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StC and the Peninsular War Timeline So Far

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StC and the Peninsular War Timeline So Far Empty StC and the Peninsular War Timeline So Far

Post  Sharpiefan Sun Nov 21, 2010 9:08 am

This is to give people some background information as to what has happened so far In Game. Where StC has diverted from actual historical events, such diversion has been noted in parentheses. The most significant diversion is that we have pushed back the Battle of Oporto ten days. Historically, it was fought on Friday 12th May 1809. We fought our Battle on Monday 22nd May 1809. Information on the battles comes from here.

The Army in Portugal, 1809

The British Army first arrived in Portugal in the summer of 1808. They fought two major battles – both of which would have counted as little more than skirmishes in comparison with later battles of the Peninsular War. Rolica was fought on the 17 July 1808 and Vimiero on the 21st July 1808.

Rolica: Having landed unopposed at Mondego Bay, Sir Arthur Wellesley led the British army of some 15,000 men south towards Lisbon.

An initial skirmish against the French came at Obidos on the 16th, but the first real battle involving British troops occurred at Rolica.

Awaiting reinforcements from General Andoche Junot and General Louis Loison, France's General Henri Delaborde had prepared to fight a delaying action against Wellesley's advance.

He sat watching as the British sent flank columns to encircle him and, when he judged the time to be right, withdrew his force out of harm's way.

Delaborde's second position was an extremely strong one. It sat along a ridge and could only be reached frontally by four rugged gullies.

Wellesley again sent out flank forces, but his plan was ruined when the colonel of the 29th (Worcesters) Regiment prematurely assaulted the French. Realising his plan had been compromised, Wellesley ordered a general attack.

The 29th suffered horrendous casualties - almost half its strength - but the support attacks saved them and forced Delaborde to withdraw.

The French had 700 casualties, while the British around 500.

Vimiero: Four days after the initial clash at Rolica, Sir Arthur Wellesley's army of 17,000 Anglo-Portuguese troops was attacked by General Junot and his Army of Portugal as it attempted to defeat the redcoats before reinforcements arrived by sea.

Vimiero began as French battle of manouevre but keen British eyes watched as Junot tried to move against their left and Wellesley was able to redeploy his army to face the assault.

While outflanking troops tried to move around the British left, Junot sent in two central columns but these were forced back by sustained volleys from troops in line.

Soon afterwards, the flanking attack was beaten off and so Junot retreated towards Torres Vedras having lost 2000 men and 13 cannon.

Wellesley suffered 700 casualties to his army and considerable damage to his prestige when, following the battle, the new British commanders Generals "Dowager" Dalrymple and "Betty" Burrard worked out a deal whereby Junot would leave for France on British ships and take all his guns and equipment.

This Convention of Cintra caused a massive outcry in Britain and, following an official enquiry, both Dalrymple and Burrard were blamed. Wellesley - who had opposed the deal - was exonerated. Under the terms of the Convention, the French would be returned to France in Royal Navy ships, taking with them the things they had looted from the Portuguese.

Due to the recall of Wellesley, Dalrymple and Burrard, the Army came under the command of Sir John Moore, who was the senior officer remaining in the Peninsula. He took his men into Spain, and got as far as Salamanca when he learned that the French armies under Soult and Junot were trying to make contact with each other and that together their forces outnumbered his. This led to his decision to retreat through Spain to Corunna, which retreat took place in the worst winter for thirty years.

Having just completed an exhausting retreat through appalling cold, the British army arrived at Corunna just ahead of the pursuing French under Marshal Soult.

More than 5000 British had died during the cruel march and while discipline had been strained to breaking point, the need to hold the French off while the troops were evacuated by ship to England brought the professionalism back.

Led by Sir John Moore, the redcoats formed a series of defensive lines with the key position being the small village of Elvina.

This point was targeted by Soult and, following a lengthy bombardment, he sent in a heavy attack against the defending 42nd (Highland) and 50th (West Kent) Regiments.

The battle for the village was ferocious and it took several hours for the British to drive off the attackers.

An attempt by French cavalry to outflank the British right was defeated by sharpshooting riflemen of the 95th Rifles.

