Summary of Southern Spain Campaign

 

Regional areas of Southern Spain

There are three regions in Southern Spain

But unlike Germany, the French do not have a secure rear area

All of Spain is in revolt against the French, who only control the area they occupy

Fifth French army are in Madrid (off map top centre)

This is also their main depot

The Spanish army is in Toledo

Their main depot is in Seville

French Strategy in Spain

King Joseph is the commander in chief of all French troops in Spain.

However he commands no respect from either his army commanders

Both Soult and Suchet are determined to remain independent commanders

Suchet wants to invade southern Spain and become King of Andalusia

Soult wants to defeat Wellington and become King of Portugal

All three agree that Soult will drive Wellington out of Spain

Suchet will invade Andalusia and take Seville

He will then detach two of his four corps to support Soult

Soult will invade Portugal and drive Wellington out of the Peninsula

 

Anglo-Spanish Strategy in Spain

Wellington is the commander in chief of all allied troops in the Peninsula

However all Spanish generals deeply resent this appointment

Giron is determined to take Madrid and become the hero of Spain

 

Wellington is well aware that he cannot rely on his Spanish generals

To defeat the French he must first take Madrid

To do so the Spanish army must hold southern Spain to pin Suchet

Most importantly the Spanish must avoid a comprehensive defeat

This would allow both French armies to concentrate against Wellington

         

Diary of North Spain Campaign

The French Grand Army was destroyed during the 1812 Russian campaign

Napoleon had to create a new army to fight the 1813 campaign

 

1 January 1813 - Austria, Britain, Prussia and Russia declared war on France

 

10 January 1813 - The Russian army concentrated in the Dresden region

1 February 1813 - Napoleon ordered the transfer of 50% of the veteran troops in Spain to north Germany.  There they would form the cadres of the newly created Grande Armee of Germany.   These troops would be replaced by an equal number of conscripts to maintain the number of troops serving in Spain.

4 February 1813 - Spanish army in Saville Region

 

20 February 1813 -  Anglo/Portguese army in Oporto Region

 

28 February 1813 - Fourth French army operational in Burgos Region

 

3 March 1813 - Fifth French army operational in Madrid Regi

 

9 March 1813 – Start of Toledo campaign phase

Toledo Campaign – 9 to 13 March 1813

 Suchet won two of the four battles, but lost the two important ones.

 

He won the first two, but needed the third to establish a base for the invasion of Andalusia.   The Spanish victory at Bargas forced 7^th corps to retreat to Madrid.

The failure to take Bargas left just one French corps against four Spanish corps.

 

Suchet was forced to abandon his invasion and concede the victory to Giron.

The campaign started on 14 August 2020 and ended on 31 August 2020

 

This unusual result was largely due to my setting up the initial deployments wrong.   I should have started the campaign with the French in the three northern towns.   The campaign would then have been fought for the three centre towns.  This would allow both armies space to retreat, rally and regroup if necessary

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