Battle of El Pla

Last updated

Battle of El Pla
Part of Peninsular War
Date15 January 1811
Location 41°22′N1°17′E / 41.367°N 1.283°E / 41.367; 1.283
Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
Flag of France.svg First French Empire Flag of Spain (1785-1873, 1875-1931).svg Kingdom of Spain
Commanders and leaders
Flag of France.svg Jacques MacDonald
Flag of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy.svg Francesco Eugenio 
Flag of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy.svg Giuseppe Palombini
Flag of Spain (1785-1873, 1875-1931).svg Marquis Campoverde
Flag of Spain (1785-1873, 1875-1931).svg Pedro Sarsfield
Units involved
Flag of France.svg VII Corps Flag of Spain (1785-1873, 1875-1931).svg Army of Catalonia
Strength
6,000 3,800
Casualties and losses
600 160
Peninsular war: Aragón Catalonia
  current battle

The Battle of El Pla was a battle on 15 January 1811 between an Imperial French column made up of two Italian brigades on one side and a Spanish division under the command of Pedro Sarsfield on the other. The Spanish troops held steady and repulsed the attack of the first brigade, then counterattacked and defeated both brigades. The combat occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. The action was fought near El Pla de Santa Maria, north of Valls, Catalonia, Spain.

Contents

Background

The Siege of Tortosa ended on 2 January 1811 when the Spanish garrison surrendered to Louis Gabriel Suchet's III Corps. During the siege, Marshal Jacques MacDonald's VII Corps blocked the Catalan army of Luis González Torres de Navarra, Marquess of Campoverde from interfering with Suchet's operations.

Battle

With the siege finished, MacDonald moved toward Lleida (Lérida) with 12,000 troops. After reaching Valls, his vanguard commander Francesco Orsatelli (called Eugenio) heard that an enemy force was nearby and determined to attack it. Eugenio was mortally wounded and his brigade driven back by Sarsfeld's men. After Giuseppe Federico Palombini's brigade joined Eugenio's survivors, Sarsfield attacked again and defeated both Italian units. Only the intervention of a handful of French cavalry led by Jacques-Antoine-Adrien Delort prevented a complete disaster. After the day's action, MacDonald found that Campoverde's main force was coming up behind him. During the night, the French marshal force-marched his troops north to Montblanc on the road to Llieda, conceding the battlefield to the Spanish.

Aftermath

The French conquest of Aragon proceeded with the Siege of Figueras.

Forces

The Imperial forces included two battalions each of the 1st and 2nd Italian Light Infantry Regiments, two battalions each of the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Italian Line Infantry Regiments, and one battalion of the 8th Italian Line Infantry Regiment. There were also 30 cavalrymen from the Italian Royal Chasseurs à Cheval. [1] Two squadrons of the French 24th Dragoon Regiment became engaged at the end of the battle. [2]

Notes

  1. Oman 1902d, p. 353.
  2. Oman 1902d, p. 243.

Related Research Articles

Siege of Tarragona (1813) Action of the Peninsular War

In the siege of Tarragona, an overwhelming Anglo-Allied force commanded by Lieutenant General John Murray, 8th Baronet, failed to capture the Spanish port of Tarragona from a small Franco-Italian garrison led by General of Brigade Antoine Marc Augustin Bertoletti. Murray was subsequently removed from command for his indecisive and contradictory leadership.

Battle of Castalla Battle of the Peninsular War

In the Battle of Castalla on 13 April 1813, an Anglo-Spanish-Sicilian force commanded by Lieutenant General Sir John Murray fought Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet's French Army of Valencia and Aragon. Murray's troops successfully repelled a series of French attacks on their hilltop position, causing Suchet to retreat. The action took place during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. Castalla is located 35 kilometers north-northwest of Alicante, Spain.

