A history of the Peninsular War, Vol. 2, Jan.-Sep. 1809 : $b From the battle of Corunna to the end of the Talavera campaignOman, Charles
History
A history of the Peninsular War, Vol. 2, Jan.-Sep. 1809 : $b From the battle of Corunna to the end of the Talavera campaign
Oman, Charles
Peninsular War, 1807-1814
Beyond Infantado’s depleted corps lay the army of Valencia. Its
nucleus was the remains of the old division of Llamas and Roca, which
had served with Castaños at Tudela. The local Junta rapidly recruited
this skeleton force from 1,500 up to 5,000 men[43]. They added to
it several new regiments raised during the winter in Valencia and
Murcia, and by February had 10,000 men available for succouring
Aragon and Catalonia, though their quality left much to be desired.
[43] See the table in Argüelles on p. 74 of his Appendix-volume.
A little further north Palafox was still holding out with splendid
desperation in Saragossa, where he had shut himself up with the whole
army of Aragon. His original 32,000 men were already much thinned
by pestilence and the sword, but in January their spirit was yet
unbroken, and though it was clear that they were doomed to final
destruction, if they were not relieved from the outside, yet they
were still doing excellent work in detaining in front of them the
whole of the 3rd and 5th French Army Corps.
There yet remains to be described the strongest of all the Spanish
armies, that of Catalonia. In addition to the original garrison of
the province, and to its gallant _miqueletes_ and _somatenes_, there
had been gradually drafted into the principality (1) the greater
part of the garrison of the Balearic Isles, some 9,000 men; (2)
Reding’s Granadan division which started from its home over 10,000
strong; (3) 2,500 men of Caraffa’s old division from Portugal; (4)
the Marquis of Lazan’s Aragonese division from the side of Lerida,
about 4,000 bayonets. Thus in all some 32,000 men in organized corps
had been massed in Catalonia, and the _somatenes_ added some 20,000
irregulars. Of course the Spanish strength in January did not reach
these figures. Many men had been lost at the siege of Rosas and in
the battles of Cardadeu and Molins de Rey: yet there were still
40,000 troops of one sort or another available; the spirit of the
country was irritated rather than lowered by the late defeats; the
French only occupied the ground that was within the actual circle of
fire of their garrisons. If the Catalans had been content to avoid
general engagements, and to maintain an incessant guerrilla warfare,
they might have held their own. Though the enemy had a very capable
commander in General St. Cyr, they had as yet accomplished nothing
more than the capture of the antiquated fortress of Rosas, the relief
of Barcelona, and the winning of two fruitless battles. Catalonia
remained unsubdued till the very end of the struggle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account