cavalry; and for the extraordinary feat of arms of Captain Norman Ramsay, R.H.A., in charging through the French cavalry with his guns. Masséna failed to dislodge the Allies, and on the 8th of May withdrew to Salamanca, Almeida falling to Wellington on the 11th of May 1811. The allied loss in the fighting on both days at Fuentes d’Onor was about 1500: the French 3000.
In the meantime Soult (with 23,000 men and 50 guns), advancing to relieve Badajoz, compelled Beresford to suspend the siege, and to take up a position with about 30,000 men (of whom 7000 were British) and 38 guns behind the river Albuhera (or Albuera). Here Soult attacked him on the 16th of May. An unusually Battle of Albuera, May 16, 1811. bloody battle ensued, in which the French efforts were chiefly directed against the allied right, held by the Spaniards. At one time the right appeared to be broken, and 6 guns were lost, when a gallant advance of Sir Lowry Cole’s division restored the day, Soult then falling back towards Seville. The allied loss was about 7000 (including about half the British force); the French about 8000.
After this Wellington from Almeida rejoined Beresford and the siege of Badajoz was continued: but now Marshal Marmont, having succeeded Masséna, was marching southwards to join Soult, and, two allied assaults of Badajoz having failed, Wellington withdrew. Subsequently, leaving Hill in the Alemtejo, he returned towards Almeida, and with 40,000 men commenced a blockade of Ciudad Rodrigo, his headquarters being at Fuente Guinaldo. Soult and Marmont now fell back, the former to Seville, the latter to the valley of the Tagus, south of the pass of Baños.
In September, Marmont joined with the army of the north under General Dorsenne, coming from Salamanca—their total force being 60,000, with 100 guns—and succeeded (Sept. 25) in introducing a convoy of provisions into Ciudad Rodrigo. Before so superior a force, Wellington had not attempted to maintain the blockade; but on Marmont afterwards advancing towards him, he fought a rearguard action with him at El Bodon (Sept. 25), notable, as was Fuentes d’Onor, for the coolness with which the allied squares retired amidst the enemy’s horsemen; and again at Fuente Guinaldo (Sept. 25 and 26) he maintained for 30 hours, with 15,000 men, a bold front against Marmont’s army of 60,000, in order to save the Light Division from being cut off. At Aldea de Ponte there was a further sharp engagement (Sept. 27) but Wellington taking up a strong position near Sabugal, Marmont and Dorsenne withdrew once more to the valley of the Tagus and Salamanca respectively, and Wellington again blockaded Ciudad Rodrigo.
Thus terminated the main operations of this year. On the 28th of October 1811, Hill, by a very skilful surprise, captured Arroyo de los Molinos (between Badajoz and Trujillo), almost annihilating a French corps under Gérard; and in December 1811 the French were repulsed in their efforts to capture Tarifa near Cadiz In the east of Spain Suchet took Tortosa (Jan. 1, 1811); Tarragona (June 28), and Murviedro (Oct. 26), defeating Blake’s relieving force, which then took refuge in Valencia. Macdonald also retook Figueras which the Spaniards had taken on the 9th of April 1811 (Aug. 19). Portugal had now been freed from the French, but they still held Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz, the two main gates into Spain.
Campaign in Spain, 1812.—The campaign of 1812 marks an important stage in the war. Napoleon, with the Russian War in prospect, had early in the year withdrawn 30,000 men from Spain, and Wellington had begun to carry on what he termed a war of “magazines.” Based on rivers (the navigation of which greatly improved) and the sea, he formed dépots or magazines of provisions at many points, which enabled him always to take and keep the field. The French, on the other hand, had great difficulty in establishing any such reserves of food, owing to their practice of depending for sustenance entirely upon the country in which they were quartered Wellington assumed the offensive, and by various movements and feints, aided the guerrilla bands by forcing the French corps to assemble in their districts, which not only greatly harassed them but also materially hindered the combination of their corps for concerted action. Having secretly got a battering train into Almeida and directed Hill, as a blind, to engage Soult by threatening Badajoz, he suddenly (Jan. 8, 1812) besieged Ciudad Rodrigo.
The French, still numbering nearly 200,000, now held the following positions: the Army of the North—Dorsenne (48,000)—was about the Pisuerga, in the Asturias, and along the northern coast; the Army of Portugal—Marmont (50,000)—mainly in the valley of the Tagus, but ordered to Salamanca; the Army of the South—Soult (55,000)—in Andalusia; the Army of the Centre—Joseph (19,000)—about Madrid.
The siege of Ciudad Rodrigo was calculated in the ordinary
course to require twenty-four days: but on it becoming known that
Marmont was moving northward, the assault was
delivered after twelve days only (Jan. 19). The
gallantry of the troops made it successful, though with
the loss of Generals Craufurd and McKinnon, and 1300
Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, January 8–19, 1812.
Siege of Badajoz, March 17 to April 17, 1812.
men, and Marmont’s battering train of 150 guns here
fell into the allied hands. Then, after a feint of passing on into
Spain, Wellington rapidly marched south and, with 22,000 men,
laid siege to Badajoz (March 17, 1812), Hill with 30,000 covering
the siege near Merida. Wellington was hampered by want of
time, and had to assault prematurely. Soult and Marmont
having begun to move to relieve the garrison, the assault was
delivered on the night of the 7th of April, and
though the assailants failed at the breaches, the
carnage at which was terrible, a very daring escalade
of one of the bastions and of the castle succeeded,
and Badajoz fell, Soult’s pontoon train being taken in it. After
the assault, some deplorable excesses were committed by the
victorious troops. The allied loss was 3600 in the assault alone
and 5000 in the entire siege.
The Allies had now got possession of the two great gates into Spain: and Hill, by an enterprise most skilfully carried out, destroyed (May 19) the Tagus bridge at Almaraz, by which Soult to the south of the river chiefly communicated with Marmont to the north. Wellington then, ostentatiously making preparations to enter Spain by the Badajoz line, once more turned northward, crossed the Tormes (June 17, 1812), and advanced to the Douro, behind which the French were drawn up. Marmont had erected at Salamanca some strong forts, the reduction of which occupied Wellington ten days, and cost him 600 men. The Allies and French now faced each other along the Douro to the Pisuerga. The river was high, and Wellington hoped that want of supplies would compel Marmont to retire, but in this he was disappointed.
On the 15th of July 1812, Marmont, after a feint against Wellington’s left, suddenly, by a forced march, turned his right, and made rapidly towards the fords of Huerta and Alba on the Tormes. Some interesting manœuvres now took place, Wellington moving parallel and close to Marmont, but more to the north, making for the fords of Aldea Lengua and Santa Marta on the Tormes nearer to Salamanca, and being under the belief that the Spaniards held the castle and ford at Alba on that river. But Marmont’s manœuvring and marching power had been underestimated, and on the 21st of July while Wellington’s position covered Salamanca, and but indirectly his line of communications through Ciudad Rodrigo, Marmont had reached a point from which he hoped to interpose between Wellington and Portugal, on the Ciudad Rodrigo road. This he endeavoured to do on the 22nd of July 1812, which brought on the important battle of Salamanca (q.v.) in Which Wellington gained a decisive victory, the French falling back to Valladolid and thence to Burgos. Wellington entered Valladolid (July 30), and thence marched against Joseph, who (July 21) had reached Blasco Sancho with reinforcements for Marmont. Joseph retired before him, and Wellington entered Madrid (Aug. 12, 1812), where, in the Retiro, 1700 men, 180 cannon, two eagles, and a quantity of stores were captured. Soult now raised the siege of Cadiz (Aug. 26), and evacuating Andalusia joined Suchet
