The Great War of Defiance

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 July Archive

Aug 2
Return to Madrid

Battle of Guadarrama

Aug 5th
pursuit
 

Battle of Catela Bay

Aug 13
Advancing

Second Battle of Valladolid AAR

Aug 17
Awaiting the Storm

Battle of Palencia AAR

Aug 22
Waiting Game

Battle of Villanubla
AAR

Aug 27
News from the South

The war has ended. King Ferdinand is on the throne of Spain and there is to be a wedding between he and a member of the Bonaparte family. Spain though is not a satellite of France. Nor are we a colony of Britain. We remain a free and independent nation and all foreign troops are expelled from the Iberian peninsula. Portugal and Gibraltar, to be emptied of British troops, will be passed to administrative control of Spain. Aragon has achieved independence.

The war began with a French invasion of our beloved homeland so we, the Spanish, view this result as a great victory. Our defiance has been rewarded. No longer will the Iberian Peninsula be the battlefield for Britain and France to fight their wars upon.

Viva Espagne! Viva Ferdinando! Viva Real!

In the last days of the campaign, Wellington tried an attack upon the French forces at Gibraltar but little was accomplished. Also, General Drummond once again me Napoleon in battle at Palencia and was once again obliged to retire down the highway to Valladolid.

Wellington and Castanos, in a coordinated strike, march to retake Madrid and Napoleon's isolated Corps is mauled and sent in retreat. For several days the French Emperor is hounded and pursued until he gets safely across the Douro.  Wellington's pursuit is checked there by the presence of French reinforcements in the form of Fresh grenadier divisions.

On August 6th, Jourdan lands an army at Gibraltar and begins to lay siege. This shocking development obliges Wellington and Castanos to shift resources to the south and the seas. A new British command enters the fray in the form of General Drummond in Portugal and similarly, the French make a new column under Lannes, based out of Toulouse.

Drummond, Castanos and Wellington will come together to retake Valladolid and drive the French once more back toward Burgos but the fall of Zaragoza and the subsequent threat to Madrid by that direct road will thereafter oblige Castanos to focus entirely on defending the capital. The British in the north will not have enough men, even with Drummond, to achieve a decisive victory against Napoleon and so the back and forth in Old Castile will continue.

Lannes would make an attack on Madrid on Aug 19th but the Spanish would break the French attackers and pursue them a short ways up the road toward Zaragoza.

Generally, the armies are everywhere exhausted or are shifting to reorient themselves. Napoleon proposes a peace treaty in the middle of the month and the British are unable to change the political situation enough to prevent that treaty from being ratified by all parties on September 1st, ending the war.

Lannes sends a single corps against Madrid but when it sees that there is a robust defense, it immediately withdraws. Given that I have had reports of eight French divisions at Algora, I deduce that Lannes is trying to bait me into pursuing with a corps whereupon it will encounter a massed French army.  I do not take the bait. Castile corps is not yet back in Madrid in any case.

Castile corps reports that it is in Segovia but my cavalry scouts toward the east have encountered four French combat divisions at Guadalajara. Here comes Lannes again! The Castile corps will be ordered to move at forced march speeds back to Madrid.

With only two days to go before the treaty is ratified that will end the war, I cannot afford to have Madrid fall.

There was a battle at Villanubla, north of Valladolid a couple of days ago. Graham held the field against Bonaparte but was unable to pursue.

We're just waiting until the peace now, it seems. I've got Castile marching north toward Segovia in any case. Drummond writes about driving on Bayonne again but he apparently wasn't positioned to pursue after Villanubla.

Wellington, in the south, is massing his troops at Algecira and talks about storming Gibraltar but there is no room for my troops so I will wait until his armies have fought their way down the peninsula.

Lannes is driven back from Guadalajara, retreating to Algora. I determine that I must not overextend myself until I get word from the north and so recall my Castile corps to Madrid, abandoning the pursuit. I write to Drummond and Graham that I anticipate having my Castile Corps in Segovia on Aug 30th.

Gibraltar has fallen! Cuesta waits, a days march from the fortress but dare not cross the river and assault the French. Maybe now that the French have taken the fortress, they will attack out.

