Dictionary of Battles / From the Earliest Date to the Present Time

by Thomas Benfield Harbottle

Tarragona (Peninsular War).

This city was besieged by the French, 40,000 strong, under General Suchet, in May, 1811, and defended by a garrison but little inferior in numbers. The outer defences were stormed one by one, and by June 21, the besiegers had effected a lodgement in the lower town. On the 28th, the upper town was taken by storm, and the survivors of the garrison, 8,000 in number, laid down their arms. The French lost about 6,000 during the siege.