Battle of Salamanca
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (July 2011) |
Battle of Salamanca | |
---|---|
Part of the Spain 40°53′21″N 05°37′29″W / 40.88917°N 5.62472°W | |
Result | Coalition victory[2][1] |
Territorial changes | The French abandon Andalusia |
- United Kingdom
- Portugal
- Spain
up to 6,000[5]–10,000[1] killed or wounded and 7,000 captured[5][1]
Total casualties:12,000[6]–17,000 killed, wounded or captured
3,129 killed, wounded or captured
Portugal:
2,038 killed, wounded or captured
Spain:
6 killed, wounded or captured
Total casualties:
5,000[6]–5,200[1] killed, wounded or captured
The Battle of Salamanca (in French and Spanish known as the Battle of the Arapiles) took place on 22 July 1812. An
division was also present but took no part in the battle.The battle involved a succession of flanking manoeuvres in oblique order, initiated by the British heavy cavalry brigade and Pakenham's 3rd Division and continued by the cavalry and the 4th, 5th and 6th divisions. These attacks resulted in a rout of the French left wing. Marmont and his deputy commander, General Bonet, received shrapnel wounds in the first few minutes of firing. Confusion amongst the French command may have been decisive in creating an opportunity, which Wellington seized.
General
Allied losses numbered 3,129 British and 2,038 Portuguese dead or wounded. The Spanish troops took no part in the battle as they were positioned to block French escape routes and suffered just six casualties. The French suffered about 13,000 dead, wounded and captured. As a consequence of Wellington's victory, his army was able to advance to and liberate Madrid for two months, before retreating to Portugal. The French were forced to abandon Andalusia permanently while the loss of Madrid irreparably damaged King Joseph's pro-French government.
Background
In April 1812, following the successful Siege of Badajoz during the allied campaign in Spain, Wellington and the greater part of the Anglo-Portuguese army marched north to expel Marmont's French army who had temporarily invaded Portugal. Following Marmont's retreat to Salamanca Wellington took position behind the Agueda and Coa rivers.[7] In May, acting on Wellington's orders General Hill took a force of 7,000 men to destroy the bridge at Almaraz, breaking the only direct communications between Soult's and Marmont's armies.[8]
On 13 June Wellington crossed the Agueda and advanced eastward to Salamanca,[9] a town that was a major supply depot for the French army. The French had converted three convents into powerful forts to defend the town and the bridge across the river Tormes. On 19 June the first battery opened fire but it was not until 27 June that, with two of the convents battered and in flames and with no sign of relief, the French troops asked for surrender terms.[10]
For several weeks Wellington found his movements north of Salamanca blocked by Marmont's army, which constantly swelled with reinforcements. With the armies often marching close together, separated by the river, and Marmont repeatedly threatening Wellington's
Forces
Marshal Marmont's 50,000-man Army of Portugal contained eight infantry and two cavalry divisions, plus 78 artillery pieces. The infantry divisions were
Wellington's 48,500-man army included eight infantry divisions, formed mainly by British and Portuguese units (also German and one of French royalists), and two independent brigades, five cavalry brigades and 54 cannons. The infantry divisions were
Battle
Manoeuvres
Marmont's army moved south early on 22 July, its leading elements reaching an area southeast of Salamanca. To the west, the Marshal could see Wellington's 7th Division deployed on a ridge. Spotting a dust cloud in the distance, Marmont assumed that most of the British army was in retreat and that he faced only a rearguard. He planned to move his French army south, then west to turn the British right flank.
This was a mistake as Wellington had most of his forces hidden behind the ridge, while his 3rd and 5th divisions were en route from Salamanca. Wellington had planned to retreat if outflanked, but waited to see if Marmont would make a blunder.
The Marshal's army planned to move along an L-shaped ridge, with its angle near a steep height known as the Greater Arapile. That morning, the French occupied only the short, north-pointing part of the L. For his flanking move, Marmont marched his divisions west along the long side of the L. The Anglo-Allied army lay behind another L-shaped ridge, inside and parallel to the French L, and separated from it by a valley. Unseen by the French, Wellington assembled a powerful striking force along the long side of the British L.
As Marmont moved westward, the French became strung out along the long side of the L. Thomières's division led the way, supported by Curto's cavalry. After that, Maucune, Brenier, and Clauzel. Bonet, Sarrut and Boyer advanced close to the Greater Arapile, while Foy and Ferey held the short side of the L.
Wellington attacks
When the British 3rd Division and D'Urban's brigade reached the top of the French L, they attacked Thomières. At the same time, Wellington launched the 5th and 4th divisions, backed by the 7th and 6th divisions, at the long side of the French L.