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There are no surprises and my pursuit on Lannes appears to be quite in my favour.

Messages come from Graham, who has replaced Wellington in the north, asking me to send a corps to Cuellar for Aug 28th in anticipation of an attack by Bonaparte but I reply that I cannot hope to have a corps in Cuellar until the 30th and that I may find myself pursuing Lannes all the way to Zaragoza.

My Battle squadron is engaged with French forces in the Strait of Gibraltar.

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Lannes has attacked me again at Madrid. I have an estimated 40,000 infantry and 11,500 cavalry. Lannes has brought 12,000 infantry and 4000 cavalry. If he withdraws, I will pursue.

 The third cavalry is recalled from Segovia to participate. This may be a mistake as I appear to have overwhelming strength at Madrid but I do not know what reinforcements Lannes might have coming.

In the night, Lannes withdrew. I will send my Castile Corps (who are not behind breastworks) to pursue him to Guadalajara.

Moore has landed a small British corps at Cadiz. Cuesta sends word that he wishes those troops to hurry to Barbate in case Jourdan gets bold and attacks the Spanish now at Algecira. Wellington, at Cadiz, is going to want to rest Moore's troops until they recover from their sea travel.

In the north, it remains quiet.

Cuesta, in the south, pushes back a French division at Barbate and drives it back to Algecira. His 40,000 troops are moving to Algecira to keep and eye on Gibraltar.

It seems like Graham is taking Hamilton's corps to defend Valladolid while Drummond continues to rebuild his army at Almeida and Salamanca. I have a bad feeling that Graham will be caught by Napoleon without Drummond's support. I daren't march north, as much as the British ask me to, for fear of abandoning Madrid to the lurking Lannes.

The French remain at Guadalajara and my fortifications are completed at Madrid. In general, it seems that things have gone quiet on all fronts as we resign ourselves to the French having the initiative. There is some talk from Wellington and Drummond about trying one more attack against Napoleon, using the Spanish as well but the two of them are having trouble seeing eye-to-eye.

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Piquets from Madrid report four French combat divisions still at Guadalajara. My headquarters is a day's ride west of Madrid. The newspapers remind me that Catalonia has fallen.  I do not like this stillness with the treaty of Palencia hanging over our heads. It will be ratified in 9 days unless we can take two political points from Napoleon.

Messages arrive from Drummond and Wellington. They blame one another for their defeat at Palencia. Drummond is retreating to Almeida. Wellington is leaving Hamilton with Drummond in the north and will take himself south at haste to deal with Gibraltar. Napoleon, it seems, is once again free to strike at Madrid from the north. I will send a cavalry division to Segovia to put out vedettes to Montuenga (which has been Napoleon's preferred route thus far).

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Word comes of a British defeat at Palencia.

I'm not entirely happy with the army that I have assembled. There is a healthy amount of cavalry and my troops coming from Guadarrama have two grenadier brigades.

Lannes selects the northern 10 squares, which is exactly what I'd hoped. Now there is a chance that the French will try some vague attack by Tres Cantos to get across the stream unmolested. That is where my reinforcements will destroy him.

*******

A Decisive victory at Madrid! Lannes' forces (VI Corps under Reille) were broken and routed from the field. The French poured themselves into Madrid and initially made great success against my Right Wing. Quixano's Corps was shattered by 1300 hrs and could only hang on to the outskirts as the French took of the bulk of the capital's blocks. Duke Ossuna's Corps though, 23000 marching back from my assault at Burgos, were a timely arrival and their counter-attack into Madrid broke the back of Lannes' grenadiers. I dare not pursue though. My engineering train has arrived at Madrid and I will hold here, at least until I know what is happening with the British in the north.

*****

Cuesta is raised as a subordinate wing commander. He is at Badajoz and will hurry south to take command of the Andalusian Wing of my army.

