Battle of Espinosa

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Battle of Espinosa
Part of the Peninsular War
Date November 10–November 11, 1808 Location Espinosa, west of Vitoria, Spain Result French victory
Combatants
France	Spain
Commanders
Claude Victor	Joaquín Blake
Strength
22,000	23,000
Casualties
1,200 dead or wounded	3,000 dead, wounded, or captured

Peninsular War: Second French Invasion, 1808–1809
Pancorbo – Valmaseda – Burgos – Espinosa – Tudela – Somosierra – Saragossa – Castellón – Uclés – Corunna – Valls – Villafranca – Ciudad-Real – Medellín – Porto – Gerona – Lugo – Alcañiz – San Payo – María – Talavera – Almonacid – Tamamés – Hostalrich – Torres Vedras – Ocana

The Battle of Espinosa was fought on November 10 and November 11, 1808 at the township of Espinosa in the Cantabrian Mountains and resulted in a French victory under General Victor against Lieutenant General Joaquín Blake's Army of Galicia.

On the first day of the battle, Victor, seeking an easy victory to erase his humiliation at Valmaseda, launched a series of ill-advised attacks that were thrown back with heavy losses by General La Romana's disciplined regulars. By nightfall, Blake's positions still held. On the morning of November 11, Victor regained his composure and coordinated a massive French attack that pierced Blake's left wing and drove the Spaniards from the field. The French captured a healthy total of 30 guns and 30 standards.

Although not a decisive defeat in itself, the hopeless confusion of the tattered and weary Spanish army (having neither a government nor a military command structure to coordinate it) meant that Espinosa marked the deathblow to Blake's Army of Galicia. Blake, to his credit, led his remaining men through an heroic retreat west through the mountains, escaping, to Napoleon's disbelief, Soult's pursuit, but when he arrived at León on November 23, only 10,000 men remained under his banner.