Siege of Badajoz (1812)

Siege of Badajoz (1812)

Part of: Napoleonic Wars on the Iberian Peninsula

"The Devil's Own" 88th Regiment at the Siege of Badajoz by Richard Caton Woodville junior

date	March 16, 1812 to April 6, 1812
place	Badajoz ; Spain
output	Victory of the besiegers

Parties to the conflict
United Kingdom Portugal	France
Commander
Arthur Wellesley	Armand Philippon
Troop strength
around 27,000 men	up to 5,000 men
losses
4,800 dead and wounded	1,500 dead or wounded, 3,500 prisoners

During the siege of Badajoz (March 16 to April 6, 1812) the Anglo-Portuguese army under Arthur Wellesley wrested the city of Badajoz from its French occupation and forced its surrender.

This siege was one of the bloodiest of the Napoleonic Wars and is considered a dearly bought victory for the British, killing 3,000 Allied soldiers within hours of intense fighting. As the siege drew to a close, up to 4,000 Spanish civilians, including many women and children, were massacred by Allied forces.

siege

After conquering the border towns of Almeida and Ciudad Rodrigo in previous sieges, the Anglo-Portuguese army marched on Badajoz to conquer this city as well and secure the communication lines to Lisbon , the main base of the Allied army. In Badajoz there was a garrison of approx. 5000 French soldiers under the city commandant General Philippon . Badajoz was more fortified than Almeida or Ciudad Rodrigo. The strong fortress wall was secured by bastions and towers. Badajoz had already been besieged twice in vain and was well prepared for a third attempt, as the walls had been reinforced again and some areas before that had been flooded or mined.

The Allied army was 27,000 strong and outnumbered the French garrison by about five to one. After the town was surrounded, the siege began with the construction of trenches, parallels and entrenchments to protect the heavy cannons. This was hampered by long and heavy rains. After the digging work began, the French made some sorties, trying to destroy the trenches approaching the walls. These were repulsed repeatedly by the British light infantry, the 95th Rifles Regiment , which in turn was counterattacked by the French line infantry.

After the arrival of heavy howitzers , the Allies began an intensive bombardment of the defensive walls, while one of the bastions was taken by General Thomas Picton's 3rd Division. The conquest of the bastion made it possible to get closer to the high stone walls through further earthworks while the cannons fired at them. By April 5, two breaches had been made in the walls and the soldiers were preparing to storm Badajoz. The order to attack was delayed by 24 hours so that another breach could be made. Since the Allies received the news that a relief force under Marshal Soult was approaching, the order to attack was given for April 6th at 10:00 p.m. As the French garrison expected the imminent attack on the big breaches, they were mined.

Storming the city

Siege of Badajoz

The first men who tried to climb the breaches were the " Forlorn Hope " (German: "Himmelfahrtskommando"), which led the main attack by the 4th Division, while mock attacks by the Light Division in the north and by the English and Portuguese Soldiers of the 5th Division and Picton's 3rd Division in the east were carried out.

At the moment when the suicide mission was about to begin its attack, a French guard became aware of it and triggered the alarm. The British and Portuguese pushed forward as a crowd and climbed the wall under strong barrage.

The violent barrage wore down the British soldiers on the wall and soon the breach began to fill with dead and wounded, over which the onrushing troops had to climb over. Despite this bloodbath, the soldiers pushed on in large numbers. In a little under two hours, around 2,000 men were dead or wounded at the main breach, while innumerable men in the 3rd Division were hit by bullets in their mock attack. General Picton was also wounded trying to reach the top of the wall on a ladder. Allied soldiers were stopped wherever they attacked. Wellington was on the verge of stopping the attack because of the high casualties when the soldiers reached the top of the wall.

Picton's 3rd Division managed to overcome the wall and unite with the 5th Division, which was also able to invade the city. General Philippon realized that he could no longer hold the city and withdrew from Badajoz to the neighboring San Cristóbal outworks. He surrendered shortly after the city fell.

consequences

British infantry attempt to storm the walls of Badajoz with ladders.

With success, there was looting and indiscipline as the soldiers began to get drunk. It took at least 72 hours to completely restore order. The wanton looting of Badajoz is considered by many historians to be particularly hideous behavior by the British Army: many houses were broken into, property destroyed or stolen, Spanish civilians of all ages were killed or raped, and many officers were shot by their own people when they tried to restore order. There were up to 4,000 deaths among the civilian population. Many British soldiers were flogged as punishment and a gallows was erected, but no one was hanged.

Captain Robert Blakeney wrote:

"The angry Soldateska was more like a pack of hellhounds, speared out of the diabolical regions for the extermination of mankind, for what they had been twelve hours before - a well-organized, brave, disciplined and obedient British army, burning with impatience for what Is called fame. "

Nevertheless, some historians have defended the behavior of British soldiers, arguing that, given the fierce fighting, these consequences could not have been avoided.

Ian Fletcher argues:

Let us not forget that hundreds of British soldiers had been killed and the men were deeply disturbed by the severity of the various attacks during which they saw their comrades and brothers slaughtered before their eyes. Are we really to judge them for a degree of bitterness, for wanting to vent their anger on someone? Storming a fortress is not a battle where men expect casualties. But if a force is asked to storm a fortress with viable breaches, then such losses are considered avoidable. If you consider the size of the task that the strikers had to solve in the Iberian Peninsula, then I do not grudge any of their feelings of anger or desire for revenge. "

Myatt, on the other hand, writes:

"I suppose one can resort to martial law which, imprecise as it is, at least suggests that a surrender then is appropriate when a viable breach has been achieved, what Phillipon could have answered rightly that viable no discernible description for breaches is in which two of the best divisions in the British Army had failed, though the extent of their efforts can be measured by their losses. "

The attack and earlier skirmishes resulted in approximately 4,800 casualties among the Allies. The numbers differ between 4924 and 4760. The light division suffered heavy losses, around 40% of its fighting force were lost.

reception

The plot of the novel The Snipers by Bernard Cornwell and of the television film Command of No Return ( Sharpe's Company ), which implements it, shows the events in Badajoz. Richard Sharpe and his small group of snipers successfully storm the walls after many other attacks are repulsed.

literature

• Ian Fletcher: In Hell before Daylight. The Siege and Storming of the Castle of Badajoz, March-April 1812 . Spellmount, Staplehurst 1994. ISBN 1-873376-26-X .
• Frederick Myatt: British Sieges of the Peninsular War . Hippocrene Books. New York 1987. ISBN 0-946771-59-6 .
• Julian Paget: Wellington's Peninsular War. Battles and Battlefields . Cooper, London 1996. ISBN 0-85052-603-5 .
• Jac Weller: Wellington in the Peninsula 1808-1814 . Vane, London 1962.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fletcher, p. 69
2. ↑ ^{a b} Weller, p. 204
3. ↑ Myatt, pp. 79ff
4. ↑ Paget, p. 149
5. ^ Myatt, p. 93
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Paget, p. 150
7. ↑ ^{a b} Paget, p. 151
8. ^ Myatt, p. 104
9. ↑ Paget, p. 151
10. ^ Myatt, p. 106
11. ^ Myatt, p. 105
12. ↑ Fletcher, p. 47
13. ^ Myatt, p. 107