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I have proposed a peace treaty with the French but it offers little and so expect that it will be rebuffed. I am in no position to bargain. The army at Madrid (and marching to it from Guadarrama) needs to be organized and sorted into their corps for the battle that I will fight today.  I will put Quixano, with the Right Wing, as a predominantly infantry force and Duke Ossuna will take the left wing which will be primarily cavalry to begin and then all of the 25,000 infantry coming from the north. Maybe I can use this as a mass de decision if Lannes exhausts himself against my defences on the right. The forces opposing me are French VI Corps (I do not know who commands them yet) and Lannes with the Army of Iberia. It is two infantry divisions, a mixed division, and a cavalry division. This makeup suggests to me that he will use his mixed division to anchor or attack on a flank while the infantry do a frontal assault on Madrid and his cavalry in the center ready to breakthrough.

Bonaparte quickly issued a counter-proposal to my peace treaty. By this treaty, Fernando would marry Pauline Bonaparte, Aragon would be stripped from Spain so that it would be neutral, and Portugal and Gibraltar would become Spanish provinces. I quickly voice my support for this treaty.

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Reports from both spies and my Castilian light horse confirm that a French Corps is at Guadalajara, one day from Madrid. There are four divisions there so I will assume three infantry and a cavalry division. I will have little more than forty thousand to fight them so very little numerical superiority. There is no chance of any assistance from the British. They are tied up fighting in the north.  My engineering wagon is at Toledo so it is too late by a week to be of any use in the defense.

Current estimates of my forces are 13,500 infantry and 8000 cavalry at Madrid, which includes a 5000 man garrison. I have perhaps 50 cannon available.
At Guadarrama, hurrying to the capital, are the Tremp Borderers and 2nd Castile Horse, representing 4000 infantry and 4000 horse.
Niquenti infantry division is at Toledo and should be here by tomorrow night with 10,000 regular infantry.
Duke Ossuna is expected to arrive from the west with 30 more artillery pieces.

Three infantry divisions are at Segovia and are too fatigued to make it to Madrid tomorrow but I should be able to expect them to arrive during the battle as reinforcements from the north. Last reports were that Crespo division was broken and that 1st and 2nd Castellan divisions are fresh so that represents perhaps 23,000 regular infantry.

By noon on Aug 19th then, I should have 50,000 infantry, 12,000 cavalry, and 80 artillery divided into two corps.

I anticipate that the French that I am facing will have 30,000 infantry, 5000 cavalry, and 60 cannon.

If I fight in the streets of the capital, anchoring my left on the defensible Tres Cantos with the wood and river providing further cover, I think I can make a very good stand.

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So Victory is achieved at Valladolid. Drummond is pursuing to Palencia though I have warned him that eight French divisions are at Burgos.

Alarmingly, my light cavalry at Algora was driven back to Guadalajara.  There is no word of what has driven them back and nothing has yet come from my spies on the road (though this is not surprising as spies are slow). I must assume that French are moving down the Zaragoza road to Madrid and I must save the capital. There was once an idea that Madrid corps could move east through Navaleno and then to the Zaragoza-Madrid road but if the French are at Algora then there is no time for tricks, feints, or fanciness. I must mass an army, however ragged, at Madrid.

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The cavalry that was sent pursuing to Montuenga was repulsed back to Segovia. My several divisions were driven off of Burgos by no less than eight divisions of French. They have begun a retreat down the road toward me and I will need to make a decision about what to do with them.

Drummond is fighting the French at Valladolid but if eight French divisions are at Burgos then there can be little opposition to him in the south. My former Madrid Corps has done its duty, all that could be asked of it. I will recall it to Segovia. My Right Wing will wait here at Segovia until I hear the results of the battle at Valladolid.  Though two divisions are sent back to Madrid to continue rebuilding.

Second Battle of Valladolid AAR

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We are at Segovia once more, where we encounter a single French division and drive it toward Montuenga. The British 6th infantry is at Pradena so the communications are once again open. I receive messages from Burgos where my troops are now besieging the garrison there.  Word comes from Wellington:

In the south, there is confirmation that my Andalucian Corps have received their orders to continue on to Cadiz so I can expect them to be there on the 16th. I do not have the courage to send them to attack Gibraltar.