Anne Gilbert de Laval or Anne-Gilbert Laval or Anne Guilbert de La Val became a general officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and led a division in the Napoleonic Wars. Like many other officers, he saw rapid promotion during the French Revolution. He commanded a demi brigade beginning in 1794. He fought in numerous actions during the 1796 campaign in Germany, including the battles of Ettlingen and Neresheim.

Siege of Valencia (1812) Action of the Peninsular War

The siege of Valencia from 3 November 1811 to 9 January 1812, saw Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet's French Army of Aragon besiege Captain General Joaquín Blake y Joyes's forces in the city of Valencia, Spain, during the Peninsular War. The 20,000 to 30,000 French troops compelled 16,000 Spanish soldiers to surrender at the conclusion of the siege, although another 7,000 Spaniards escaped from the trap. Suchet quickly converted Valencia into an important base of operations after this Napoleonic Wars action. Valencia, modern-day capital of the Valencian Community, is located on the east coast of Spain.

Pierre-Joseph Habert French general

Pierre-Joseph Habert enlisted in the French army at the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars and led a division during the Napoleonic Wars. After serving in the army from 1792 to 1797, he fought in Ireland and Egypt, rising in rank to become a colonel by 1802. Under Emperor Napoleon, he led his regiment in the 1805 campaign against Austria. In the 1806-1807 campaign he saw action at Jena, Golymin, Eylau, and Heilsberg and was wounded twice in the last-named battle.

Battle of Saguntum Battle of Saguntum, 1811, Peninsular War

The Battle of Saguntum saw the Imperial French Army of Aragon under Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet fighting a Spanish army led by Captain General Joaquín Blake. The Spanish attempt to raise the siege of the Sagunto Castle failed when the French, Italians, and Poles drove their troops off the battlefield in rout. The action took place during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. Sagunto lies a short distance from the east coast of Spain, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) north of Valencia.

The Battle of Ordal on 12 and 13 September 1813 saw a First French Empire corps led by Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet make a night assault on a position held by Lieutenant General Lord William Bentinck's smaller Anglo-Allied and Spanish advance guard. The Allies, under the tactical direction of Colonel Frederick Adam, were defeated and driven from a strong position at the Ordal defile largely because they failed to post adequate pickets. In an action the next morning at Vilafranca del Penedès, the Allied cavalry clashed with the pursuing French horsemen. The actions occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. Ordal and El Lledoner are located on Highway N-340 between Molins de Rei and Vilafranca.

Siege of Lérida Battle of the Pyrenees wars

In the Siege of Lérida from 29 April to 13 May 1810, an Imperial French army under Louis Gabriel Suchet besieged a Spanish garrison led by Jaime García Conde. On 13 May, García Conde surrendered with his 7,000 surviving soldiers. Lleida (Lérida) is a city in the western part of Catalonia. Margalef is located on Route N-240 about 10 kilometres (6 mi) southeast of Lérida. The siege occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars.

Pedro Sarsfield was a Spanish general of Irish descent who commanded an infantry division during the Peninsular War. He is considered one of the best Spanish tacticians among his generation.

Juan de Courten (younger) was a Spanish general who led an infantry division during the Peninsular War against the First French Empire. In 1810, he was promoted to mariscal de campo, a Spanish rank between brigadier general and lieutenant general, and therefore equivalent to major general. The following year he was captured at the conclusion of the Siege of Tarragona. In 1818, he received an important military decoration.

Battle of La Bisbal Battle of the Peninsular War

In the Battle of La Bisbal on 14 September 1810 a Spanish division led by Henry O'Donnell and supported by an Anglo-Spanish naval squadron led by Francis William Fane and Charles William Doyle surprised an Imperial French brigade commanded by François Xavier de Schwarz. The Imperial troops were from the Confederation of the Rhine, a collection of small German states that were allied to Napoleon. Part of a division led by Marie François Rouyer, Schwarz's brigade was almost completely wiped out, most of its soldiers being taken prisoner along with its commander. One of the few Allied casualties was the capable O'Donnell, wounded in the foot. The battle occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars.

