CHAPTER V.
In the arrangement of warlike affairs, difficulties being always overlooked by the Spaniards, they are carried on from one phantasy to another so swiftly, that the first conception of an enterprise is immediately followed by a confident anticipation of complete success, which continues until the hour of battle; and then when it might be of use, generally abandons them. Now the Central Junta having, to deceive the people, affirmed that sir Arthur Wellesley retreated to the frontiers of Portugal at the very moment when the French might have been driven to the Pyrenees, came very soon to believe this their own absurd calumny, and resolved to send the army at Carolina headlong against Madrid: nay, such was their pitch of confidence, that forenaming the civil and military authorities, they arranged a provisionary system for the future administration of the capital, with a care, that they denied to the army which was to put them in possession.
Eguia was considered unfit to conduct this enterprise, and Albuquerque was distasteful to the Junta; wherefore, casting their eyes upon general Areizaga, they chose him, whose only recommendation was, that, at the petty battle of Alcanitz, Blake had noticed his courage. He was then at Lerida, but reached La Carolina in the latter end of October; and being of a quick lively turn, and as confident as the Junta could desire, readily undertook to drive the French from Madrid.
This movement was to commence early in November, and at first, only Villa Campa, with the bands from Aragon, were to assist. But when Areizaga, after meeting the enemy, began to lose confidence, the duke of Albuquerque, successor to Bassecour in Estremadura, received instructions to cause a diversion, by marching on Arzobispo and Talavera de la Reyna. The duke Del Parque, coming by the pass of Baños, was to join him there; and thus nearly ninety thousand men were to be put in motion against Madrid, but precisely on that plan which sir Arthur Wellesley had just denounced as certain to prove disastrous. Indeed, every chance was so much in favour of the French, that taking into consideration the solid reasons for remaining on the defensive, Areizaga’s irruption may be regarded as an extreme example of military rashness; and the project of uniting Del Parque’s forces with Albuquerque’s, at Talavera, was also certain to fail; because, the enemy’s masses were already in possession of the point of junction, and the sixth corps could fall on Del Parque’s rear.
Partly to deceive the enemy, partly because they would never admit of any opposition to a favourite scheme, the Junta spread a report that the British army was to co-operate; and permitted Areizaga to march, under the impression that it was so. Yet nothing could be more untrue. Sir Arthur Wellesley Appendix, [No. II.] Section 1.being at this period at Seville, held repeated conversations with the Spanish ministers and the members of the Junta, and reiterating all his former objections to offensive operations, warned his auditors that the project in question was peculiarly ill-judged, and would end in the destruction of their army. The Spanish ministers, far from attending to his advice, did not even officially inform him of Areizaga’s march until the 18th of November, the very day before the fatal termination of the campaign. Yet, on the 16th they had repeated their demand for assistance, and with a vehemence, deaf to reason, required that the British should instantly co-operate with Albuquerque and Del Parque’s forces. Sir Arthur, firm to his first views, never gave the slightest hopes that his army would so act; and he assured the Junta, that the diversion proposed would have no effect whatever.
OPERATIONS IN LA MANCHA.
Areizaga, after publishing an address to the troops on the 3d of November, commenced his march from La Carolina, with sixty pieces of artillery, and from fifty to sixty thousand men, of which about eight thousand were cavalry. Several British officers and private gentlemen, and the baron Crossard, an Austrian military agent, attended the head-quarters which was a scene of gaiety and boasting; for Areizaga, never dreaming of misfortune, gave a free scope to his social vivacity. The army marched by the roads of Manzanares and Damiel, with scarcely any commissariat preparation, and without any military equipment save arms; but the men were young, robust, full of life and confidence; and being without impediments of any kind, made nearly thirty miles each day. They moved however in a straggling manner, quartering and feeding as they could in the villages on their route, and with so little propriety, that the peasantry of La Mancha universally abandoned their dwellings, and carried off their effects.
Although the French could not at first give credit to the rumours of this strange incursion, they were aware that some great movement was in agitation, and only uncertain from what point and for what specific object the effort would be made. Jourdan had returned to France; Soult was major-general of the French armies, and under his advice, the king, who was inclined to abandon Madrid, prepared to meet the coming blow. But the army S.
