Battle of Sorauren
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Battle of Sorauren | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Peninsular War | |||||||
|
|||||||
| Combatants | |||||||
| Britain Spain Portugal |
First French Empire | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Arthur Wellesley | Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult | ||||||
| Peninsular War, 1810–1814 |
|---|
| Fuengirola – Barrosa – Fuentes de Onoro – Albuera – Badajoz – Salamanca – Vitoria – Sorauren |
The Battle of Sorauren was fought in late July of 1813 between French forces and the combined forces of Great Britain and Portugal. The French were led by Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult, while the British and Portuguese forces were led by Sir Arthur Wellesley. The Allied forces were victorious.
28 July, 1813 30 July, 1813
With Sizable British forces tied up in assualting San Sebastion and besieging Pamplona, the new French C-in-C Marshal Soult launched a counterattack through the Pyrenees in three columns. Although the French initially enjoyed local superiority, the tough terrain combined with stubborn British and Portuguese resistance slowed the French advance to a crawl.
The main French column, about 30,000 men under Soult was marching to attack Sorauren. On the 27th the heavily outnumbered British forces there were drawn up on a ridge. Sir Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, forestalled the French assualt by a dramatic ride along the ridge in front of the British position. The British and Portuguese troops cheered and Soult was unnerved and postponed the attack until the next day. By the time the French attack was launched, reinforcements had arrived, bringing the collected force to about 24,000 men
The fighting at the top of the ridge was bitter and bloody, but the defenders held the French off. About midday, British reinforcements arrived and Wellington sent them to assault the French right flank. More fresh units reached the field and soon Soult soon ordered a withdrawal.
The French suffered 4000 casualties, while Wellesley's army lost 2600 men.
Two smaller battles occurred two days later as the French tried to get between Wellesley's army and the troops surrounding San Sebastian.
At Tolosa, General Hill fended one attempt off and a night retreat, again near Sorauren, cost the French 3500 casualties.
With his momentum dead in the water, Soult withdrew into France to prepare his defences against the imminent British offensive.
10,000 men were cut off under the command of General Vandamme. They were nearly cut off at the first battle of Vera, but the stupidity of a junior British general who failed to reinforce the holding force allowed them to escape.
 |
This article about a battle of the Napoleonic Wars is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
