What happened at the Battle of Almonacid?
On 11 August 1809 General Horace Sébastiani's French IV Corps attacked the Spanish Army of La Mancha under General Francisco Javier Venegas on the hills around Almonacid de Toledo. The Polish Division of the Duchy of Warsaw and a German division took the key hill of Los Cerrojones on the Spanish left, the French then broke the Spanish center, and when King Joseph's reserve arrived a second Spanish line gave way too. The French won, but at a heavier price than usual against Spanish armies, and for the Poles it was their bloodiest battle in Spain.1
In July 1809 Sir Arthur Wellesley's British army and General Cuesta's Spaniards advanced up the Tagus towards Madrid and beat the French at Talavera. Part of the allied plan was for the Spanish Army of La Mancha, under Francisco Javier Venegas, to threaten Madrid from the south and keep Sébastiani's IV Corps away from the battle. HistoryOfWar.org notes that after a good start Venegas did little during the decisive days, and Sébastiani was able to join the main French army.2
Talavera was won, but the arrival of Marshal Soult's army from the north-west forced the allies to retreat. King Joseph Bonaparte then turned east with Sébastiani's corps and his own reserve to deal with Venegas. The Spanish Ministry of Culture's archive guide describes the Army of the Centre, rebuilt after its defeat at Uclés in January, as probably the best equipped Spanish army of the moment.3
The race to Toledo
Venegas heard on the night of 4 August that the allies were retreating, but he chose to stay on the Tagus and accept battle. After a skirmish at Aranjuez on 5 August, both armies raced west along opposite banks of the river towards Toledo. The French got there first, on 8 August, crossed the river and pushed a Spanish division back towards the small town of Almonacid. By the evening of 10 August the whole Army of La Mancha had gathered there, facing Sébastiani, with King Joseph's reserve about ten miles behind.4
Both sides intended to attack. Venegas, according to HistoryOfWar.org, decided to wait until 12 August, apparently expecting the French to sit still for a day. They did not.5
The armies
The figures vary. HistoryOfWar.org gives Venegas 20,000 infantry and nearly 3,000 cavalry against a French force of 17,800 infantry and 3,800 cavalry in all, of which Sébastiani had about 14,000 men at the start. The Spanish archive guide gives about 21,000 Spaniards against 14,000 French. The Polish Army Museum puts the Army of La Mancha at 25,000 to 30,000 and Sébastiani's corps at 17,000.6
Among Sébastiani's troops was the Polish Division of the Duchy of Warsaw, three infantry regiments: the 4th under Colonel Feliks Potocki, the 7th under Colonel Maciej Sobolewski and the 9th under Colonel Antoni Paweł Sułkowski. Raised for service on the Rhine, it had been sent to Spain in the autumn of 1808 instead.7
Los Cerrojones
Venegas drew up his army in a long, thin line on the hills either side of Almonacid, with the guns in the center, cavalry on the wings and only a small reserve behind the town. His strongest point was the hill of Los Cerrojones on the left. Sébastiani decided to take it and then roll up the line. While one division and General Milhaud's dragoons made a show against the Spanish center and right, the Polish Division attacked the hill from the front and General Leval's German division marched round its flank.8
The Spaniards fought better than the French expected. HistoryOfWar.org writes that the Poles were held off on Los Cerrojones until Leval's men turned the position. The Polish Army Museum stresses that the hardest task of the day fell to the Poles, who took the hill in extremely heavy fighting and threw back an unexpected charge by General Mira's Spanish cavalry. Colonel Sobolewski of the 7th Regiment was among the dead. Venegas spent his reserves trying to retake the hill and could not.9
The second line
Sébastiani then sent his own division against the Spanish center, and Venegas pulled his whole army back to a second line of hills around the castle south-east of the town. By now King Joseph and the reserve had come up. Reinforced by General Dessolles' division, Sébastiani broke the left and center of the new line. The Spanish archive guide describes the Spanish line collapsing under artillery fire and coordinated attacks of French infantry and cavalry. One fresh Spanish division under Vigodet, which had stood on the right all day, held the French long enough for the rest to begin an orderly retreat, while Polish lancers and French cavalry broke up the Spanish rearguard.10
The cost
Sébastiani reported 319 dead and 2,075 wounded; HistoryOfWar.org puts Spanish losses at about 800 dead and 2,500 wounded, with another 2,000 captured in the retreat. The Spanish archive guide gives close to 4,000 Spanish killed and wounded and about 2,000 prisoners, with most of the army's artillery and supplies lost, and about 2,000 French killed and wounded. The historian Dawid Madziar calls Almonacid the bloodiest battle the Polish Division fought in Spain.11
The victory secured French control of central Spain for the moment and ended the Talavera campaign. Venegas's army escaped destruction and rallied in the mountain passes on the borders of La Mancha; HistoryOfWar.org calls it a lucky escape. Venegas, though, had lost the campaign, and three months later another Spanish army was destroyed at Ocaña.12 › Battle of Ocaña, 1809
Notes
A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.
- John Rickard, “Battle of Almonacid, 11 August 1809”; Muzeum Wojska Polskiego, “Bitwa pod Almonacid de Toledo”; Centro de Información Documental de Archivos, “Batalla de Almonacid”; Dawid Madziar, “Udział Dywizji Polskiej w bitwie pod Almonacid de Toledo 11 sierpnia 1809 r.”. ↩
- John Rickard, “Battle of Almonacid, 11 August 1809”. ↩
- John Rickard, “Battle of Almonacid, 11 August 1809”; Centro de Información Documental de Archivos, “Batalla de Almonacid”. ↩
- John Rickard, “Battle of Almonacid, 11 August 1809”. ↩
- John Rickard, “Battle of Almonacid, 11 August 1809”. ↩
- John Rickard, “Battle of Almonacid, 11 August 1809”; Centro de Información Documental de Archivos, “Batalla de Almonacid”; Muzeum Wojska Polskiego, “Bitwa pod Almonacid de Toledo”. ↩
- Dawid Madziar, “Udział Dywizji Polskiej w bitwie pod Almonacid de Toledo 11 sierpnia 1809 r.”. ↩
- John Rickard, “Battle of Almonacid, 11 August 1809”. ↩
- John Rickard, “Battle of Almonacid, 11 August 1809”; Muzeum Wojska Polskiego, “Bitwa pod Almonacid de Toledo”. ↩
- John Rickard, “Battle of Almonacid, 11 August 1809”; Centro de Información Documental de Archivos, “Batalla de Almonacid”; Muzeum Wojska Polskiego, “Bitwa pod Almonacid de Toledo”. ↩
- John Rickard, “Battle of Almonacid, 11 August 1809”; Centro de Información Documental de Archivos, “Batalla de Almonacid”; Dawid Madziar, “Udział Dywizji Polskiej w bitwie pod Almonacid de Toledo 11 sierpnia 1809 r.”. ↩
- John Rickard, “Battle of Almonacid, 11 August 1809”; Centro de Información Documental de Archivos, “Batalla de Almonacid”. ↩
Sources
- John Rickard, HistoryOfWar.org, “Battle of Almonacid, 11 August 1809”
- Muzeum Wojska Polskiego, “Bitwa pod Almonacid de Toledo”
- Centro de Información Documental de Archivos, Ministerio de Cultura (Spain), “Batalla de Almonacid”
- Dawid Madziar, Echa Przeszłości XXII/2 (2021), “Udział Dywizji Polskiej w bitwie pod Almonacid de Toledo 11 sierpnia 1809 r.”
