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Battle of Salamanca
Part of the Peninsular War

Site of the battle at Arapil Chico. The Peninsular War or Spanish War of Independence pitted an alliance of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal against France
Date July 22, 1812
Location Arapiles, Salamanca, Spain
Result Tactical Allied victory
Belligerents
Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Flag of Portugal Portugal
Flag of Spain Spain		 Flag of France French Empire
Commanders
Arthur Wellesley,
Earl of Wellington		 Auguste Marmont,
Duc de Ragusa
Strength
51,949[1] 49,647[2]
Casualties and losses
5,214 dead or wounded 7,000 dead or wounded
7,000 captured
11 cannons lost
Map of the battlefield
Map of the battlefield

The Battle of Salamanca saw an Anglo-Portuguese army under General Arthur Wellesley defeat Marshal Auguste Marmont's French forces among the hills around Arapiles south of Salamanca, Spain on July 22, 1812 during the Peninsular War. Events 1099 - First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon is elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of Year 1812 ( MDCCCXII) a leap year started on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Arapiles is a Village and Municipality in the province of Salamanca, western Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile-Leon Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801 until 12 April 1927 The Kingdom of Portugal was Portugal 's general designation under the monarchy. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. The Empire of the French (1804-1814 also known as the Empire of France, Greater French Empire, First French Empire, French Empire, or Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, KP, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS ( c Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont, 1st Duc de Ragusa ( 20 July 1774 &ndash 22 March 1852) was a French The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, KP, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS ( c Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont, 1st Duc de Ragusa ( 20 July 1774 &ndash 22 March 1852) was a French This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Arapiles is a Village and Municipality in the province of Salamanca, western Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile-Leon Geography The city lies on a mountain by the Tormes River which is crossed by a bridge 150 m long built on 26 arches fifteen of which are of Roman origin, while Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Events 1099 - First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon is elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of Year 1812 ( MDCCCXII) a leap year started on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year The Peninsular War or Spanish War of Independence pitted an alliance of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal against France

The battle was a succession of strokes in oblique order, initiated by the Portuguese cavalry brigade and Pakenham's 3rd division, and continued by the British heavy cavalry and the 4th, 5th and 6th divisions. The Oblique Order (or declined or refused flank is a military tactic where an attacking army focuses its forces to attack a single enemy Flank. Edward Pakenham was also the name of the sixth earl of Longford Sir Edward Michael Pakenham ( pro The Cavalry (from French cavalerie) is the second oldest of the Combat Arms, and as Soldiers or Warriors who fought mounted on The French left wing was routed.

By chance, both Marmont and his deputy commander General Bonet were wounded by shrapnel in the first few minutes of firing. The French command confusion may have been decisive in creating the opportunity, but Wellington seized the opportunity and exploited it.

Clausel, third in seniority, asserted command and ordered a counterattack by the French reserve toward the depleted Allied center. It had some success but Wellington had sent his reinforcements to the centre, and they decided the fight in his favour.

The losses were 3,129 British and 2,038 Portuguese against about 13,000 French. As a consequence, his army was able to advance to and liberate Madrid for two months, but then retreated back to Portugal. Madrid (pronounced in English in Spanish and colloquially in Spain) is the Capital and largest city of Spain. The French were forced to permanently abandon Andalusia, and the loss of Madrid irreparably damaged King Joseph's pro-French government. Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte King of Naples and Sicily, King of Spain (during a time) and the Indies (never de facto and never de iure

Contents

Background

The battle followed a frustrating period of six weeks for Wellington. His foray into central Spain in the spring of 1812 had been blocked by Marmont's army. As Wellington advanced, Marmont's strength grew as he received reinforcements. Wellington withdrew as the odds turned against him, with the armies often marching close together and Marmont repeatedly threatening Wellington's supply line. Military supply chain management is a cross-functional approach to procuring, producing and delivering products and services The broad By this day, Wellington had finally decided to withdraw his army all the way back to Portugal. Suddenly, he observed that Marmont had made the tactical error of separating his left flank from his main body. (Wellington's reaction has been differently reported, with little emphasis that both he and Marmont had been looking for an opening for weeks. ) He immediately ordered the major part of his army to attack the over-extended French left wing.

