Battle of Montserrat

In the Battle of Montserrat (29 July 1811) a force of Spanish irregulars led by Joaquín Ibáñez, Baron de Eroles defended Montserrat Mountain against two Imperial French divisions under the command of Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet. The minor action occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle was fought near the Santa Maria de Montserrat Monastery, which is located on the mountain 36 kilometres (22 mi) northwest of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Battle of Montserrat
Part of Peninsular War

Montserrat as seen from Manresa
Date25 July 1811
Location
Montserrat, Catalonia, Spain
Result French victory
Belligerents
First French Empire Kingdom of Spain
Commanders and leaders
Marshal Suchet Baron de Eroles
Units involved
Army of Aragon Army of Catalonia
Strength
10,000+ 1,500, 10 guns
Casualties and losses
200 400, 10 guns

Suchet's successful Siege of Tarragona wiped out the bulk of the Spanish regular forces in northeast Spain. After the siege, the newly promoted marshal took the divisions of Louis François Félix Musnier and Bernard-Georges-François Frère to clear the Catalan militia or miquelets away from the Lleida–Barcelona road. Overlooking the road, the guerrilla base of Montserrat had defied the French after three years of war. Suchet sent the soldiers of Louis Jean Nicolas Abbé's brigade scrambling up one mountain track while his remaining troops watched other possible escape routes. The French overran the guerrilla base and seized its artillery but most of the Spanish irregulars evaded capture. Suchet installed an Italian garrison on the mountain, but after the capture of Cervera in mid-October by Luis Roberto de Lacy's Spanish forces, the Imperial troops were withdrawn.

Background

On 15 July 1811, Marshal Suchet reported 43,783 troops present for duty in the Army of Aragon. Including the men sick or on detached service, the total was 51,088. Commanding the five infantry divisions, one infantry brigade, and one cavalry brigade were Generals of Division Musnier, Frère, Jean Isidore Harispe, Pierre-Joseph Habert, Luigi Gaspare Peyri, Claude Antoine Compère, and General of Brigade André Joseph Boussart.[1]

Notes
  1. Oman (1996), 640-641

References
  • Oman, Charles (1996). A History of the Peninsular War Volume IV. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole. ISBN 1-85367-224-6.

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