Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1810)
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In the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, the French Marshal Michel Ney took the fortified city from Field Marshal Don Andrés Perez de Herrasti[1] on 9 July 1810 after a siege that began on 26 April. Ney's VI Corps made up part of a 65,000-strong army commanded by André Masséna, who was bent on a third French invasion of Portugal.
Forces
Ney's VI Corps included Jean Marchand's 1st Division (6,500), Julien Mermet's 2nd Division (7,400), Louis Loison's 3rd Division (6,600), Auguste Lamotte's corps light cavalry brigade (900), Charles Gardanne's mounted dragoon brigade (1,300) and 60 cannon.
Herrasti commanded 3 regular battalions from the Avila, Segovia and 1st Majorca Infantry Regiments, 375 artillerymen and 60 sappers. These troops were supplemented by 3 battalions of the Volunteers of Ciudad Rodrigo and 1 battalion of the Urban Guard.
Siege
Herrasti's 5,500-man Spanish garrison put up a gallant defense, surrendering only after Ney's artillery opened a breach in the walls and the French infantry were poised for an assault. The Spanish suffered 461 killed and 994 wounded, while 4,000 men and 118 cannon were captured. Ney's VI Corps lost 180 killed and over 1,000 wounded during the siege. The French soldiery then pillaged the city. The siege delayed Masséna's invasion of Portugal by over a month.
The next actions were the Siege of Almeida and the Battle of the Côa. A second Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo occurred in January 1812.
Notes
References
- Chandler, David, Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars Macmillan, 1979.
- Glover, Michael, The Peninsular War 1807–1814 Penguin, 1974.
- Horward, Donald (ed.), The French Campaign in Portugal 1810–1811: An Account by Jean Jacques Pelet. University of Minnesota, 1973.
- Smith, Digby, The Napoleonic Wars Data Book Greenhill, 1998.
