He would have to breach the walls and carry the city by assault.
. In the first siege, the British suffered 693 killed and wounded and 316 captured. Rey's garrison lost 58 killed and 258 wounded.
Because the attack had to be made as the tide fell, it was scheduled for 11:00 am on 31 August. The 5th Division made the assault from the south on the main breach. The soldiers dashed across the 180 yards from the trenches to the foot of the breach with little loss, but then the French opened a terrific fire. Again and again the men of the 5th Division rushed up the rubble-strewn breach, but they were cut down in swaths.
The French had built an inner wall that stopped the redcoats from breaking through the defenses. Hundreds of British soldiers were killed. Graham committed 750 volunteers from the 1st, 4th and Light Divisions, but they were unable to beat down the French defenders. A Portuguese brigade splashed across the Urumea
River and attacked the eastern breach, but their drive also stalled. After two hours, the assault was a costly failure. The survivors hugged the ground to avoid the searing fire.
After consulting with his artillery commander, Alexander Dickson, Graham chose to open fire on the inner wall, despite risk of killing many British soldiers who lay so close under the barrier. When the British heavy guns first fired over their heads, the survivors of the attack began to panic. But, when the smoke cleared, they noticed that the big guns had wrecked most of the inner wall. With a yell, they charged, reached the top of the breach and spilled into the city. At the sight of their defence lines broken, the French retreated to the fortress on the hill of Urgull and by midday the besiegers had taken over the town. Rey and his surviving garrison held out until 5 September before asking for terms. The French commander formally surrendered on 8 September.
After the burning, the Town Council and many survivors of the destruction held a meeting in Zubieta, where the devastated town dwellers decided the reconstruction of the town almost from scratch. Moreover, a new council was appointed, besides requiring the English authorities that they'd be granted 2,000 starvation wages for those most in need. The demand was not met since Wellington refused to do so.
The tragedy is remembered every year on August 31 with an extensive candlelit ceremony
, who had just returned to command the 5th Division, was wounded in the assault. The engineering officer who laid out the Lines of Torres Vedras
, Sir Richard Fletcher was killed during the siege, as was one of Harry Burrard's sons.
Not realizing he was too late to save San Sebastián, Soult launched a final attack on 31 August. This attempt was beaten back in the Battle of San Marcial
. With the possession of San Sebastián, Wellington could think about driving Soult back into France. The next action was the Battle of the Bidassoa
on 7 October, followed by the Battle of Nivelle
in November. The French garrison of Pamplona surrendered to the Spanish on 30 October.
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...
captured the city of San Sebastián
San Sebastián
Donostia-San Sebastián is a city and municipality located in the north of Spain, in the coast of the Bay of Biscay and 20 km away from the French border. The city is the capital of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The municipality’s population is 186,122 , and its...
in northern Spain from its French garrison under Brigadier-General Louis Rey
Louis Emmanuel Rey
Louis Emmanuel Rey, born 22 September 1768, Grenoble – died 18 June 1846, Paris, joined the French royal army and won rapid promotion to general officer during the French Revolutionary Wars. He continued to serve the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. He fought in the Peninsular...
. The attack resulted in the ransacking and devastation of the town by fire.
Situation
After winning the decisive Battle of VitoriaBattle of Vitoria
At the Battle of Vitoria an allied British, Portuguese, and Spanish army under General the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, leading to eventual victory in the Peninsular War.-Background:In July 1812, after...
on 21 June 1813, Wellington's army moved into the western Pyrenees to face Marshal Nicolas Soult
Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult
Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia , the Hand of Iron, was a French general and statesman, named Marshal of the Empire in 1804. He was one of only six officers in French history to receive the distinction of Marshal General of France...
's reorganized French army. To clear his rear area and to obtain a port to supply his forces, Wellington laid siege to San Sebastián.
Forces
Rey's 3,000-man French garrison consisted of the 22nd Line (1 battalion), 64th Line (2 battalions), elements of the 1st Light and 34th Line, one company each of sappers and pioneers, and two companies of gunners. Ninety-seven guns lined the fortifications.To prosecute the siege, Lieut-Gen Thomas Graham
Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch
General Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch, GCB, GCMG, GCTE was a Scottish aristocrat, politician and British Army officer....
commanded an 11,000-strong corps that included Maj-Gen Kenneth Howard
Kenneth Howard, 1st Earl of Effingham
Kenneth Alexander Howard, 1st Earl of Effingham was a British peer.His father, Henry Howard , was a male-line descendant of William Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Effingham. His mother, Maria Mackenzie Kenneth Alexander Howard, 1st Earl of Effingham (29 November 1767 – 13 February 1845) was a...
