7 September 1813 – Southern Spain – Albacete Campaign

1813 Campaign Areas

There are five campaign areas in the 1813 Campaign, three in Germany and two in Spain.   The campaign is divided into campaign phases, each lasting about ten campaign days.  This is the twenty ninth campaign phase of the 1813 Campaign and the sixth phase in Southern Spain

All Spain

All eleven previous campaign phases are shown.  

A blue star indicates a French victory, a red star a British victory and a yellow star a Spanish victory.

         

There are two campaign areas in Spain.

Northern Spain – 4^th French army v British army

Southern Spain – 5^th French army v Spain army

Each square on the map is 7 miles, it is also one square on the wargames table

A corps can march 21 miles in one day, which is also the area of a wargames table

Southern Spain

All 17 previous battles fought are shown.    A blue star indicates a French victory, a yellow star a Spanish victory and one white start is a drawn battle.   Each square on this map covers the same area as one 2x2 foot scenic square on our wargames table.

Summary of the campaign in Southern Spain

By the end of January most of the experienced French troops had been withdrawn from Spain to form the new Grand Army in Germany.   On 1 February 1813 Marshal Suchet was given command of all the remaining troops in Southern Spain.  He was ordered to abandon Seville and withdraw all the scattered garrisons to Madrid.

General Giron commanded all Spanish troops south of Madrid.   As the French withdrew he ordered his army to concentrate at Badajoz.  It took two weeks for them to do so.   He ordered an immediate advance on Madrid

On 28 February 1813 the Spanish Army reached Merida.   Their slow march allowed the Suchet to reorganize his Army and to march them west to meet the Spanish.   As the Spanish entered Merida, his army arrived at Almarez. 

5 March 1813 – Almarez Campaign.  Marshal Suchet opened the campaign by defeating the Spanish at Almarez and followed that by a second victory at Naval Moral.   The Spanish regrouped and countered by winning at Serrejon and Almarez.  Suchet retreated towards Madrid, allowing Giron to claim a Spanish campaign victory.

18 March 1813 – Talavera Campaign.   The Spanish dominated this campaign, winning both battles at Talavera and a draw at Las Vantas.    The campaign ended in a draw with the Armistice.

5 April 1813 – Armistice.   Despite their run of victories the Spanish Army had  dispersed due to battle casualties and lack of supplies.   They accepted the cease fire in order to reorganise their field army.   It was agreed that the Spanish would concentrate at Aranjuez and the French retreat to Toledo.

12 April 1813 – Toledo Campaign.   The French advance was relentless and the Spanish could do little to delay it.   The guerrilla bands caused some problems for the lines of communication and supply, and even captured two garrisons.   But Suchet ignored his lack of supplies and attacked Moncejon.   The Spanish army was broken and retreated.

4 June 1813 – Cuidad Real Campaign.   The Spanish were deployed north of the river Guadiana, with their main supply base in Cuidad Real just south of that river.   The French advanced over a wide area to prevent the Spanish from retreating and concentrating all of their army south of the river.   The French won the first two battles, but lost the third.  The Spanish retreated south of the river.   Despite long supply lines under attack from guerrilla bands, Suchet ordered his army to attack the defended river line.  He won the fourth battle and the campaign.   Once more the Spanish army was forced to retreat.

17 July 1813 – Linares Campaign.   The French concentrated at Probete and advanced south along three roads.  They won the first three battles and occupied the town of Baylen.   As they occupied towns the Spanish militia garrison fled to the mountains and became guerrilla bands.  As the French lines of supply grew longer, they came under attack from the guerrilla.   Suchet was forced to send one of his four corps back to defeat the guerrilla and reopen his lines of supply.   Giron immediately attacked and took El Hoyo and then Baylen.   Suchet was forced to retreat to Probate and abandon his advance.   The Spanish had won the campaign.

Introduction to the Albacete Campaign

Having lost three of the five previous campaign phases, Suchet is desperate to crush the Spanish field army.   He has concentrated his army at Albacete to renew his march south.

Flushed with success following his defeat of the French during the Linares campaign Giron has deployed his army to prevent Suchet moving south through Molina.

Albacete Campaign Map

This map shows the area covered by the Albacete campaign.  Each square is 7 miles.  It shows all terrain features.   Green areas are high ground.     Yellow connect main towns and broken are local tracks.   It also shows the location of French and Spanish troops at the start of the campaign, plus supply depots.

This map is used for all campaign movement and on the campaign diary blog.

Albacete Campaign Objective

The French objective is to defeat the Spanish field army and take Molina

The Spanish objective is to take Albacete

Albacete Wargames Map

This map covers the same area as the campaign map, but actual size of hills are shown.   Each square is the same as one 2x2 foot square used on the wargames table, and shows the exact terrain feature.   The number shown in the top right of each square is the number of the scenic terrain square to be used on the table.   When a battle is declared this map is used to prepare the wargames table.

Fifth French Army

Marshal Suchet

7^th French corps

15^th Polish corps

16^th Italian corps

Reserve corps

Each corps has four infantry brigades, one cavalry brigade and corps artillery

The reserve corps has four infantry brigades and will provide depot garrisons

64000 infantry, 3000 cavalry, 90 guns

Spanish Army

General Giron

1^st Spanish corps

2^nd Spanish corps

3^rd Spanish corps

4^th Spanish corps

Spanish Irregular brigades

1^st and 2^nd Spanish corps each have four infantry brigades, one cavalry brigade and corps artillery.

3^rd and 4^th Spanish corps each have three infantry brigades and corps artillery

The nine militia brigades are the garrisons of the nine town in the campaign area

When a town is occupied by the French the garrison becomes a guerrilla group

56,000 regular infantry, 36000 militia infantry, 2000 cavalry, 120 guns

Reference

The campaign diary contains comprehensive details of the whole campaign.   The labels on the right are an index to various parts of the campaign.

01 - Introduction to the1813 campaign

02 - Five campaign areas

50 - Introduction to the campaign in Southern Spain

51 – 5^th French Army order of battle

52 - Spanish Army order of battle

53 - Daily diary for the campaign in Southern Spain

54 - Battle reports of all battles fought in Southern Spain

55 - Summary of campaign in Southern Spain