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The newspapers report that Wellington was badly defeated at Cuellar on Aug 12th. A message from Drummond arrives to tell me that he is still only at Salamanca and that he is not getting any word from Wellington. The British seem to have gotten themselves roughly handled due to a breakdown in communications.

My Madrid Corps Headquarters was overrun and destroyed. That tells me that at least some French units are on the road between Burgos and Valladolid where the HQ had retreated to. What was called Madrid Corps should be south of Burgos and I expect them to be attacking it on the morrow.

My right wing, meanwhile, is assembled at Guadarrama and I order it to move on Segovia. I will accompany it.

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Intriguing. A report arrives from the 2nd Castile horse that was at Segovia yesterday, reporting that they were attacked by a lone battered French infantry division. My militia cavalry withdrew to Guadarrama. Segovia is fairly critical for keeping in contact with Wellington's and my forces that attacked across the Douro. The only reason that the 2nd Castile horse was alone at Segovia was that the rest of Madrid Corps must have made it to Pradena. All seems to be going well. Still, I will march my Right Wing Corps out of Madrid to Segovia, as quickly as possible, to re-secure the line of communication.

A message that shouldn't have gotten to me already (another bug to track down) is that my Madrid Corps HQ managed to get to Burgos ahead of his corps and was driven off to Palencia. That means that its orders will be cleared and also that I'll be unable to get orders to it.

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Wellington writes that he is attempting a crossing of the Douro today at Cuellar.  Palafox should be crossing to his east and I consider the idea of ordering Palafox to assist him (I didn't order them to march to the sound of guns) but I really have no idea if there will be any resistance to Wellington's attack. No, I will stick to my plan and hope that Palafox can move on Burgos with alacrity.

Otherwise it is a quiet day. I advance some piquets up the road toward Zaragoza with orders to avoid combat. Also, an engineering train is constructed in Badajoz. Perhaps there will be some time to put them to use in the defense of Madrid.

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My Spanish battle squadron finally drove off the French squadron that had been harassing the Mid Atlantic Ocean. It had previously defeated three British squadrons and had shut down Wellington's Oporto depot for a few days. With the arrival of Drummond, the British have switched to a field depot system at Almeida. This makes them less reliant on maintaining control of the seas but each home unit that they construct arrives worn, or worse, and fatigued. It also has the advantage of being closer to the front line against Napoleon.

Drummond has apparently bought entirely into Wellington's fixation on the northern highway. He wishes to combine the two British armies and make a straight frontal assault against Napoleon, driving on San Sebastian and Bayonne. Meanwhile, that leaves the unfortunate Castanos to somehow contain Lannes and Jourdan's five or six Corps spread across a hundred mile front. Being less inclined to sacrifice myself to the British cause, I disband my victorious Mid Atlantic squadron and purchase Castilian replacements in Madrid with the points.

I realized that my Calatayud spy would be running back to me to report enemy in Zaragoza so I discredited it and put one further back in Siguenza. This will activate when the French get to Calatayud.

There is some musings on the notion of constructing fortifications at Madrid and this might have been a clever idea to have a week before. It will require seven days to get an engineering train to Madrid from Badajoz and then perhaps another week to complete the defensive works. Do I believe that I have two weeks before the XV Corps at least arrives at Madrid? No.

Again though, I am not happy with the notion that I can sit in a static defensive position and allow Lannes and Jourdan the initiative. Perhaps there is a way to distract Lannes from his march on Madrid by some manoeuvre to his flank.  Selfishly, I wonder about trying to draw him toward the British armies. If I cannot convince the British that Madrid needs defending then perhaps I can convince Lannes that the British represent a greater threat and opportunity than Madrid.

I draft up a message for Wellington but have the courier wait two hours to give me time to reconsider the sending.

