Battle of Salamanca
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| Battle of Salamanca | |||||||
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| Part of the Peninsular War | |||||||
 Site of the battle with Arapil Chico |
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Britain Portugal Spain |
France | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Duke of Wellington | Auguste Marmont | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| about 50,000 | about 47,000 | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| 5,067 dead or wounded | 13,000 dead, wounded, or captured | ||||||
| Peninsular War, 1810–1814 |
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| Fuengirola – Barrosa – Fuentes de Onoro – Albuera – Badajoz – Salamanca – Vitoria – Sorauren - Orthez - Toulouse |
The Battle of Salamanca was fought among the Arapiles hills near Salamanca in Spain on July 22, 1812, and resulted in an Anglo-Portuguese tactical victory under Lord Wellington against the French under marshal Marmont. The losses were 3,129 British and 2,038 Portuguese against about 13,000 French. It was said that Wellington "defeated an army of 40,000 men in 40 minutes." As a consequence, his army was able to advance to and liberate Madrid, but only for two months.
The battle followed a frustrating period of six weeks for Wellington. His foray into central Spain in the spring of 1812 had been blocked by Marmont's army. With brilliant marching and bloodless manoeuvring, Marmont had feinted repeatedly at Wellington's supply line. By this day, Wellington had finally decided to withdraw his army all the way back to Portugal. Suddenly, he observed that Marmont had made the tactical error of separating his left flank from his main body. Wellington reportedly threw the chicken leg he was eating in the air and cried "By God, that will do!" He immediately ordered the major part of his army to attack the isolated left wing.
The battle was a succession of strokes in oblique order, initiated by the Portuguese cavalry brigade and Pakenham's 3rd division, and continued by the British heavy cavalry and the 4th, 5th and 6th divisions. The French left wing was annihilated. By chance, both Marmont and his deputy commander were wounded by shrapnel in the first few minutes of firing. Confusion reigned until Clausel, third in seniority, asserted command and ordered a counterattack by the French main body toward the depleted Allied center. It came near success until Wellington brought up timely reinforcements.
The victory was flawed by the failure of Spanish troops to guard a crucial escape route over the bridge at Alba de Tormes, possibly by a misunderstanding between Spanish and British commanders. The pursuit was ineffective at capturing the fleeing French. However, it did see Wellington's German cavalry perform the astounding feat of "breaking the square" and overrunning a group of rear guard French infantrymen at Garcia Hernandez; moreover, they accomplished this twice within a few minutes.
The battle established Wellington as an offensive general. "He manoeuvred like Frederick the Great, in oblique order", wrote general Foy, a celebrated French divisional commander and author of memoirs about the Peninsular War.
[edit] References
[1]Batalla de los Arapiles (in Spanish)
