Battle of La Coruña
Map of the battlefield made of tiles
| date | January 16, 1809 |
|---|---|
| place |
A Coruña , Spain
|
| output | draw |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 12,000 infantry 4,000 cavalry 20 cannons |
16,000 men 9 cannons |
| losses | |
|
1,500 dead and wounded |
900 dead and wounded |
Bailén - Roliça - Vimeiro - Saragossa (1808) - Burgos (Gamonal) - Medina de Rioseco - Espinosa - Tudela - Somosierra - Saragossa (1809) - La Coruña - Torres Vedras - Valls - Braga - Oporto - Talavera - Ocaña - Gerona - Ciudad Rodrigo (1810) - Buçaco - Gévora - Barrosa -Badajoz (1811) - Fuentes de Oñoro - La Albuera - Tarragona (1811) - Sagunto (Murviedro) - Ciudad Rodrigo (1812) - Badajoz (1812) - Majadahonda - Salamanca - García Hernández - Venta del Pozo - Vitoria - Sorauren - San Sebastián - Bidassoa
On 16 January 1809 fought in the Battle of Corunna ( Engl. Battle of Corunna , fr. Bataille de La Corogne , span. U. Gal. Batalla de Elviña parts of the French occupying army under Marshal) Soult and a British expeditionary force under Sir John Moore . The battle ended in a draw. After the battle, the British withdrew to ships in the port of La Coruña and left Spain .
prehistory
On October 27, 1807 had France and Spain in the secret Treaty of Fountainebleau decided Portugal to conquer and divide. In addition, Spain had granted Napoleon's troops marching and stationing rights. Napoleon sent more troops than foreseen in the treaty and thus seized the northern part of Spain as far as Madrid without the Spaniards resisting. However, when he forced the Spanish royal family to renounce the throne, set them up in France and made his brother Joseph King of Spain, a popular uprising against the French broke out in Spain. With this popular uprising, the Spanish War of Independence (1808-1813) began.
The retreat to La Coruña
In October 1808 Sir John Moore marched with his expeditionary army from Portugal to Spain to support the Spaniards against the French. The British expeditionary army then had to rush to retreat to La Coruña before a French overwhelming force.
Vigo
He divided his troops on December 31, 1808 and sent the light brigade , consisting of the 43rd Infantry Regiment , 52nd Infantry Regiment and 95th Rifle Regiment as well as the two light battalions of the King's German Legion under the command of Carl von Alten and Robert Craufurd , to Vigo . After a forced march, the troops reached the British ships lying there. She embarked in a hurry and sailed to La Coruña before a turning wind would have made this impossible for days. She got there just in time.
La Coruña
The main part of the army, meanwhile, withdrew with constant fighting back through Astorga and Lugo to La Coruña, which they reached on January 11, 1809. On January 16, the city was surrounded by the French. The British Army lined up for battle, benefiting from the fact that they had found new weapons and ammunition in the city's depots. The battle dragged on throughout the day, with some locations changing hands several times. During the attack on Elviña , Sir John Moore was hit by a bullet and, with the help of his soldiers, additionally wounded by his own saber. He died that afternoon and is buried in La Coruña (now A Coruña ). Sir John Hope took command . During the fighting, the embarkation continued and in the evening the remaining troops withdrew towards the port. The next morning the Spaniards covered the embarkation of the last British soldiers, with the cavalry having to shoot around 290 horses that were too exhausted for the crossing, but should not be left to the enemy either. There were dramatic scenes in the harbor. But it was possible to save a large part of the army and thus to undertake another campaign to Portugal and Spain, this time under Sir Arthur Wellesley, the later Duke of Wellington, with the landing on April 22, 1809.
Sir John Moore
dig
literature
- Alexander H. Craufurd: General Craufurd and his light division. Griffith Farran Okeden & Welsh, London et al. 1891 (new edition: (= Ken Trotman Military History Monographs. Vol. 11). Trotman, Cambridge 1987, ISBN 0-946879-26-5 ).
- David W. Davies: Sir John Moore's Peninsular Campaign. 1808-1809. Nijhoff, The Hague 1974.
- August Ludolf Friedrich Schaumann: Cross and cross trains. 2 volumes. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1922.
- N. Ludlow Beamish: History of the King's German Legion. 2 volumes. Boone, London 1832-1937 (reprint: Volume 2. Naval and Military Press, Dallington 1997, ISBN 0-952201-10-0 ).
Web links
- Battle of Corunna (Engl.)
Coordinates: 43 ° 21 ′ 46 " N , 8 ° 24 ′ 17" W.