Battle of Bussaco

Infobox Military Conflict


caption=
conflict=Battle of Bussaco
partof=Peninsular War
date=September 27, 1810
place=Bussaco, near Luso, Portugal
result=Anglo-Portuguese victory
combatant1=flagicon|United Kingdom Britain
flagicon|Portugal|1707 Portugal
combatant2=flagicon|France France
commander1=flagicon|United Kingdom Viscount Wellington
commander2=André Masséna Michel Ney
strength1=25,000 British 25,000 Portuguese
strength2=65,000
casualties1=1,250 dead or wounded
casualties2=4,500 dead or wounded

The Battle of Bussaco (or Buçaco, pronounced|buˈsaku in Portuguese) (September 27, 1810) resulted in the defeat of French forces by Lord Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese army in Portugal during the Peninsular War.

Overview

Having occupied the heights of Bussaco (a 10-mile long ridge located at 40°20'40"N, 8°20'15"W) with 25,000 British and the same number of Portuguese, Wellington was attacked five times successively by 65,000 French under Marshal André Masséna. Masséna was uncertain as to the disposition and strength of the opposing forces because Wellington deployed them on the reverse slope of the ridge, where they could neither be easily seen nor easily softened up with artillery. The actual assaults were delivered by the corps of Marshal Michel Ney and Major-General Jean Reynier, but after much fierce fighting they failed to dislodge the allied forces and were driven off with a loss of 4,500 killed or wounded, as against Anglo-Portuguese losses of about 1,250.

Organization

Wellington had six British infantry divisions, the Light (Robert Craufurd), 1st (Brent Spencer), 2nd (Rowland Hill), 3rd (Thomas Picton), 4th (Lowry Cole) and 5th (James Leith). The latter three divisions each had a Portuguese brigade attached. In addition, there were several all-Portuguese units, a two-brigade infantry division under John Hamilton, and three independent brigades led by Denis Pack, Alexander Campbell and John Coleman. George DeGrey, John Slade, George Anson and Henry Fane led four British cavalry brigades, plus four regiments of Portuguese cavalry. In batteries of six guns apiece, there were six British (Ross RHA, Bull RHA, Thompson, Lawson, two unknown), two King's German Legion (Rettberg, Cleeves) and five Portuguese (Rozierres, Da Cunha Preto, Da Silva, Freira, Sousa) batteries under Edward Howorth. This was the first major battle of the Peninsular War in which units of the reconstituted Portuguese Army fought, and it served as a great morale boost to the inexperienced troops.

Masséna's army included the II Corps under Reynier, the VI Corps led by Ney, the VIII Corps under Maj-Gen Jean Andoche Junot and a cavalry reserve led by Maj-Gen Louis Pierre, Count Montbrun. The divisions of Pierre Merle and Etienne Heudelet made up Reynier's corps. Ney's corps had three divisions under Jean Marchand, Julien Mermet and Louis Loison. Junot had the divisions of Bertrand Clausel and Jean-Baptiste Solignac. Each French corps contained the standard brigade of light cavalry. Jean Baptiste Eblé, Masséna's artillery chief, commanded 112 guns.

Plans

Wellington posted his army along the crest of Bussaco Ridge, facing east. To improve his lateral communications, he had his engineers cut a road that ran the length of the ridge. Cole held the left (north) flank. Next came Craufurd, Spencer, Picton and Leith. Hill held the right (south) flank with Hamilton's men attached.

Masséna, goaded by Ney and other officers to attack the British position rather than go around it, ordered a reconnaissance of the steep ridge. He planned to send Reynier at the centre of the ridge, which he believed to be the British right flank. Once the II Corps attack showed some signs of success, Masséna would launch Ney's corps at the British along the main road. The VIII Corps stood behind the VI Corps in reserve. While Ney announced that he was ready to attack and conquer, Reynier suddenly had second thoughts, predicting his attack would be beaten.

Battle

Reynier's troops struck in the early morning mist. Heudelet sent his leading brigade straight up the slope in a formation one company wide and eight battalions deep. When the leading regiment reached the top of the ridge, they found themselves facing one British and two Portuguese battalions in line, plus 12 cannon. The French tried to change formation from column into a line. Pelet says, "The column began to deploy as if at an exercise." But the Allies brought intense musketry to bear. Soon, the French infantrymen were thrown into confusion. However, they clung to a precarious toehold on the ridge.

Several hundred yards to the north, Merle's division thrust up the ridge in a similar formation. Picton hurriedly massed his defenders by utilizing the ridgetop road. Met at the crest by two British and two Portuguese battalions in a concave line, the French tried unsuccessfully to deploy into line. Crushed by converging fire, the French fled down the slope. Merle was wounded while his brigade commander Jean Graindorge fell mortally wounded.

Seeing Heudelet's second brigade standing immobile at the foot of the ridge, Reynier rode up to Maximilien Foy and demanded an immediate attack. With the Allies out of position after defeating the first two attacks, Foy hit a weak spot in their defences. Fortuitously, the French struck the least prepared unit in the Allied army—a Portuguese militia unit—and routed it. But the morning mist cleared, revealing no enemies in front of the British right flank. Wellington had already ordered Leith to shift his men to the north to assist Picton. Before Foy's men could consolidate their gain, they were attacked by two of Leith's battalions and some of Picton's men. The French were swept off the ridge and their brigade commander wounded. After seeing this rout, Heudelet's other brigade withdrew to the base of the ridge.

Hearing gunfire, Ney assumed Reynier's men were enjoying success and ordered an attack. In this sector, the main highway climbed a long spur past the hamlets of Moura and Sula to reach the crest at the Convent of Bussaco. Against a very heavy British skirmish line, Loison's division fought its way forward. Near the crest, 1,800 men of the 1/43rd and 1/52nd Light Infantry battalions lay down waiting. As Loison's leading brigade approached the convent grounds, the two British units stood up, fired a terrific volley at point blank range and charged with the bayonet. The French brigade collapsed and fled leaving Edouard Simon, their commander, wounded and captured.

A short time later and slightly further south, Loison's second brigade ran into a close-range fire from two batteries plus Anglo-Portuguese musketry. This unit was also routed. A final thrust by one of Marchand's brigades met defeat when it ran into Pack's Portuguese brigade. The two sides occupied the rest of the day in vigorous skirmishing, but the French did not try to attack in force again.

Sequel

Masséna then moved off to the right to flank the position, and Wellington resumed the retreat of his army into the previously fortified Lines of Torres Vedras. He reached these by October 10. Finding them too strong to attack, Masséna withdrew into winter quarters. Deprived of food for his men and harried by British hit-and-run tactics, he lost a further 25,000 men captured or dead from starvation or sickness before he retreated into Spain early in 1811, freeing Portugal from French occupation except for Almeida, near the frontier. During the retreat, the Battle of Sabugal was fought.

References

*Chartrand, Rene "Bussaco 1810: Wellington defeats Napoleon's Marshals" Osprey Publishing, 2001, ISBN 1841763101.
*Glover, Michael "Wellington's Peninsular Victories" Macmillan, 1971, ISBN 0330027891.
*Horward, Donald (ed.). Pelet, Jean Jacques, "The French Campaign in Portugal, 1810-1811" Univ. of Minnesota Press, 1973.
*Zimmermann, Dick, "The Battle of Bussaco," Wargamer's Digest, Dec. 1978.