Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1812)

Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1812)

Part of: Napoleonic Wars on the Iberian Peninsula

British infantry storm Ciudad Rodrigo fortress

date	January 7, 1812 to January 20, 1812
place	Ciudad Rodrigo ; Spain
output	Victory of the besiegers

Parties to the conflict
United Kingdom Portugal	France
Commander
Wellesley	Brig-Gen Baron Barrié
Troop strength
around 10,700 men 36 guns	up to 2,000 men 153 cannons
losses
approx. 318 dead, approx. 600 wounded	529 dead or wounded, approx. 2000 prisoners

During the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo on January 20, 1812, the Anglo-Portuguese army under Arthur Wellesley wrested the city of Ciudad Rodrigo from its French occupation under Général de brigade Baron Barrié after a siege that began on January 7. In an earlier siege of Ciudad Rodrigo , the French captured the city from Spanish troops.

prehistory

As part of his strategy in Spain, Napoleon Bonaparte had ordered Marshal Auguste Marmont to assign 10,000 men to Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet's army to support the troops tasked with conquering Valencia and another 4,000 men to reinforce the central reserve. When Wellesley received news that Marmont's army had sent troops east from Portugal , he marched on Ciudad Rodrigo and trapped the city on January 8th.

Ciudad Rodrigo was a small fortress with a 2 km long and 10 m high bastion wall that still exists today . The walls were damaged during the first siege in 1810, but the French had restored them. The weak point of the fortress were two hills, the 'Big Teson' and the 'Little Teson', approx. 70 m and 220 m in front of the wall, whereby the 'Big Teson' towered over the walls by 4 m. That is why the French built an advanced hill here. Two convents in front of the ramparts had also been fortified.

Barrié's 2,000-man crew was too weak to occupy all lines of defense with sufficient strength. The French troops passed u. a. from individual battalions of the 34e Régiment d'infanterie legére (light infantry) and the 113e Régiment d'infanterie de ligne (line infantry), a unit of pioneers and only 167 artillerymen with 153 cannons.

On January 8, stormed and captured the Light Division under Colborne the ski jump on the 'Great Teson' and began to dig the positions for the gun positions. However, digging on rocky ground at night posed a particular hazard as the noise it caused drew interference from the ramparts. The 'Convention of Santa Cruz' was stormed on January 13th by the King's German Legion and a company of the 60th Light Regiment and the 'Convention of San Francisco' fell on January 14th. That day the cannons began firing at the walls. After more than 9,500 rounds had been fired, two breaches had been made in the walls after five days. Wellesley ordered the storming for the night of January 19th.

The storming

course

Major general Thomas Picton's 3rd Division was to storm the larger breakthrough in the northwest, while Robert Craufurd's light division was sent to the northern, smaller breakthrough. Diversion attacks were to be carried out by Denis Pack's Portuguese Brigade in the east and across the Águeda in the south. Wellesley wanted to use 10,700 men in this attack.

The attack began at 7:00 p.m. Two cannons in the wall at the great breakthrough caused most of the casualties among the stormtroopers. The 88th Regiment, the Connaught Rangers, captured one, while the 45th Regiment (Nottinghamshire) opened the other. Pack's brigade also reached the center of town, which surrendered about 30 minutes later.

losses

There is exact information about the number of casualties, on the Allied side about 1,100 men (about 500 to 600 for the time during the siege and 568 dead and wounded for the attack operation) are given. Among the dead were Major General Henry MacKinnon and Robert Craufurd, arguably the single most momentous loss. The French had about 530 dead and wounded, about 2000 men were taken prisoners of war.

The victory was curtailed as British forces (despite attempts by officers to prevent this) plundered the city after their victory.

consequences

The French army lost its entire artillery park with 153 cannons. The rapid loss of Ciudad Rodrigo ruined the plans of Marmont, who believed he had enough time to assemble a relief army in Salamanca by February 1st . Ironically, Suchet captured Valencia on February 1, before Marmont's reinforcements arrived.

The capture of Ciudad Rodrigo opened the northern corridor for the invasion of Spain from Portugal. It also allowed Wellesley to march into Badajoz and capture that fortress in what turned out to be a much more lossy event.

Wellesley was awarded the Spanish title Duque de Ciudad Rodrigo (Duke of Ciudad Rodrigo) for the liberation . His descendants carried on the title. It is currently Charles Wellesley, 9th Duke of Wellington (since 2010).

gallery

• 

  Sir Arthur Wellesley

• 

  Sir Thomas Picton

• 

  John Colborne

• 

  Castle on the fortress wall

• 

  Fortress wall

literature

• N. Ludlow Beamish: History of the King's German Legion Vol.2. Naval and Military Press. (reprint 1997, ISBN 0-9522011-0-0 )
• Frederick Myatt: British Sieges of the Peninsular War. Spellmount 1995, ISBN 0-946771-59-6 .
• Julian Paget: Wellington's Peninsular War. Leo Cooper, London 1996, ISBN 0-85052-603-5 .
• Jac Weller: Wellington in the Peninsula 1808-1814. Kaye & Ward, London 1973, ISBN 0-7182-0730-0 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Weller p. 192
2. ^ Myatt, p. 63
3. ↑ Paget, p. 143
4. ↑ Weller p. 194
5. ↑ Beamish p. 31
6. ^ Myatt, p. 65
7. ^ Myatt, p. 69
8. ↑ Paget p. 145
9. ↑ Weller p. 197
10. ↑ Weller p. 197; Paget p. 145

Web links

• http://www.aytociudadrodrigo.es/ (Spanish)