Forces

Marshal Marmont's 50,000-man Army of Portugal contained 8 infantry and 2 cavalry divisions, plus 78 artillery pieces. The infantry divisions were Maximilien Foy's 1st (4,900), Bertrand Clausel's 2nd (6,300), Claude Ferey's 3rd (5,400), Sarrut's 4th (5,000), Antoine Maucune's 5th (5,000), Antoine Brenier's 6th (4,300), Jean Thomières's 7th (4,300) and Jean Bonet's 8th (6,400). Maximilien Sébastien Foy ( 3 February 1775 &ndash 28 November 1825) was a French military leader statesman and writer Bertrand comte Clausel (or Clauzel) ( December 12, 1772 &ndash April 21, 1842) Marshal of France, was born at Mirepoix Antoine-François Brenier de Montmorand ( 12 November 1767 at Saint-Marcellin ( Isère) - 8 October 1832) served as a Pierre Boyer led 1,500 dragoons and Curto commanded 1,900 light cavalry. Louis Tirlet directed 3,300 artillerymen and there were also 1,300 engineers, military police and wagon drivers.

Wellington's 48,500-man army included 8 infantry divisions and 2 independent brigades, 5 cavalry brigades and 54 cannons. The infantry divisions were Henry Campbell's 1st (6,200), Edward Pakenham's 3rd (5,800), Lowry Cole's 4th (5,191), James Leith's 5th (6,700), Henry Clinton's 6th (5,500), John Hope's 7th (5,100) and Charles Alten's Light (3,500). Edward Pakenham was also the name of the sixth earl of Longford Sir Edward Michael Pakenham ( pro Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole 1 May 1772 Dublin - 4 October 1842 Highfield Park Hampshire, was an Irish British Army General Sir James Leith GCB (1763-1845 commanded the 5th Division in the Duke of Wellington 's Anglo-Portuguese army at several critical battles during the Peninsular John Hope 4th Earl of Hopetoun PC ( 17 August 1765 - 27 August 1823) known as the Honourable John Hope from 1781 to 1809 Sir Charles ( Carl August von) Alten (1764 - 1840 Hanoverian and British soldier son of Baron Alten a member of an old Hanoverian family entered Carlos D'Espana commanded a 3,400-man Spanish division, while Denis Pack (2,600) and Thomas Bradford (1,900) led Portuguese brigades.

Stapleton Cotton supervised the cavalry brigades. Stapleton Stapleton-Cotton 1st Viscount Combermere GCB GCH KSI PC ( November 14 1773 &ndash 21 February These included 1,000 British heavy dragoons led by John Le Marchant, 1,000 British light dragoons under George Anson, 700 Anglo-German light horse under Victor Alten, 800 King's German Legion (KGL) heavy dragoons led by George Bock and 500 Portuguese dragoons under Benjamin D'Urban. Major-General John Gaspard Le Marchant ( 9 February 1766 &ndash 22 July 1812) was one of the finest British cavalry Lieutenant-General Sir Benjamin d'Urban GCB, KCH, KCTS (1777 &ndash 25 May, 1849) was a British General and Hoylet Framingham commanded eight British (RHA: Ross, Bull, Macdonald; RA: Lawson, Gardiner, Greene, Douglas, May) and one Portuguese (Arriaga) six-gun artillery batteries.

Maneuvers

Early on July 22, Marmont's army was moving south, with its leading elements 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 surmised 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.

Marmont was mistaken. Wellington actually had most of his divisions hidden behind the ridge. His 3rd and 5th Divisions would soon arrive from Salamanca. Wellington had planned to retreat if outflanked, but he was watching warily to see if Marmont made a blunder.

Marmont 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 sent his divisions marching 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 reached to the west, 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 came Maucune, Brenier and Clausel. Bonet, Sarrut and Boyer were near the Greater Arapile. Foy and Ferey still held the short side of the L.

Wellington strikes

When the 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 two-deep line. Formed in columns, the French charged and were routed by superior British tactics and firepower. Thomières was killed. Seeing British cavalry in the area, Maucune formed his division into squares. This was the standard formation to receive a mounted attack, but a poor one to defend against infantry. Deployed in two-deep line, Leith's 5th Division easily defeated Maucune in a musketry duel. As the French foot soldiers began falling back, Cotton hurled Le Marchant's brigade (5th Dragoon Guards, 3rd and 4th Dragoons) at them. Maucune's men were cut to pieces by the heavy cavalrymen's sabers. Many of the survivors surrendered.

Le Marchant hurriedly reformed his troopers and sent them at the next French division, which was winded from a rapid march. The heavy dragoons mauled Brenier's hastily-formed first line, but Le Marchant pressed his luck too far. He was killed trying to break a French square in Brenier's second line. William Ponsonby succeeded to command of the brigade. For the Elizabethan publisher see William Ponsonby (publisher.