Sent by Real HQ from Toledo on August 10th 1809 No receipt received. I must confess that I am not happy with the current strategy that has developed since Drummond's arrival in theater. I know that your army is near exhausted and Drummond uses the language of a Parliamentarian who has never fought a battle. Before, I was troubled by the British fixation on the northern highway and the apparent disregard for the strategic importance of Madrid. Now, I appear to have two allies with the same philosophy. Maybe it will work. Maybe you will defeat Napoleon and drive him across the Pyrenees. In the meanwhile though, my three weak corps are expected to fight five or six French corps across a hundred mile front stretching from Gibraltar to Zaragoza. At this time, I am at a complete loss as to how to even approach the problem of defending New Castile, Valencia, Catalonia, Extremedura, Andalucia, and Gibraltar from two French wings. A brilliant idea may occur to me. It hasn't yet. If the French were to offer a peace tomorrow that cost me two or three provinces, I would support it. Still, as much as I may be troubled by the British grand strategy, I have no alternative in mind either. Castanos

And I do recall that courier and destroy the first missive. My clerk puts another note into his hands for Wellington.

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A major victory was achieved at Segovia. Two French corps withdrew toward Valladolid. I have ordered my Corps to return to Madrid and my Right Wing and my headquarters are moving to Toledo to try to get our replacements a day earlier. My Left Wing has been renamed the Andalucian Corps and I expect them to begin the march south tomorrow.

Napoleon is reduced to 5 political points. We coalition members have 1.  There is still work to do in driving the French from the national boundaries. I have 8 replacements between Badajoz and Madrid which represents 20% of my points. 

******

The Battle of Catela Bay is fought on this day.

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 More artillery fire is heard from Segovia. The pursuit continues.  Wellington has been informed of my inability to pursue beyond tomorrow so I will wait and see if he asks me to send more troops to Segovia.

I am, of course, worried about the notion of two French Corps landing at Gibraltar.  A single Spanish Corps could do little against that. Wellington has talked of sending a relief column to Gibraltar by sea. I am skeptical.

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The French are again driven back from Guadarrama and the pursuit of Marmont's wrecked corps continues. Wellington and I will coordinate pursuit. I will follow on with at least a crps to Segovia. The first replacements from Badajoz are still four days out from Madrid so I'd gain nothing from falling back to there yet.

I send a courier west, ordering Romana to march south to Sevilla. The courier will take four days to get there so they should be fully refitted before they march off. I expect them to arrive in Sevilla on the 18th. Wellington is informed that on Aug 11th, I hope to march my own headquarters down to Andalucía to better get information on the situation there. In order to affect this, I wish to hand over responsibility for the pursuit of Napoleon to Wellington and Drummond after Aug 9th.  That should allow me to get my northern corps back to Madrid where replacements will be waiting for them.

A new French wing, under the command of Marshal Lannes, is now on the frontier somewhere.

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Zaragoza has fallen. It lasted nearly a month and I feel guilty for not making more of an effort to relieve the heroic defenders. It is not as though I was sitting idle though.

Today I am at Guadarrama with an estimated 54000 Coalition infantry and 7000 cavalry. It is almost all Spanish and Portuguese. Opposing us are the remnants of Marmont's Corps plus a single division from Davout. Together they are estimated to total 12,000 infantry and 6000 cavalry.

In the Atlantic Ocean off Corunna, my Battle Squadron engaged a French battle squadron in a meeting engagement.

********

Word from Wellington is that five French squadrons have appeared at Catela Bay, the Mediterranean side of Gibraltar. This must be Jourdan, intent upon making a landing to seize the British occupied fortress. We are going to need to devise some plan to deal with it. In the immediate, I look to the defense of Andalucía. This first requires running a line of communication form Badajoz to Cadiz and then raising an Andalucian division in Sevilla.

It is anticipated the, after it has spent a few days reconstituting itself, Romana will march down to Andalucía with my Left Wing to make some show of defense.

I hire a spy in Calatayud to inform me if three or more French divisions should advance south from Zaragoza.

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Wellington is engaged with Napoleon at Guadarrama. He has 40,000 infantry and 2000 cavalry. I raise a Castilian militia cavalry division and it, and whatever else I can muster, will march to Guadarrama to battle the French once more.

My Reserve Corps, the ones holding Zaragoza, has ceased to exist. There are still some troops there but the Corps headquarters has starved away. The Defiant Ones, my guerrillas, are at Guadarrama so perhaps I'll be able to field them in battle.

