Battle of Alcañiz

The Battle of Alcañiz resulted in the defeat of Major-General Louis Gabriel Suchet's French army on 23 May 1809 by a Spanish force under General Joaquín Blake y Joyes.

Battle of Alcañiz
Part of the Peninsular War
Battle of Alcañiz (Spain)
Date23 May 1809
Location
Alcañiz, west of Teruel, Spain
Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
French Empire Kingdom of Spain
Commanders and leaders
Louis Gabriel Suchet Joaquín Blake y Joyes
Strength
10,000 infantry,
800 cavalry		 8,500 infantry,
500 cavalry
Casualties and losses
800 dead or wounded 300 dead or wounded

The victory is credited to General Martín García-Loygorri's superb command of the Spanish artillery, which allowed the French columns to close and then mauled them with well-directed salvos. Loygorri was later promoted to Field Marshal and became the first artillery officer ever to receive the Laureate Cross of Saint Ferdinand.

Forces
Spanish General Joaquín Blake y Joyes.

General of Division Suchet's III Corps included 7,292 men in two infantry divisions, 18 cannon and 526 cavalrymen. The 1st Division, under General of Division Anne-Gilbert Laval, had two battalions each of the 14th Line and the 3rd Legion of the Vistula (Poles). General of Division Louis François Félix Musnier's 2nd Division was made up of three battalions each of the 114th and 115th Line, two battalions of the 1st Legion of the Vistula, and one battalion of the 121st Line. Suchet also had a bodyguard of 450 infantrymen. The 4th Hussars and 13th Cuirassier Regiments formed the cavalry.

Lieutenant General Blake formed his men into three wings, which were roughly equivalent to divisions. General Areizaga commanded the Left Wing (five battalions, plus one company), General Marquis de Lazan (five and one-half battalions) led the Center and General Roca managed the Right Wing (seven battalions). In addition to the 8,101 foot soldiers, the Spanish army had 445 cavalrymen and 19 cannons.[1]

Results

Suchet lost over 800 men killed and wounded, while Spanish casualties numbered only about 300.[1] The Spanish victory caused Suchet to evacuate most of Aragon. Blake secured 25,000 new recruits, so many that he could not provide them all with weapons. Suchet avenged his defeat at the Battle of María in June.

Footnotes
  1. Smith, p 311

References
  • Smith, Digby. The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill, 1998. ISBN 1-85367-276-9
  • Sir William Francis Patrick Napier (1839). History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France: From the Year 1807 to the Year 1814. Meline, Cans and Company and for G. Pratt. pp. 383–.<
  • Charles Esdaile (14 June 2003). The Peninsular War: A New History. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 187–. ISBN 978-1-4039-6231-7.

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