A History of the Peninsular War, vol. 5

22 July 1812

Battle of Salamanca

PREFACE

The campaign of 1812 cannot be called the greatest exhibition of military genius in Wellington's career : that distinction must be given to the campaign of 1813. But it included the battle of Salamanca, the most skil- fully fought and the most decisive of all his victories, 4 the beating of forty thousand men in forty minutes.' And its earlier episodes, the two sudden strokes which ended in the storming of Ciudad Rodrigo and of Badajoz, deserve the closest attention, as showing a marvellous power of utilizing opportunities, and solving time- problems of the most complicated sort. We shall see how Wellington, in face of an enemy whose whole force was far superior to his own, so conducted his operations that he had success in his hands before the French armies could concentrate to overwhelm him. He would have been victorious in 1812 even without the assistance that was given him during the early months of the year by Napoleon's misguided orders from Paris, and in the summer by Soult's repeated and deliberate refusal to co-operate with King Joseph and Marmont for the general welfare of the French cause in Spain. The limits of his success were largely extended by those adven- titious circumstances, but even without them he must have achieved great things by force of the combinations which he had prepared.

PREFACE

A smaller proportion of the pages of this volume than of its predecessors is occupied by the tale of those cam- paigns in the Peninsula in which the British took no part. The year 1812 commences with the surrender of Blake and the occupation of Valencia by the French. When that great city and the army that had been driven into it succumbed before Suchet's attack, there was no longer any large Spanish force in the field, and the operations of Lacy, Ballasteros, and the Galicians are of only secondary importance and require no great attention. Indeed the most effective service done against the French in 1812 was that of the guerrilleros of Aragon, Cantabria, and Navarre, whose obstinate resistance immobilized such a large portion of the 230,000 imperial troops that lay in Spain. It will be noted that I have had to devote a considerable number of pages to a much-neglected episode of the summer of 1812 — the campaigns against Caffarelli of the irregular bands of the North, assisted by the fleet of Sir Home Popham. It cannot be too often repeated that by immobilizing the 35,000 men of the French Army of the North, they co-operated in the most effective way with Wellington, and had their share in making the Salamanca campaign a success for the allies.

PREFACE

I have once more to express my indebtedness to the owners of two great files of Peninsular War documents, who were good enough to place them at my disposition and to allow me to bring them to Oxford. The D 'Urban papers, lent to me by Mr. W. S. M. D'Urban, of Newport House, near Exeter, the grandson of Sir Benjamin D'Urban, Beresford's Chief-of-the-Staff, continue to be of immense value all through 1812. In the first half of the year Sir Benjamin was still at the Portuguese head- quarters, and his diary and correspondence give the views of those who had the best opportunity of knowing Wellington's plans from the inside. In June he was appointed to another post, that of commanding the detached Portuguese cavalry brigade which covered Wellington's left flank in the Salamanca campaign ; his notes as to his operations are of extreme interest throughout June, July, and August ; the narratives which he drew up concerning his own fortunes at the battle of Salamanca, and at the unfortunate combat of Majalahonda, have cleared up several obscure problems, which no published material could have enabled me to solve.

PREFACE

who found a copy of this almost unprocurable file at Lisbon. I owe the two views of the field of Salamanca to the camera of Mr. C. J. Armstrong, who sent them to me along with many other interesting Peninsular photographs.