First Battle of Porto

First Battle of Porto
Part of the Peninsular War
Date March 28, 1809
Location Porto, Portugal
Result French Victory
Anglo-Portuguese Defeat
Belligerents
Portugal
United Kingdom		 French Empire
Commanders and leaders
Caetano José Vaz Parreiras
William Carr Beresford		 Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult
Strength
About 24,000 men:
  • 4,500 regular army
  • 10,000 ordenanças (militia)
  • 9,000 armed citizens
 21,500 men including 3,100 cavalry
Casualties and losses
10,000 2,100 killed and wounded
Peninsular War
Portugal and northern Spain, 1809

In the First Battle of Porto (March 28, 1809) the French under Marshal Soult defeated the Portuguese, under General Parreiras, and the British Army, outside the city of Porto[1] during the Peninsular War. Soult followed up his success by storming the city.

It is estimated that 8,000 soldiers perished in the attack and that a great number of civilians were killed.

Contents

Soult's invasion of Portugal

After the Battle of Corunna, Napoleon ordered Marshal Soult to invade Portugal from the north. He was to seize Oporto by February 1 and Lisbon by February 10.

Napoleon failed to take into account either the wretched condition of the roads or the fact that a full-scale guerilla war had broken out in Northern Portugal and Spain.

Soult's II Corps had four infantry divisions, commanded by Major-Generals Pierre Merle (4 battalions each of the 2nd Light, 4th Light and 15th Line; 3 bns. of the 36th Line), Julien Mermet (4 bns. each of the 31st Light, 47th and 122nd Line; 1 bn. each of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Swiss), Etienne Heudelet (2 bns. each of the 22nd and 66th Line; 1 bn. each of the 15th and 32nd Light, 82nd Line, Legion of the Midi, Paris Guard and Hanoverian Legion) and Henri Delaborde (3 bns. each of the 17th Light, 70th and 86th Line). Maj-Gen Jean Franceschi led Soult's corps cavalry (1st Hussars, 8th Dragoons, 22nd and Hanoverian Chasseurs). Attached were Maj-Gen Lahoussaye's 3rd Dragoon (17th, 18th, 19th and 27th Dragoons) and Maj-Gen Lorge's 4th Dragoon Divisions (13th, 15th, 22nd and 25th Dragoons).[2] In all, Soult had 23,500 men, including 3,100 cavalry.[3]

Soult's first attempt to invade Portugal was stopped by the local militia on February 16. The French then moved northeast to Orense in Spain, seized an unguarded bridge and marched south. On the way, Franceschi's cavalry overran Maj-Gen Mahy's Spanish brigade at La Trepa on March 6, inflicting 700 casualties. The French crossed into Portugal and occupied Chaves on March 9.

From Chaves, Soult moved west to Braga. East of that city, near Póvoa de Lanhoso and after several days of combat, the French veterans slaughtered a motley Portuguese army of 2,000 soldiers and several thousand civilian armed with agricultural tools, first under Freire de Andrade and afterwards under Baron Eben. Of Eben's 4,000-man force, 3,000 were reported killed and 400 captured.

The French, who lost 40 killed, also seized 17 Portuguese cannons.

The battle

Bishop Castro organized an army of 24,000 men to defend Oporto.

Generals Lima and Parreiras commanded two battalions, each of the 6th, 18th and 21st Infantry Regiments, and one battalion of the 9th and other units. The 4,500 Portuguese regulars were supported by 10,000 ordenança (militia) and 9,000 armed citizens. When Soult hurled Merle, Mermet, Heudelet, Franceschi and Lahoussaye at the Portuguese deployed north of the city, on the weakest part of the Portuguese line of defence, Castro's force soon dissolved and the battle became a massacre. The Portuguese tried to escape from the French in the city but were chased by the French cavalry throughout the streets, and their regular units were annihilated.

Thousands of fleeing civilians drowned when a bridge of boats across the Douro River (as soon as some Portuguese units started to sabotage the bridge to prevent the French from crossing the river) collapsed because of their weight and of Portuguese artillery fire (coming from the left side of the Douro) who were aiming at the French cavalry behind the Portuguese soldiers and citizens.[3]

In the roadstead, Soult captured a squadron of Spanish naval vessels and 30 merchant ships. The French also found large stockpiles of British military stores. In the battle and storming of the city, the French lost 72 officers and 2,000 rank and file casualties. The Portuguese lost about 8,000 killed and 197 cannons captured.[2]

Soult did not have very long to enjoy his success.

Almost at once, the ordenanças cut his communications with Spain and a 1,800-man garrison was gobbled up by Francisco Silveira's Portuguese force in the Siege of Chaves. The French marshal started planning a retreat. The next action was the Battle of Grijó. The city was retaken on May 12 by the British and Portuguese under Wellesley in the Second Battle of Porto.

Footnotes

  1. ^ Porto has traditionally been called Oporto by the British.
  2. ^ a b Smith
  3. ^ a b Glover

References