The 3rd Division came at the head of Thomières's division in a two-deep line. Despite its deployment in column formation, the French division initially repulsed its attackers, but was then routed by a bayonet charge. Thomières was killed. Seeing British cavalry in the area, Maucune formed his division into squares, the standard formation to receive a mounted attack, but a poor choice when defending against infantry. With their two-deep line, Leith's 5th Division easily defeated Maucune in a musketry duel. As the French foot soldiers fell back, Cotton ordered
The French army lost its commander very early in the crisis. As Pakenham's 3rd Division prepared to attack Thomières, Marmont finally realized his army's peril. He dashed for his horse, but was caught in a British shellburst which broke his arm and two ribs. His second-in-command, Bonet, was wounded very soon afterwards. Records conflict, however, with Marmont claiming that he was wounded as his wing became overextended, and his incapacitation led to the error not being corrected before Wellington attacked. His enemies place the time of his wounding as during Wellington's attack. For somewhere between 20 minutes[12] and over an hour,[13] the French Army of Portugal remained leaderless.
Cole's 4th Division attacked Bonet's division while Pack's Portuguese assaulted the Greater Arapile. With the help of a 40-gun battery firing from the Greater Arapile, both attacks were repulsed by the French.
Assuming command, Clauzel did his best to salvage the dire situation. He committed Sarrut's division to shore up the wrecked left flank, then launched a dangerous counterattack at Cole's 4th Division using his own and Bonet's divisions, supported by Boyer's dragoons. This attack brushed aside Cole's survivors and struck the 6th Division in Wellington's second line. Marshal
As the rest of the French army streamed away, Clauzel ordered Ferey to hold off the victorious Allies at all costs. Ferey formed his division in a convex line, following the shape of the hillside. The French infantry had fought in battalion columns that day, but Ferey deployed seven battalions into a three-deep line, with both flanks covered by a battalion in square. The French divisional artillery battery was in close support. With its two British brigades in the front line, Clinton's victorious 6th Division attacked Ferey's division. The first volley of the French soldiers was particularly lethal. The slope was so steep that Ferey's third rank could fire over the heads of the first two ranks. In the gathering dusk, it appeared to the soldiers of Clinton's division that they were attacking a flaming mountain. On the British right flank, Major General
End
Foy's division covered the French retreat towards Alba de Tormes, where there was a bridge they could use to escape. Wellington, believing that the Alba de Tormes crossing was blocked by a Spanish battalion in a fortified castle, directed his pursuit along a different road. De Espana, however, had withdrawn the unit without informing Wellington, which allowed the French to escape. The French Army of Portugal suffered 7,000 killed and wounded and 7,000 captured. Besides Marmont's severe wounding, two divisional commanders were killed and another wounded. Half of the 5,214 Anglo-Allied losses came from the 4th and 6th divisions. Cotton, Cole, and Leith were all wounded.
Aftermath
The Battle of Salamanca was a damaging defeat for the French and while they regrouped, Anglo-Portuguese forces entered Madrid on 6 August. The Siege of Burgos ensued, then in the autumn the Anglo-Portuguese retreated to Portugal when renewed French concentrations threatened to trap them, although the French forces, which had been stripped of several experienced units to join the Russian campaign, were reluctant to go on the offensive.
A failure by Spanish troops to guard a crucial escape route over the bridge at Alba de Tormes tainted the victory. This may have resulted from a misunderstanding between Spanish and British commanders. Subsequent pursuit failed to destroy or to capture the fleeing French.
Wellington
The battle established Wellington as an offensive general. It was said that he "defeated an army of 40,000 men in 40 minutes."[15] Six days after the battle, Foy wrote in his diary,
"This battle is the most cleverly fought, the largest in scale, the most important in results, of any that the English have won in recent times. It brings up Lord Wellington's reputation almost to the level of that of Marlborough. Up to this day we knew his prudence, his eye for choosing good positions, and the skill with which he used them. But at Salamanca he has shown himself a great and able master of manoeuvring. He kept his dispositions hidden nearly the whole day: he allowed us to develop our movement before he pronounced his own: he played a close game: he utilized the oblique order in the style of Frederick the Great."[16]
Action at Garcia Hernandez
The following day, Wellington's
Imperial Eagle
Two
Salamanca Day
Today, 22 July is known as Salamanca Day and is the regimental day for The Rifles.
