Peninsular War 1808-1814

Campaign of 1813.

The new year found Wellington an earl and a marquis, and Napoleon the poorer by some 400,000 men lost in the snows of Russia. The emperor was fain to draw many troops from the Peninsula, and of those that remained the un fortunate King Joseph had less control than ever. The cortes of Spain, on the other hand, had nominated Wellington com mander-in-chief of their armies, of which a contingent, 20,000 strong, was under his immediate orders for the coming campaign. Furthermore, in 1812 the British Government had landed some 9,00o troops from the Mediterranean on the east coast of Spain —a sphere beyond the reach of Wellington—and these, with the addition of 20,000 Spanish troops in English pay, seemed likely to give trouble to the French in that quarter. Their commander, however, Sir John Murray, the general who had failed Wellington on the Douro in 1809, was a feeble creature of whom little could be expected. He succeeded in repelling an attack by Gen. Suchet at Castalla (April 12) and with a little enterprise might have turned his success to great account. His army, though composed of five different nations, was 17,000 strong, whereas Suchet had at most 15,000; and Suchet's casualties in the action numbered I,000 against Murray's zoo. But Murray allowed the opportunity to slip; and a subsequent operation which he undertook against Tarragona was so disgracefully mismanaged that it brought Mur ray to a court-martial.

This, however, was only a minor incident in the Peninsular operations. In the main field Wellington marched from Portugal with a full strength of about ioo,000 men, 47,000 of them British and the remainder Spanish and Portuguese. The Spanish guerrilla leaders were so active and so formidable in Biscay and Navarre that they found full employment for no fewer than four French divisions under Gen. Clausel. Thus weakened, the French army could make no stand on the Douro, but fell back north-eastward, abandoning Burgos, to the line of the Ebro. Wellington forced it to retire by turning its northern flank; and Joseph, with Marshal Jourdan for his adviser, decided to fight a delaying action in the basin south of Vittoria, to cover his further retreat. He had only 50,000 men, for Clausel, in spite of repeated orders, had not joined him ; whereas Wellington had 72,000; and had Wellington's orders been followed few of the French would have escaped. As things fell out Joseph got away with the loss of all his artillery, i5o pieces, and every scrap of baggage, but of no more than 7,000 men, Wellington's casualties being 5,000. The French retreated over the Pyrenees into France, and Wellington, having pursued them as far as Pamplona, decided to abandon the chase. It was essential to master the fortresses of Pamplona and San Sebastian before he could advance farther, and until these should fall he occupied the main western passes of the Pyrenees on a front of about 5om. south-eastward from San Sebastian. Pamplona was blockaded by the Spaniards, and the siege of San Sebastian, a tiny fortress, was entrusted to Sir Thomas Graham with one British division and one Portuguese brigade.

Meanwhile Napoleon had displaced Joseph, sending Soult to take command of all the troops that had retreated from Spain. The marshal arrived on July 53, and having received fresh artillery and restored, more or less, the organization and discipline of his 70,000 men, he on July 20 launched a great counter-attack along the three main valleys of the Pyrenees which lead to Pamplona.

He met with some initial success, for Wellington's divisional generals were always rather helpless unless their commander-in chief was at hand; but Soult's plans were not fulfilled as he had intended, and it was rather by accident than design that on July 26 he found himself at Sorauren, facing 16,000 of Welling ton's troops with 30,000 of his own men. He attacked, but was repulsed with heavy loss, and Wellington then taking the offensive in his turn drove the French back after six days' fighting, as a mere demoralized mob, to their former position on the northern slopes of the Pyrenees. Soult admitted a loss of 13,000 men, whereas Wellington's did not exceed 7,000.

In the course of these operations the first assault on San Sebastian was delivered on July 25, and repulsed with a loss of men. Want of ammunition then compelled the turning of the leaguer into a blockade till Aug. 22, when the siege was renewed; and on the 31st the place was successfully stormed though at great cost of life. First and last the casualties at San Sebastian were over 3,700. On the day of the storm Soult made a final effort to save the fortress, but was beaten back with a loss of 3,800, the casualties of the allies being 2,600. The brunt of the two days' fighting fell upon the Spaniards, whose losses exceeded 1,600. Soult now resolved to stand on the defensive and fortified lines of excessive extent to the south of the Bidassoa. These Wel lington attacked on Oct. 7, and carried with little difficulty after three days' combat, wherein both sides lost about 1,600 men. Soult then began to fortify another position a little to the north ward on the Nivelle, and Wellington, bringing his troops forward to the high ground to north of the Bidassoa, halted till the fall of Pamplona should allow him to advance farther.

He was not quite happy notwithstanding all his successes. His relations with the Spanish Government were such that he had resigned his command of the Spanish armies (Oct. 9), and with the Portuguese Government they were little better. It was clear to him that, in case of a reverse, retreat into Spain would be out of the question. Moreover, though Napoleon's star was already on the wane, Wellington as yet knew only that he was standing up to his enemies in Germany ; and it was always possible that he might win a great victory, come to terms with them, as his custom was, and return to launch all his forces against his foes in the Pyrenees. Moreover, on the east coast of Spain the latest British commander, Lord William Bentinck, had contrived to sustain at Ordal a reverse at the hands of Suchet (Sept. 13). However, on Oct. 25, Pamplona fell, and on Nov. io Wellington attacked Soult's position on the Nivelle and carried it, capturing 69 guns; the casualties, 4,300, being about the same on both sides. He was now fairly established on the plains of France, and recog nized that it was vital to him to have the population on his side. He could by this time count upon the good behaviour of his own troops towards the inhabitants; but the Spaniards had suffered too much at the hands of the French and could not be kept from maltreating them. "With 40,000 Spaniards I don't know where I should stop," he wrote at this time, "but if they plunder they will ruin all." Reluctantly and regretfully he sent most of them back to Spain.