Journal of Operations. MSS.was principally posted towards Talavera; for the false reports had, in some measure, succeeded in deceiving the French as to the approach of the English; and it was impossible at once to conceive the full insanity of the Junta.
The second corps, commanded by general Heudelet, being withdrawn from Placentia, was, on the 5th of November, posted at Oropesa and Arzobispo, with an advanced guard at Calzada, and scouting parties watching Naval Moral, and the course of the Tietar.
The fifth corps, under Mortier, was concentrated at Talavera.
Of the fourth corps, half a division garrisoned Madrid in the absence of Dessolle’s troops; and the other half, under general Liger Belair, was behind the Tajuna, guarding the eastern approaches to the capital. The remaining divisions, commanded by Sebastiani, were, the one at Toledo, the other with Milhaud’s cavalry at Ocaña.
Imperial Muster Roll. MSS.
The first corps, about twenty-one thousand strong, and commanded by marshal Victor, was at Mora and Yebenes, a day’s march in advance of Toledo, but the cavalry of this corps under the command of Latour Maubourg occupied Consuegra and Madrilejos, on the road to the Sierra Morena. The whole army including the French and Spanish guards, was above eighty thousand fighting men, without reckoning Dessolle’s division, which was on the other side of the Guadarama mountains.
S.
Journal of Operations. MSS.
In the night of the 6th, information reached the king, that six thousand Spanish horsemen, supported by two thousand foot, had come down upon Consuegra from the side of Herencia, and that a second column likewise composed of cavalry and infantry, had passed the Puerto de Piche, and fallen upon the outposts at Madrilejos. All the prisoners taken in the skirmishes agreed that the Spanish army was above fifty thousand strong, and the duke of Belluno immediately concentrated the first corps at Yebenes, but kept his cavalry at Mora, by which he covered the roads leading from Consuegra and Madrilejos upon Toledo. On the 8th, there were no Spaniards in front of the first corps, yet officers sent towards Ocaña, were chased back by cavalry; and Soult judged what was indeed the truth, that Areizaga continuing his reckless march, had pushed by Tembleque towards Aranjuez, leaving the first corps on his left flank. The division of the fourth corps was immediately moved from Toledo by the right bank of the Tagus to Aranjuez, from whence Sebastiani carried it to Ocaña, thus concentrating about eight thousand infantry, and fifteen hundred cavalry at that point on the 9th; and the same day Victor retired with the first corps to Ajofrin.
On the 10th, Gazan’s division of the fifth corps was ordered to march from Talavera to Toledo; and the first corps which had reached the latter town, was directed to move up the right bank of the Tagus to Aranjuez to support Sebastiani, who holding fast at Ocaña, sent six squadrons to feel for the enemy towards Guardia. The Spaniards continuing their movement, met those squadrons and pursued them towards Ocaña.
COMBAT OF DOS BARRIOS.
Areizaga, ignorant of what was passing around him, and seeing only Sebastiani’s cavalry on the table-land between the town of Dos Barrios and Ocaña, concluded that they were unsupported, and directed the Spanish horse to charge them without delay. The French thus pressed, drew back behind their infantry which was close at hand and unexpectedly opened a brisk fire on the Spanish squadrons which were thrown into confusion, and being charged in that state by the whole mass of the enemy’s cavalry, were beaten, with the loss of two hundred prisoners and two pieces of cannon. Areizaga’s main body was, however, coming up, and Sebastiani fell back upon Ocaña. The next morning he took up a position on some heights lining the left bank of the Tagus and covering Aranjuez, the Spaniards entered Dos Barrios, and their impetuous movement ceased. They had come down from the Morena like a stream of lava; and burst into La Mancha with a rapidity that scarcely gave time for rumour to precede them. But this swiftness of execution, generally so valuable in war, was here but an outbreak of folly. Without any knowledge of the French numbers or position, without any plan of action, Areizaga rushed like a maniac into the midst of his foes, and then suddenly stood still, trembling and bewildered.
From the 10th to the 13th he halted at Dos Barrios, and informed his government of Sebastiani’s stubborn resistance, and of the doubts which now for the first time assailed his own mind. It was Appendix, [No. II.] Section 1.then the Junta changing their plans, eagerly demanded the assistance of the British army, and commanded the dukes of Albuquerque and Del Parque to unite at Talavera. Albuquerque commenced his movement immediately, and the Junta did not hesitate to assure both their generals and the public, that sir Arthur was also coming on.