Cultural references
- The battle is mentioned in Napoleon as receiving an aide-de-camp, Fabvier, who has just arrived with news of the Battle of Salamanca. "Fabvier told him of the heroism and devotion of his troops fighting at Salamanca, at the other end of Europe, but with one thought – to be worthy of their Emperor – but with one fear – to fail to please him. The result of that battle had been deplorable. Napoleon made ironic remarks during Fabvier's account, as if he had not expected that matters could not go otherwise in his absence".
- The battle features in Battle of Mount Badon, in Excalibur, the third and final volume of Cornwell's The Warlord Chronicles.
- The battle is described in Suzanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, during the time that Jonathan Strange served under Lord Wellington.
- Salamanca Place, in Hobart, Tasmania, commemorates the battle. Mount Wellington is nearby.
- A mock-up of the battle is featured in episode 6, season 2 of the TV series The Crown, "Vergangenheit".
- Benito Pérez Galdós's novel La Batalla de los Arapiles, part of his series Episodios Nacionales features the battle extensively.
- The Spanish Bride, by Georgette Heyer.
- Higgins attempts unsuccessfully to reenact the battle at the beginning of episode 15, season 5 of the TV series Magnum, P.I. but is thwarted by Magnum's unwelcome improvisation.
References
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g Bodart 1908, p. 432.
- ^ Holmes 2003.
- ^ Gates 2002, p. 514.
- ^ Gates 2002, p. 513.
- ^ a b Gates 2002, p. 358.
- ^ a b Eggenberger 1985, p. 379.
- ^ Oman 1996, pp. 290–296.
- ^ Oman 1996, p. 320.
- ^ Oman 1996, p. 335.
- ^ Porter 1889, pp. 312–315.
- ^ Fletcher 1997, pp. 185–188.
- ^ Pimlott & Chandler 1987, p. 266.
- ^ Glover 2001, p. 203.
- ^ Oman 1996, pp. 462–466.
- ^ fitzmuseum 2008.
- ^ Oman 1993, p. 58.
- ^ Cherry, O'Brien & Pevsner 2005.
- ^ channelsea 2017.
- ^ ejercito 2019.
- ^ ejercito 2011.
Bibliography
- Bodart, Gaston (1908). Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905). Retrieved 28 May 2021.
- ISBN 0-02-523670-9.
- channelsea (2017). "Channelsea River - Stratford". Archived from the original on 12 October 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
- Cherry, Bridget; O'Brien, Charles; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2005). London: East. Yale University Press. ISBN 0300107013.
- ejercito (2011). "REGIMIENTO DE CAZADORES DE MONTAÑA "ARAPILES" 62" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 5 March 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
- ejercito (2019). "Reportajes del Boletín de Tierra" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 12 February 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
- fitzmuseum (2008). "Military General Service Medal, with bars for Roleia, Vimiera, Busaco, Salamanca, Vittoria & St Sebastian, inscribed to Pvt. Joseph Weller, 1848". Archived from the original on 7 June 2008. Retrieved 29 October 2007.
- Fletcher, Ian (1997). Salamanca 1812: Wellington Crushes Marmont. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 1-85532-604-3.
- Gates, David (2002). The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War. London: Pimlico. ISBN 0-7126-9730-6.
- ISBN 0-141-39041-7.
- Holmes, Richard (2003). Wellington: The Iron Duke. London: Harper Collins. ISBN 0-00-713750-8. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
- ISBN 0-947898-41-7.
- ISBN 1-85367-225-4.
- Pimlott, John; ISBN 0-02-905930-5.
- Porter, Maj Gen Whitworth (1889). History of the Corps of Royal Engineers Vol I. Chatham: The Institution of Royal Engineers.
- ISBN 1-85367-276-9.
- Weller, Jac (1962). Wellington in the Peninsula. London: Nicolas Vane.
- Eggenberger, David (1985). An Encyclopedia of Battles. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-24913-1. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
Further reading
- Beamish, N. Ludlow (1997). History of the King's German Legion, Vol 2 (reprint). Naval and Military Press. ISBN 0-9522011-0-0
- Muir, Rory (2001). Salamanca, 1812. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-08719-5
- Young, Peter (1972). Wellington's masterpiece: The battle and campaign of Salamanca. Allen and Unwin. ISBN 0-04-940037-1
External links
- Battle of Salamanca Original reports from The Times
- Dispatches: London Gazette 16 August 1812[permanent dead link]
- Details on battle of Salamanca
- Includes British and allied OOB
- The Cruel War in Spain – Armies, Battles, Skirmishes
- Batalla de los Arapiles (in Spanish)
- Media related to Battle of Salamanca at Wikimedia Commons
Preceded by Battle of Ekau |
Napoleonic Wars Battle of Salamanca |
Succeeded by Battle of García Hernández |