Siege of Almeida (1811)

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Siege of Almeida 1811


caption=
partof=Peninsular War
date=April 14 to May 10, 1811
place=Almeida, Portugal
result=Drawn battle
combatant1=flagicon|France French Empire
combatant2=flagicon|United Kingdom United Kingdom,
flagicon|Portugal|1707 Portugal
commander1=Brig-Gen Antoine Brennier
commander2=Maj-Gen William Erskine
Maj-Gen Alexander Campbell
strength1=1,400
strength2=13,000
casualties1=360 captured
casualties2=35 casualtiesThe Siege of Almeida (April 14 - May 10, 1811) took place during the Peninsular War portion of the Napoleonic Wars. After a month-long blockade, the French garrison under Brigadier-General Antoine Brennier escaped, leaving the fortress in British hands.

Almeida is located in eastern Portugal, near the border with Spain. The town had been captured from a Portuguese garrison after an earlier Siege of Almeida in 1810.

After Marshal André Masséna's retreat from Portugal, the French installed a garrison of 1,400 men under Brig-Gen Antoine Brennier in the fortress. These troops were blockaded in the town by forces under Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Since the Anglo-Portuguese army had no heavy guns to reduce the walls, they were forced to starve the garrison out. Because of this, this operation was technically a blockade rather than a siege.

From May 3 to May 5, 1811, Masséna failed to relieve Almeida in the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro. During this time, the blockade was maintained by William Erskine's 5th and Alexander Campbell's 6th Divisions, plus Count Barbacena's 300-man Portuguese cavalry brigade.

With great skill, Brennier slipped his men through the Anglo-Portuguese lines on the night of May 10-11. The fortifications were rigged with explosives and blew up after the French cleared out. During the night, 360 Frenchmen were captured. But the rest escaped when the French 31st Light Infantry Regiment from Maj-Gen Jean Reynier's II Corps ambushed the pursuing British 36th Foot Regiment, inflicting 35 casualties. A furious Wellington later wrote, "They had about 13,000 to watch 1,400. There they were all sleeping in their spurs even; but the French got off. I begin to be of the opinion that there is nothing on earth so stupid as a gallant officer." [Glover, p 156]

References

* Glover, Michael. "The Peninsular War 1807-1814." London: Penguin, 2001. ISBN 0-141-39041-7
* Smith, Digby, "The Napoleonic Wars Data Book." London: Greenhill, 1998. ISBN 1-85367-276-9
* Weller, Jac, "Wellington in the Peninsula." London: Nicolas Vane, 1962.
* Zimmermann, Dick, "The Battle of Fuentes de Onoro," Wargamer's Digest magazine, March 1979.

Footnotes