During this crisis, the French army lost its commander. As Pakenham's 3rd Division prepared to attack Thomières, Marmont finally woke up to 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 after. Marmont claimed he was wounded as his wing became overextended, and his incapacitation led to the error not being corrected before Wellington attacked. His enemies placed his wounding during Wellington's attack. Records conflict. For somewhere between 20 minutes[3] and over an hour[4], the Army of Portugal remained leaderless.

Cole's 4th Division attacked Bonet's division and 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.

When the third-in-command, Clausel was finally located, he did his best to salvage a bad situation. He committed Sarrut's division to shore up the wrecked left flank. Clausel 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 William Beresford reacted promptly to this developing threat and immediately sent William Spry's Portuguese brigade of the 5th Division to engage the French infantry, while Wellington moved the 1st and 7th Divisions to assist. After bitter resistance, the divisions of Clausel and Bonet were defeated. A general retreat began.

As the rest of the French army streamed away, Ferey formed his division in a single three-deep line, with each flank covered by a battalion in square. Led by Clinton's victorious 6th Division, the British came up to this formation and were initially repulsed. After ordering his artillery to crossfire through the center of the French line, Wellington ordered a second assault. This attack broke Ferey's division and killed its commander.

Foy's division covered the French retreat toward 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. However, Maj-Gen D'Espana had withdrawn the unit without informing Wellington, so the French got away. The 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 wounded.

Outcome

The battle established Wellington as an offensive general. It was said that Wellington "defeated an army of 40,000 men in 40 minutes. "[5] 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. The Dukedom of Marlborough (named after Marlborough, ˈmɔrlbrə " Maul bruh" is a hereditary title of British nobility in the Peerage of 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 maneuvering. 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. Frederick II (Friedrich II January 24 1712 August 17 1786) was a King of Prussia (1740&ndash1786 from the [6]

The Battle of Salamanca was a damaging defeat to the French. As the French regrouped, the Anglo-Portuguese entered Madrid on August 6 and attempted the Siege of Burgos, before retreating all the way back to Portugal in the fall when renewed French concentrations threatened to trap them. Madrid (pronounced in English in Spanish and colloquially in Spain) is the Capital and largest city of Spain. Events 1538 - Bogotá, Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada. At the Siege of Burgos September 19 to October 21, 1812, the Anglo-Portuguese army led by General Marquess of Wellington failed to capture

The victory was flawed by the failure of Spanish troops to guard a crucial escape route over the bridge at Alba de Tormes, possibly by a misunderstanding between Spanish and British commanders. Alba de Tormes is a small town and Municipality in the province of Salamanca,  western Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile-Leon The pursuit was ineffective at capturing the fleeing French.

Action at Garcia Hernandez

The following day, Wellington's King's German Legion (KGL) heavy dragoons performed the astounding feat of "breaking a square" and overrunning a portion of the French rear guard in the Battle of Garcia Hernandez. An infantry square is a combat formation an Infantry unit formed in close order assumes when threatened with Cavalry attack In the Battle of Garcia Hernandez on July 23 1812 two brigades of Anglo-German Cavalry led by Major-General George Bock defeated 4000 French infantry led by Major-General Moreover, they accomplished this twice within a few minutes.

Imperial Eagle

The Imperial Eagle of the French 62nd Line (Thomières) was captured by Lieutenant Pearce of the 2/44th East Essex Regiment, a part of Lieutenant General Leith's 5th Division. Although they were presented with Regimental Colours the regiments of Napoleon I tended to carry at their head the Imperial Eagle. Lieutenant (abbreviated Lt or Lieut) is a Military, Naval, Paramilitary, Fire service, Emergency medical services The 44th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment in the British Army. Lieutenant General is a Military rank used in many countries The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the Additionally, the Eagle of the 22nd Line regiment was found among a pile of French dead by a Portuguese caçador.

Notes

  1. ^ Gates, p. 513
  2. ^ Gates, p. 514
  3. ^ Chandler-Pimlott p 266
  4. ^ Glover p 203
  5. ^ Military General Service Medal, with bars for Roleia, Vimiera, Busaco, Salamanca, Vittoria & St Sebastian, inscribed to Pvt. Joseph Weller, 1848
  6. ^ Oman p 58

References

Further reading

External links

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