Thus encouraged, and having had time to recover from his first incertitude, Areizaga on the 14th, made a flank march by his right to Santa Cruz la Zarza, intending to cross the Tagus at Villa Maurique, turn the French left, and penetrate to the capital by the eastern side; but during his delay at Dos Barrios the French forces had been concentrated from every quarter.
South of Ocaña, the ground is open and undulating, but on the north, the ramifications of the Cuença mountains, leading down the left bank of the Tagus, presented, at Santa Cruz, ridges which stretching strong and rough towards Aranjuez, afforded good positions for Sebastiani to cover that place. Soult was awake to his adversary’s S.
Journal of Operations. MSS.projects, yet could not believe that he would dare such a movement unless certain of support from the British army; and therefore kept the different corps quiet on the eleventh, waiting for Heudelet’s report from Oropesa. In the night it arrived, stating that rumours of a combined Spanish and English army being on the march, were rife, but that the scouts could not discover that the allied force was actually within several marches.
Soult, now judging that although the rumours should be true, his central position would enable him to defeat Areizaga and return by the way of Toledo in time to meet the allies in the valley of the Tagus, put all his masses again into activity. The first corps was directed to hasten its march to Aranjuez; the fifth corps to concentrate at Toledo; the second corps to abandon Oropesa, Calzada and Arzobispo, and replacing the fifth corps at Talavera, to be in readiness to close upon the main body of the army. Finally, information being received of the duke Del Parque’s retreat from Salamanca to Bejar and of the re-occupation of Salamanca by the sixth corps, Dessolle’s division was recalled to Madrid.
During the 12th, while the first, second, and fifth corps were in march, general Liger Belair’s brigade continued to watch the banks of the Tajuna, and the fourth corps preserved its offensive positions on the height in the front of Aranjuez, having fifteen hundred men in reserve at the bridge of Bayona. The 14th the general movement was completed. Two corps were concentrated at Aranjuez to assail the Spaniards in front; one at Toledo to cross the Tagus and fall upon their left flank, and the king’s guards at Madrid, formed a reserve for the fourth and first corps. The second corps was at Talavera, and Dessolle’s division was in the Guadarama on its return to the capital. In fine, all was prepared for the attack of Dos Barrios, when Areizaga’s flank march to Santa Cruz la Zarza occasioned new combinations.
In the evening of the 15th, it was known that the Spaniards had made a bridge at Villa Maurique, and passed two divisions and some cavalry over the Tagus. The duke of Belluno was immediately ordered to carry the first and fourth corps (with the exception of a brigade left in Aranjuez) up the left bank of the Tagus, operating, to fix Areizaga, and force him to deliver battle; and, with a view of tempting the Spaniard, by an appearance of timidity, the bridges of La Reyna and Aranjuez were broken down.
While these dispositions were making on the French side, the Spanish general commenced a second bridge over the Tagus; and part of his cavalry, spreading in small detachments, scoured the country, and skirmished on a line extending from Arganda to Aranjuez. The Partidas also, being aided by detachments from the army, obliged the French garrison to retire from Guardalaxara upon Arganda, and occupied the former town on the 12th. But, in the night of the 13th, eight French companies and some troops of light cavalry, by a sudden march, surprised them, killed and wounded two or three hundred men, and took eighty horses and a piece of artillery.
The 16th the infantry of the first and fourth corps was at Morata and Bayona, the cavalry at Perales and Chinchon, and, during this time, the fifth corps, leaving a brigade of foot and one of horse at Toledo, marched by Illescas towards Madrid, to act as a reserve to the duke of Belluno.
The 17th Areizaga continued his demonstrations on the side of the Tajuna, and hastened the construction of his second bridge; but on the approach of the duke of Belluno with the first corps, he stayed the work, withdrew his divisions from the right bank of the Tagus, and on the 18th, (the cavalry of the first corps having reached Villarejo de Salvanes,) he destroyed his bridges, called in his parties, and drew up for battle on the heights of Santa Cruz de la Zarza.
