Anglo-Portuguese Army
Anglo-Portuguese Army
Exército Anglo-Luso |
British and Portuguese regiments, side by side, at the Second Battle of Porto. |
| Active |
April 22, 1809 |
| Country |
United Kingdom
Kingdom of Portugal |
| Allegiance |
George III of the United Kingdom
John VI of Portugal |
| Size |
53,000 British
3,000 Hanoverians of the KGL
55,000 Portuguese 1st line
50,000 Portuguese militias (2nd line)
100,000 Portuguese ordenanças (3rd line) |
| Garrison/HQ |
Lisbon, Portugal |
| Engagements |
Battle of Albuera, Battle of Almaraz, Blockade of Almeida, Battle of Arroyo dos Molinos, Siege of Badajoz (1812), Battle of Bayonne, Battle of the Bidassoa (1813), Siege of Burgos, Battle of Bussaco, Battle of Campo Maior, Battle of the Côa, Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro, Battle of Garris, Battle of Grijó, Battle of Majadahonda, Battle of Nive, Battle of Nivelle, Battle of Orthez, Battle of the Pyrenees, Battle of Redinha, Battle of Roliça, Battle of Roncesvalles (1813), Battle of Sabugal, Battle of Salamanca, Siege of San Sebastián, Second Battle of Porto, Battle of Sorauren, Battle of Toulouse (1814), Battle of Vimeiro, Battle of Vitoria |
| Disbanded |
1814 |
| Commanders |
| Commander-in-chief |
Arthur Wellesley |
Notable
commanders |
Brent Spencer, Carlos Frederico Lecor, Henry Clinton, James Leith, John Hope, Lowry Cole, Robert Craufurd, Rowland Hill, Thomas Picton, William Beresford |
The Anglo-Portuguese Army was the combined British and Portuguese army that won the Peninsular War, under the command of Arthur Wellesley. The Army is also referred to as the British-Portuguese Army and, in Portuguese, as the Exército Anglo-Luso or the Exército Anglo-Português.
The Anglo-Portuguese Army was established with the British Army deployed to the Iberian Peninsula under the command of General Arthur Wellesley, and the Portuguese Army rebuilt under the leadership of British General William Beresford and the Portuguese War Secretary Miguel Pereira Forjaz.
Besides already becoming Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, on 22 April 1809, Wellesley was appointed, by the Portuguese Government, to Commander-in-Chief of the Portuguese Army. He then came to have the two armies under his command, transforming them into a single integrated army.
The Army was organised into divisions, most of them including mixed British-Portuguese units. Usually, each one had two British and one Portuguese brigades. In the elite Light Division, the brigades themselves were mixed, each including two British light infantry and one Portuguese Caçadores battalions.
Order of battle
References
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(1996). Weapons & Equipment of the Napoleonic Wars. Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 978-1854094955. - Napier, Sir William Francis Patrick (1952). English Battles and Sieges in the Peninsula. London: Chapman & Hall. http://books.google.com/books?id=7JEBAAAAQAAJ.
- Nofi, Albert A. (1998). The Waterloo Campaign: June 1815. USA: De Capo Press. ISBN 978-0938289985.
- Sumner, Ian; Hook, Richard (2001). British Colours and Standards 1747–1881 (2): Infantry. UK. ISBN 978-1841762016.
- Venning, Annabel (2005). Following the Drum: The Lives of Army Wives and Daughters Past and Present. London: Headline Publishing. ISBN 978-0755312589.
See also