I am told that Wellington has some forces engaged at Salamanca. I also get a rumour that Marmont is reduced to 8000 infantry and 6000 cavalry. General Drummond has formed another British force at Almeida and will join the battle.

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Napoleon was defeated at Torrijos but managed to get around behind Wellington and retreated to Guadarrama. I have ordered my 20,000 troops that fought at Torrijos to follow the French to Guadarrama and. having raised another fresh Castilean infantry division in Madrid, send that marching up the road to Guadarrama also. That should block the French from making a move on Madrid where I wait with 6000 tired soldiers.

*******

After some reflection, I realize that Wellington will be pushing six divisions up the road to Guadarrama, filling it, so I coordinate to send my divisions to the pursuit via Madrid. Because some of them are fatigued I know that they won't make the march in one day so I gather up what forces I have in Madrid. other than my own headquarters and any broken units, and send them directly to Guadarrama also. One way or another, I will have six divisions in Guadarrama by tomorrow evening.

Wellington has sent half of his army back to Salamanca, including the veterans, so I am concerned that he is not treating this pursuit of Napoleon as seriously as I would like. Therefore, I will treat it as critical and make every effort to use every available soldier. There is, afterall, 25,000 Frenchmen and Napoleon Bonaparte still a day away from my capital.

Artillery fire can be heard from Torrijos. The French are fighting still. I raise a Castilean division at Madrid and then send it and a couple other of my stronger divisions marching for Torrijos to lend Wellington assistance in the pursuit.

With Madrid recaptured and my Badajoz depot up and running today, I have a bunch of points to spend again so I get five replacements marching to Navalmoral where I will have some units meet them. My Left Wing will continue on to Badajoz where I can make some decisions about disbanding some units to repair them quicker.

Finally, I quickly assembled a battle squadron at Corunna and ordered it to put to see to assist the British in controlling the Mid Atlantic Ocean. The French seem to have seized control of that sea zone again.

At Madrid, there is only a French garrison, 5000 French cavalry, and the artillery of the Armee de Pyrenees.  One of their divisions had marched off north this morning and artillery fire can be heard from Guadarrama. A courier reaches me from Wellington, sent only hours before, exclaiming that he has twice the strength as Bonaparte at Guadarrama.

My 27,000 infantry will be unable to do more than fight the French that are opposed to me at Madrid. I will not make it to Guadarrama today.

The battle will be fought as an extended fight to see if Napoleon can get out of what appears to be an encirclement.

Wellington has 39,840 British infantry, 17,280 Portuguese infantry, 5,440 cavalry, 40 artillery
Castanos has 17,760 Spanish infantry , 10,560 Spanish militia infantry, 1600 militia cavalry, 40 artillery

Napoleon and Marmont have 27,840 infantry, 5440 cavalry, 48 artillery with the bulk of it deployed before Guadarrama.

Victory was achieved at the battle of Madrid. Napoleon himself directed three French divisions against my weakened force and nearly broke us yet we drove him out of the capital and the timely arrival of Wellington at the head of a grenadier division sent the French withdrawing toward Torrijos. We are incapable of pursuing but I have assurances form Wellington that he will send one of his corps in pursuit of the French. I will rest in Madrid and try to gather my army's strength. Another division is due to join us at Madrid by tomorrow evening from Toledo.

Battle of Guadarrama AAR

Piquets report that no longer are there eight combat divisions in Madrid, but only two (one of which would be a garrison). Napoleon has either marched on Guadarrama to fight the British or he has marched east to escape the trap that is about to close on him. I also know that one of the divisions in Madrid is a light cavalry division but I can deduce little from that.

I have a number of divisions with me that are not broken including four of regulars (the 5th Aragon is still at Consuegra due to road congestion so would need to be force marched to Madrid for battle). As crippled as my army is, it seems impossible to not attack Madrid immediately.

Further, I have a fresh guerrilla band somewhere near Valladolid. That should annoy the Ogre.

Four broken divisions, including the Segovian lancers, head off under the Left Wing to Badajoz. They should be there in six days.

Madrid Corps and Right Wing march back to the capital.