Hitherto the continual movements of the Spanish army, and the unsettled plans of the Spanish general, rendered it difficult for the French to fix a field of battle; but now Areizaga’s march to St. Cruz had laid his line of operations bare. The French masses were close together, the duke of Belluno could press on the Spanish front with the first corps, and the king, calling the fourth corps from Bayona, could throw twenty-five or thirty thousand men on Areizaga’s rear, by the road of Aranjuez and Ocaña. It was calculated that no danger could arise from this double line of operations, because a single march would bring both the king and Victor upon Areizaga; and if the latter should suddenly assail either, each would be strong enough to sustain the shock. Hence, when Soult knew that the Spaniards were certainly encamped at Santa Cruz, he caused the fifth corps, then in march for Madrid, to move during the night of the 17th upon Aranjuez. The fourth corps received a like order. The king, himself, quitting Madrid, arrived there on the evening of the 18th, with the Royal French Guards, two Spanish battalions of the line, and a brigade of Dessolle’s division which had just arrived; in all about ten thousand men. The same day, the duke of Belluno concentrated the first corps at Villarejo de Salvanés, intending to cross the Tagus at Villa Maurique, and attack the Spanish position on the 19th.
A pontoon train, previously prepared at Madrid, enabled the French to repair the broken bridges, near Aranjuez, in two hours; and about one o’clock on the 18th, a division of cavalry, two divisions of infantry of the fourth corps, and the advanced guard of the fifth corps, passed the Tagus, part at the bridge of La Reyna, and part at a ford. General Milhaud with the leading squadrons, immediately pursued a small body of Spanish horsemen; and was thus led to the table-land, between Antiguela and Ocaña, where he suddenly came upon a front of fifteen hundred cavalry supported by three thousand more in reserve. Having only twelve hundred dragoons, he prepared to retire; but at that moment general Paris arrived with another brigade, and was immediately followed by the light cavalry of the fifth corps; the whole making a reinforcement of about two thousand men. With these troops Sebastiani came in person, and took the command at the instant when the Spaniards, seeing the inferiority of the French, were advancing to the charge.
CAVALRY COMBAT AT OCAÑA.
The Spaniards came on at a trot, but Sebastiani directed Paris, with a regiment of light cavalry and the Polish lancers, to turn and fall upon the right flank of the approaching squadrons, which being executed with great vigour, especially by the Poles, caused considerable confusion in the Spanish ranks, and their general endeavoured to remedy it by closing to the assailed flank. But to effect this he formed his left and centre in one vast column. Sebastiani charged headlong into the midst of it with his reserves, and the enormous mass yielding to the shock, got into confusion, and finally gave way. Many were slain, several hundred wounded, and eighty troopers and above five hundred horses were taken. The loss of the French bore no proportion in men, but general Paris was killed, and several superior officers were wounded.
This unexpected encounter with such a force of cavalry, led Soult to believe that the Spanish general, aware of his error, was endeavouring to recover his line of operations. The examination of the prisoners confirmed this opinion; and in the night, information from the duke of Belluno, and the reports of officers sent towards Villa Maurique arrived, all agreeing that only a rear-guard was to be seen at Santa Cruz de la Zarza. It then became clear that the Spaniards were on the march, and that a battle could be fought the next day. In fact Areizaga had retraced his steps by a flank movement through Villa Rubia and Noblejas, with the intention of falling upon the king’s forces as they opened out from Aranjuez. He arrived on the morning of the 19th at Ocaña; but judging from the cavalry fight, that the enemy could attack first, drew up his whole army on the same plain, in two lines, a quarter of a mile asunder.
Ocaña is covered on the north by a ravine, which commencing gently half a mile eastward of the town, runs deepening and with a curve, to the west, and finally connects itself with gullies and hollows, whose waters run off to the Tagus. Behind the deepest part of this ravine was the Spanish left, crossing the main road from Aranjuez to Dos Barrios. One flank rested on the gullies, the other on Ocaña. The centre was in front of the town, which was occupied by some infantry as a post of reserve, but the right wing stretched in the direction of Noblejas along the edge of a gentle ridge in front of the shallow part of the ravine. The cavalry was on the flank and rear of the right wing. Behind the army there was an immense plain, but closed in and fringed towards Noblejas with rich olive woods, which were occupied by infantry to protect the passage of the Spanish baggage, still filing by the road from Zarza. Such were Areizaga’s dispositions.