A more direct assault on the centre of the defenders was also driven off and, as night fell, the British returned to evacuating the troops.

The cost to the British included some 900 men and the death of Sir John Moore, while the French suffered some 2000 casualties.

The evacuation, however, was a complete success and led to some 27,000 men being saved to fight another day.

Regiments which fought at Corunna had to spend some time in England recruiting and recuperating, due to the losses sustained during the retreat – even men who survived the retreat and the battle suffered severe health problems afterwards, due to the cold and lack of supplies.

The few regiments that were not involved in the retreat to Corunna included the 5th Battalion 60th Rifles, which were considered unsteady, due to accepting a number of French deserters into their ranks in the summer of 1808. By 1809, these men had been weeded out, and the majority of the 60th's Riflemen were Germans from Hanover and other German states allied to Britain. There were a handful of British men among the numbers, though battlefield orders were given in German, as were regimental orders on certain occasions. Being only a battalion, the senior officer is a Major, Major William Davy, whose Headquarters Company is attached to the Third Division.

The 60th and other Regiments that had not taken part – including, in StC's AU version of history, the 2nd Foot Guards (later the Coldstream Guards), and 3/27th (Young Inniskillings), – formed a garrison in Lisbon, awaiting the arrival of a new general. Sir Arthur Wellesley, exonerated of all charges relating to the Convention of Cintra, returned to Portugal in May 1809, along with the 33rd (again, this is AU for us; the 33rd actually took part in the ill-fated Walcheren expedition in Flanders).

Oporto
The army marched north for Lisbon for Oporto, which had been taken by the French. This would be the British Army's first major engagement since Corunna, a battle none of the regiments in Lisbon had been involved with.

With the inquiry into the distasteful Convention of Cintra behind him, Sir Arthur Wellesley returned to the Peninsula and again took up command of British forces there.

The French still threatened that country through armies under Marshal Soult and Marshal Victor and so Wellesley decided to go on the offensive and remove the danger.

He decided to attack Oporto, situated on the far side of the deep River Douro, despite the presence of Soult's troops in the city and the fact that the only bridge had been destroyed by French engineers. To add to his difficulties, Soult had removed all of the city's barges to the northern - French – bank.

In the early hours of the morning of the 12th (in StC's AU version, the battle took place on the 22nd), local Portuguese assisted British troops in recovering four wine barges from the north bank and, upon their return to the British side, they were loaded with the redcoat advance party.

The target for the 120 or so men was the strongly built seminary to the east of the town. It was a perfect position for defending a bridgehead.

Despite crossing the river in daylight, the British were not initially spotted by French sentries - who later mistook them for Swiss troops - and within half an hour had several hundred men preparing defences in the seminary.

Protected by artillery batteries from a convent on the southern bank, the seminary would be a tough nut for the French to crack, as the local commander General Maximilien Foy discovered when he moved to throw the British out.

Launching an initial assault with three battalions at about 10.30am, Foy's men came under ferocious fire from cannons firing shrapnel. Several assaults were beaten back and by midday more reinforcements had arrived for the British under the command of General Sir Rowland Hill.

In addition to the crossing by the seminary, Wellesley had sent a large force six kilometres to the east to flank the French forces and it began its deployment via ferry.

With an ever-increasing supply of boats being taken to the British by the local inhabitants, Soult decided his outnumbered force would not be able to hold off greater numbers of enemy troops and so he ordered a hasty withdrawal.

Hill's troops now went on to the offensive and pursued the French, who would have been trapped had it not been for slow work by the force sent to control the flank.

Oporto was a brilliant tactical effort from Wellesley, whose force succeeded in the highly daring venture with the loss of just over 120 men. Soult's men suffered up to 600 men and a further 1500 were captured in the town's hospital.

That night Wellesley and his staff sat down at the former French headquarters and enjoyed a meal prepared for Soult and his officers.

At the time of writing, the British have taken Oporto and are now in pursuit of the French. We have one skirmish taking place and a day later, a bigger scrap is being fought, as the French have turned to try to give the pursuing British a bloody nose.
Sharpiefan
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