's 1st Division, Maj-Gen John Oswald's 5th Division and Brig-Gen Denis Pack's Portuguese brigade. Graham deployed 40 heavy siege guns.
Approaches
San Sebastián (Donostia in BasqueBasque language
Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
), numbering 9,104 inhabitants at the time, was a rather liberal town as opposed to the more conservative province of Gipuzkoa, open to different influences from overseas, the north (Gascony
Gascony
Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
altogether) and the south (Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
). Additionally, the make-up of the town had been conspicuously mixed ethnic Gascon
Gascony
Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...
and Basque
Basque people
The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...
since its foundation, while Gascon language may have died out at this point of the town's history.
After Napoleon's takeover in France, elder brother Joseph I
Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily , and later King of Spain...
was proclaimed king of Spain in 1808. Francisco Amorós, who is cited in many accounts as "French-minded", was then appointed chief magistrate of the town. While it seems that the new authorities and aides weren't especially highly regarded by the population, it holds true that peace prevailed the whole period running up to 1813, and French troops were generally well accepted. This balance swung when French troops on retreat under Emmanuel Rey's command and refugees fleeing Vitoria
Battle of Vitoria
At the Battle of Vitoria an allied British, Portuguese, and Spanish army under General the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, leading to eventual victory in the Peninsular War.-Background:In July 1812, after...
after the French defeat arrived in the city in June.
San Sebastián
San Sebastián
Donostia-San Sebastián is a city and municipality located in the north of Spain, in the coast of the Bay of Biscay and 20 km away from the French border. The city is the capital of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The municipality’s population is 186,122 , and its...
stood on a peninsula into the Bay of Biscay
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal, and is named in English after the province of Biscay, in the Spanish...
that ran generally north and south. The southern face of the city's fortifications was very strong. On its eastern side, the city was protected by the estuary of the Urumea River. British engineers detected a weak point near the riverfront at the city's southeastern corner. Assaults were possible across the river bed at low tide from both the south and the east. Breaching batteries were constructed to the south of the city and in sandhills on the east side of the estuary.
British seapower could not be utilized because the Biscayan blockading fleet was understrength. In fact, French vessels regularly brought in supplies and reinforcements, while taking out wounded and sick soldiers. Because of this, Wellington could not expect to starve out the city. He would have to breach the walls and carry the city by assault.
First Siege
The first parallel was opened on 7 July. Wellington personally launched an unsuccessful attack on 25 July. For the next week, he was fully occupied in defending against Soult's attack in the Battle of the PyreneesBattle of the Pyrenees
The Battle of the Pyrenees was a large-scale offensive launched on 25 July 1813 by Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult from the Pyrénées region on Emperor Napoleon’s order, in the hope of relieving French garrisons under siege at Pamplona and San Sebastián...
. In the first siege, the British suffered 693 killed and wounded and 316 captured. Rey's garrison lost 58 killed and 258 wounded.
Second Siege
After driving Soult back across the frontier, Wellington again turned his attention to San Sebastián on 8 August. By this time, Soult had reinforced Rey to a strength of 3,600 men, including complete battalions of the 1st Light, 34th Line and 119th Line. Graham's corps now numbered 18,000 men. The British engineers emplaced their breaching batteries by 26 August. By late on 30 August, the 15 heavy cannon firing from the south and 42 guns firing from the east blasted two breaches in the walls. The main breach was made near the southeast corner of the fortress while a smaller breach was located on the east side. Graham ordered an assault for the following day.Because the attack had to be made as the tide fell, it was scheduled for 11:00 am on 31 August. The 5th Division made the assault from the south on the main breach. The soldiers dashed across the 180 yards from the trenches to the foot of the breach with little loss, but then the French opened a terrific fire. Again and again the men of the 5th Division rushed up the rubble-strewn breach, but they were cut down in swaths.