Joseph passed the night of the 18th in reorganizing his forces. The whole of the cavalry, consisting of nine regiments, was given to Sebastiani. Four divisions of infantry, with the exception of one regiment, left at Aranjuez to guard the bridge, were placed under the command of marshal Mortier, who was also empowered, if necessary, to direct the movements of the cavalry. The artillery was commanded by general Senarmont. The Royal Guards remained with the King, and marshal Soult directed the whole of the movements.
Before day-break, on the 19th, the monarch marched with the intention of falling upon the Spaniards wherever he could meet with them. At Antiguela his troops quitting the high road, turned to their left, gained the table-land of Ocaña somewhat beyond the centre of the Spanish position, and discovered Areizaga’s army in order of battle. The French cavalry instantly forming to the front, covered the advance of the infantry, which drew up in successive lines as the divisions arrived on the plain. The Spanish outposts fell back, and were followed by the French skirmishers, who spread along the hostile front and opened a sharp fire.
About forty-five thousand Spanish infantry, seven thousand cavalry, and sixty pieces of artillery were in line. The French force was only twenty-four thousand infantry, five thousand sabres and lances, and fifty guns, including the battery of the Royal Guard. But Areizaga’s position was miserably defective. The whole of his left wing, fifteen thousand strong, was paralized by the ravine; it could neither attack nor be attacked: the centre was scarcely better situated, and the extremity of his right wing was uncovered, save by the horse, who were, although superior in number, quite dispirited by the action of the preceding evening. These circumstances dictated the order of the attack.
BATTLE OF OCAÑA.
At ten o’clock, Sebastiani’s cavalry gaining ground to his left, turned the Spanish right. General Leval, with two divisions of infantry in columns of regiments, each having a battalion displayed in front, followed the cavalry, and drove general Zayas from the olive-woods. General Girard, with his division arranged in the same manner, followed Leval in second line; and at the same moment, general Dessolles menaced the centre with one portion of his troops, while another portion lined the edge of the ravine to support the skirmishers and awe the Spanish left wing. The king remained in reserve with his guards. Thus the French order of battle was in two columns: the principal one, flanked by the cavalry, directed against and turning the Spanish right, the second keeping the Spanish centre in check; and each being supported by reserves.
These dispositions were completed at eleven o’clock; at which hour, Senarmont, massing thirty pieces of artillery, opened a shattering fire on Areizaga’s centre. Six guns, detached to the right, played at the same time across the ravine against the left; and six others swept down the deep hollow, to clear it of the light troops. The Spaniards were undisciplined and badly commanded, but discovered no appearance of fear; their cries were loud and strong, their skirmishing fire brisk; and, from the centre of their line, sixteen guns opened with a murderous effect upon Leval’s and Girard’s columns, as the latter were pressing on towards the right. To mitigate the fire of this battery, a French battalion, rushing out at full speed, seized a small eminence close to the Spanish guns, and a counter battery was immediately planted there. Then the Spaniards gave back: their skirmishers were swept out of the ravine by a flanking fire of grape; and Senarmont immediately drawing the artillery from the French right, took Ocaña as his pivot, and, prolonging his fire to the left, raked Areizaga’s right wing in its whole length.
During this cannonade, Leval, constantly pressing forward, obliged the Spaniards to change their front, by withdrawing the right wing behind the shallow part of the ravine, which, as I have before said, was in its rear when the action commenced. By this change, the whole army, still drawn up in two lines, at the distance of a quarter of a mile asunder, was pressed into somewhat of a convex form with the town of Ocaña in the centre, and hence Senarmont’s artillery tore their ranks with a greater destruction than before. Nevertheless, encouraged by observing the comparatively feeble body of infantry approaching them, the Spaniards suddenly retook the offensive, their fire, redoubling, dismounted two French guns; Mortier himself was wounded slightly, Leval severely; the line advanced, and the leading French divisions wavered and gave back.
