A History of the Peninsular War, Volume VII: August 1813 to April 14, 1814

St Sebastian's Capture, Wellington's Invasion of France, Battles of Nive, Orthez, Toulouse [Illustrated Edition]

Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman KBE

• Publisher: Wagram Press
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781782898375
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Guerre napoleoniche

Illustrated with 18 maps and illustrations
The 1807-14 war in the Iberian Peninsula was one of the most significant and influential campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars. Arising from Napoleon's strategic need to impose his rule over Portugal and Spain, it evolved into a constant drain on his resources. Sir Charles Oman's seven-volume history of the campaign is an unrivalled and essential work. His extensive use and analysis of French, Spanish, Portuguese and British participants' accounts and archival material, together with his own inspection of the battlefields, provides a comprehensive and balanced account of this most important episode in Napoleonic military history.
Between August 1813 and the end of hostilities in April 1814, Napoleon's forces were finally expelled from the Iberian Peninsula. Wellington's army invaded southern France, only halting its operations when news was received of Napoleon's abdication. The events covered in this volume include the British siege and capture of St Sebastian; the final campaigning in eastern Spain; Wellington's invasion of France; and the last actions of the war in the Battle of Toulouse and the French sortie from Bayonne. A chapter on the place of the Peninsular War in history concludes Oman's monumental work.

XI — BRITISH LOSSES IN THE BAYONNE SORTIE OF APRIL 14, 1814

The French loss was, killed 11 officers 100 men, wounded 42 officers 736 men, missing 16 men, or in all 905. The regiment which suffered most was the 94th Line, which had 5 officers killed and 13 wounded out of 30 present. The apparent discrepancy between killed and wounded on the two sides —1 to 3 as against 1 to 7—is partly to be explained by the fact that the 233 British ‘missing’ were mostly wounded men, left on the ground when the pickets were driven in.

XII — SPANISH TROOPS EMPLOYED BY WELLINGTON, AUGUST 1813-APRIL 1814

III. The ‘Third Army’, under the Prince of Anglona, only crossed the Pyrenees and occupied Pau in April 1814. It was 12,000 strong in August, 17,000 strong in December, 21,000 in April.

The total of Spanish troops used in the field by Wellington was 44,000 in August, 43,000 in November, 40,000 in April; the Third Army, never employed, being omitted, and the Cavalry, Longa, and Mendizabal having been left behind.

Porlier’s division, originally only one brigade, had been given a second brigade by November. The ‘Composite Division’ under Marcilla, which served at Toulouse, consisted of one brigade of Porlier’s and one of Del Barco’s division.

{1} Cf. Dispatches, x. p. 604, and Jones, Sieges of the Peninsula, ii. p. 49.

{2} Dispatches, x. pp. 597 and 624.

{3} To Lord Bathurst, Dispatches, x. pp. 631-2. Cf. x. pp. 600 and 625

{4} Wellington to H. Wellesley, Dispatches, x. p. 565, and to the Minister of War, ibid., p. 607. Cf. Bathurst to Wellington, Supplementary Dispatches, viii. p. 107.

{5} Wellington to Henry Wellesley, August 16, Dispatches, xi. p. 6. It should be noted that in these controversies Wellington dissuaded the Home Government from intervening formally by official dispatches−holding that British protests would only embitter Spanish feeling. See Supplementary Dispatches, viii. p. 205.

{6} See especially Dispatches, x. p. 616, and cf. p. 611, and Supplementary Dispatches, viii. p. 200.

{7} See Dispatches, x. p. 605, and Supplementary Dispatches, viii. p. 203.

{8} This anomalous brigade, always under Lord Aylmer, was never formally attached to the 1st Division but always acted with it. It consisted of the 76th, 2/84th, and 85th. Its dates of arrival are fixed by Gleig of the 85th. The 84th, which came from Gibraltar, was some days later than the other two corps.

{9} Supplementary Dispatches, viii. p. 176.

{10} Viz. Morillo’s, Barcena’s, Longa’s, Porlier’s, Losada’s divisions of the Army of Galicia, in all 19,600. Carlos de España’s division, and Giron’s Army of Reserve of Andalusia were before Pampeluna: but some odd battal...

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• PREFACE
• MAPS AND PLANS
• SECTION XXXIX - ST. SEBASTIAN AND SAN MARCIAL
• SECTION XL - THE EAST COAST IN THE AUTUMN
• SECTION XLI - WELLINGTON ENTERS FRANCE
• SECTION XLII - THE BATTLES OF THE NIVE
• SECTION XLIII - WELLINGTON ON THE ADOUR
• SECTION XLIV - END OF THE WAR ON THE EAST COAST
• SECTION XLV - THE CAMPAIGN OF TOULOUSE
• FINIS - THE PLACE OF THE PENINSULAR WAR IN HISTORY
• APPENDICES
• XI - BRITISH LOSSES IN THE BAYONNE SORTIE OF APRIL 14, 1814