The French had built an inner wall that stopped the redcoats from breaking through the defenses. Hundreds of British soldiers were killed. Graham committed 750 volunteers from the 1st, 4th and Light Divisions, but they were unable to beat down the French defenders. A Portuguese brigade splashed across the Urumea
Urumea
The Urumea a" 'thin') is a river in the Basque Country at the north of the Iberian Peninsula. It's one of a series of Basque rivers flowing into the Bay of Biscay and best known for being the river flowing to the sea on the city of San Sebastian...
River and attacked the eastern breach, but their drive also stalled. After two hours, the assault was a costly failure. The survivors hugged the ground to avoid the searing fire.
After consulting with his artillery commander, Alexander Dickson, Graham chose to open fire on the inner wall, despite risk of killing many British soldiers who lay so close under the barrier. When the British heavy guns first fired over their heads, the survivors of the attack began to panic. But, when the smoke cleared, they noticed that the big guns had wrecked most of the inner wall. With a yell, they charged, reached the top of the breach and spilled into the city. At the sight of their defence lines broken, the French retreated to the fortress on the hill of Urgull and by midday the besiegers had taken over the town. Rey and his surviving garrison held out until 5 September before asking for terms. The French commander formally surrendered on 8 September.
Ransacking and burning of San Sebastian
Meanwhile, the British rank and file and even high officials ran completely amok, pillaging and burning the city a whole week long, torturing inhabitants suspect of keeping money or gems, raping women and killing an estimate 1,000 inhabitants,. Much and well recorded evidence (75 reports) was gathered bearing witness to the dismal events starting on 31 August. As stated by one of the survivors and witness Gabriel Serres, "[the assailants] committed the biggest atrocities, such as killing and injuring many inhabitants and also raping most of the women". The burning started that very night on some houses, according to local witnesses set ablaze by the assailants despite early attempts by English generals to put down the burning to the French. The general opinion of the locals may be summarized in the town dweller Domingo de Echave's evidence echoing an English soldier's words pointing to flames coming out of a house: "See that house ablaze? Mind you, tomorrow all like this." Order was not restored for seven days, by which time only a handful of buildings survived. The rest of the city burned to the ground (600 houses, city hall and record office included).After the burning, the Town Council and many survivors of the destruction held a meeting in Zubieta, where the devastated town dwellers decided the reconstruction of the town almost from scratch. Moreover, a new council was appointed, besides requiring the English authorities that they'd be granted 2,000 starvation wages for those most in need. The demand was not met since Wellington refused to do so.
The tragedy is remembered every year on August 31 with an extensive candlelit ceremony
Consequences
Of Rey's garrison, 1,900 were killed or wounded and 1,200 captured. Graham's command lost 1,200 killed, 3,800 wounded and 300 missing. In the final assault, 856 men died, 1,216 fell wounded and 44 were listed as missing. Maj-Gen James LeithJames Leith (British Army infantry officer)
General Sir James Leith GCB commanded the 5th Division in the Duke of Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese army at several critical battles during the Peninsular War between 1810 and 1813.-Early career:...
, who had just returned to command the 5th Division, was wounded in the assault. The engineering officer who laid out the 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...
, Sir Richard Fletcher was killed during the siege, as was one of Harry Burrard's sons.
Not realizing he was too late to save San Sebastián, Soult launched a final attack on 31 August. This attempt was beaten back in the Battle of San Marcial
Battle of San Marcial
At the Battle of San Marcial, 31 August 1813, the Spanish Army of Galicia under General Freire turned back MarshalNicolas Soult's last major offensive against Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington's allied army.-Background:...
. With the possession of San Sebastián, Wellington could think about driving Soult back into France. The next action was the Battle of the Bidassoa
Battle of the Bidassoa (1813)
In the Battle of the Bidassoa on 7 October 1813 the Allied army of Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington wrested a foothold on French soil from Nicolas Soult's French army. The Allied troops overran the French lines behind the Bidassoa River on the coast and along the Pyrenees crest between the...
on 7 October, followed by the Battle of Nivelle
Battle of Nivelle
The Battle of Nivelle took place in front of the River Nivelle near the end of the Peninsular War . After the Allied siege of San Sebastian, Wellington's 80,000 British, Portuguese and Spanish troops were in hot pursuit of Marshal Soult who only had 60,000 men to place in a 20-mile perimeter...
in November. The French garrison of Pamplona surrendered to the Spanish on 30 October.