The moment was critical, and the duke of Treviso lost no time in exhortations to Leval’s troops, but, like a great commander, instantly brought up Girard’s division through the intervals of the first line, and displayed a front of fresh troops, keeping one regiment in square on the left flank: for he expected that Areizaga’s powerful cavalry, which still remained in the plain, would charge for the victory. Girard’s fire soon threw the Spanish first line into disorder; and meanwhile, Dessolles, who had gained ground by an oblique movement, left in front, seeing the enemy’s right thus shaken, seized Ocaña itself, and issued forth on the other side.
The light cavalry of the king’s guard, followed by the infantry, then poured through the town; and, on the extreme left, Sebastiani, with a rapid charge, cut off six thousand infantry, and obliged them to surrender. The Spanish cavalry, which had only suffered a little from the cannonade, and had never made an effort to turn the tide of battle, now drew off entirely: the second line of infantry gave ground as the front fell back upon it in confusion; and Areizaga, confounded and bewildered, ordered the left wing, which had scarcely fired a shot, to retreat, and then quitted the field himself.
For half an hour after this, the superior officers who remained, endeavoured to keep the troops together in the plain, and strove to reach the main road leading to Dos Barrios; but Girard and Dessolle’s divisions being connected after passing Ocaña, pressed on with steady rapidity, while the Polish lancers and a regiment of chasseurs, outflanking the Spanish right, continually increased the confusion: finally, Sebastiani, after securing his prisoners, came up again like a whirlwind, and charged full in the front with five regiments of cavalry. Then the whole mass broke, and fled each man for himself across the plain; but, on the right of the routed multitude, a deep ravine leading from Yepes to Dos Barrios, in an oblique direction, continually contracted the space; and the pursuing cavalry arriving first at Barrios, headed nearly ten thousand bewildered men, and forced them to surrender. The remainder turned their faces to all quarters; and such was the rout, that the French were also obliged to disperse to take prisoners, for, to their credit, no rigorous execution was inflicted; and hundreds, merely deprived of their arms, were desired, in raillery, “to return to their homes, and abandon war as a trade they were unfit for.” This fatal battle commenced at eleven o’clock; thirty pieces of artillery, a hundred and twenty carriages, twenty-five stand of colours, three generals, six hundred inferior officers, and eighteen thousand privates were taken before two o’clock, and the pursuit was still hot. Seven or eight thousand of the Spaniards, however, contrived to make away towards the mountain of Tarancon; others followed the various routes through La Mancha to the Sierra Morena; and many saved themselves in Valencia and Murcia.
Meanwhile, the first corps, passing the Tagus by a ford, had re-established the bridge at Villa Maurique before ten o’clock in the morning, and finding Santa Cruz de la Zarza abandoned, followed Areizaga’s traces; at Villatobas, the light cavalry captured twelve hundred carriages, and a little farther on, took a thousand prisoners, from the column which was making for Tarancon. Thus informed of the result of the battle, the duke of Belluno halted at Villatobas, but sent his cavalry forward. At La Guardia they joined Sebastiani’s horsemen; and the whole continuing the pursuit to Lillo, made five hundred more prisoners, together with three hundred horses. This finished the operations of the day: only eighteen hundred S.
Journal of Operations MSS.cannon-shot had been fired, and an army of more than fifty thousand men had been ruined. The French lost seventeen hundred men, killed and wounded; Letter from Lord Wellington to Lord Liverpool, Nov. 30, 1809. MSS.the Spaniards five thousand: and, before nightfall, all the baggage and military carriages, three thousand animals, forty-five pieces of artillery, thirty thousand muskets, and twenty-six thousand captives were in the hands of the conquerors!
Vol. 3, Plate 3.
AREIZAGA’S Operations,
1809.
Published by T. & W. Boone 1830.
Areizaga reached Tembleque during the night, and La Carolina the third day after. On the road, he met general Benaz with a thousand dragoons that had been detached to the rear before the battle commenced; this body he directed on Madrilegos to cover the retreat of the fugitives; but so strongly Letter from Lord Wellington to Lord Liverpool, Nov. 30, 1809. MSS.did the panic spread that when Sebastiani approached that post on the 20th, Benaz’s men fled, without seeing an enemy, as fearfully as any who came from the fight. Even so late as the 24th, only four hundred cavalry, belonging to all regiments, could be assembled at Manzanares; and still fewer at La Carolina.