Siege of Figueras (1811) Action of the Peninsular War

The siege of Figueras, which lasted from 10 April to 19 August 1811, saw the Spanish garrison of Sant Ferran Castle led by Brigadier General Juan Antonio Martínez defend against an Imperial French force commanded by Marshal Jacques MacDonald and his deputy Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers. Martínez and his men held out much longer than expected but were eventually starved into surrendering the fortress, which was near Figueres. The action occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars.

Battle of Castalla (1812) Battle of the Peninsular War

In the Battle of Castalla a small Spanish army commanded by Joseph O'Donnell advanced to attack an Imperial French division under the leadership of Jean Isidore Harispe. O'Donnell's battle plan was poorly conceived and the outnumbered French smashed his center column before his right and left wings could intervene. The engagement occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle was fought near Castalla, 32 kilometres (20 mi) north-west of Alicante, Spain.

Battle of Montserrat Battle of the Peninsular War

In the Battle of Montserrat a force of Spanish irregulars led by Joaquín Ibáñez, Baron de Eroles defended Montserrat Mountain against two Imperial French divisions under the command of Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet. The minor action occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle was fought near the Santa Maria de Montserrat Monastery, which is located on the mountain 36 kilometres (22 mi) northwest of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Battle of Cervera (1811) Battle of the Peninsular War

In the Battle of Cervera a Spanish force led by Luis Roberto de Lacy attacked a series of Imperial French garrisons belonging to the VII Corps of Marshal Jacques MacDonald. The actions were highly successful and netted nearly 1,000 enemy prisoners. The clashes occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. The largest garrison was located at Cervera which is located about 55 kilometres (34 mi) east of Lleida, in Catalonia, Spain.

Luigi Gaspare Peyri or Louis Gaspard Balthazar Pierre Léon Marie Peyri became a general officer in the army of the Kingdom of Italy which was a satellite of Napoleon's First French Empire. He led Italians, Swiss, and Poles in a number of important actions in the War of the Fourth Coalition, the War of the Fifth Coalition, and the Peninsular War.

Siege of Mequinenza Action of the Peninsular War

The siege of Mequinenza saw a 16,000-man Imperial French corps commanded by Louis Gabriel Suchet invest a 1,000-strong Spanish garrison under Colonel Carbon. Mequinenza and its castle were captured by the French after an operation lasting about three weeks. The action occurred during the Peninsular War, which formed part of the Napoleonic Wars. Mequinenza is located at the confluence of the Ebro and Segre Rivers about 211 kilometres (131 mi) west of Barcelona.

Jean-Baptiste Salme or Salm led French troops in several actions during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Several times he landed in trouble by associating with the wrong people, including his wife who tried to kill him. He served alongside Jacques MacDonald when they were both generals of brigade in the Flanders Campaign in 1794. Still commanding only a brigade, he served in MacDonald's army in Italy during 1799 and in Spain during 1810.

Charles Louis Dieudonné Grandjean

Charles Louis Dieudonné Grandjean became a French division commander and saw extensive service during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1792 he gave up his legal career to enlist in the infantry and served in the Army of the Rhine. In March 1799 he earned promotion to general of brigade by distinguished actions at Verona. That year he led an Army of Italy brigade at Magnano, the Trebbia, Novi and Genola. In 1800 he fought at Stockach and Hohenlinden.

Giuseppe Federico Palombini

Giuseppe Federico Palombini or Joseph Friedrich von Palombini became an Italian division commander during the Napoleonic Wars. He joined the army of the Cispadane Republic in 1796 and fought at Faenza in 1797. He became commander of a dragoon regiment in 1798. He became commander of the Napoleone Dragoons, of the Cisalpine Republic army, in 1802. He fought as an ally of the French at Kolberg and Stralsund in 1807. He married the daughter of Jan Henryk Dąbrowski (Dombrowski) in 1806.

References

Further reading