.

1808-14.
 

Having failed to invade Britain, Napoleon tried to starve it into submission and he issued decrees which forbade any European nation to trade with us.  However Portugal, Britain’s oldest ally, refused to comply and so Napoleon invaded in November 1807.  In the following spring he also invaded Spain, and both countries appealed to Britain for help, so in August 1808 a force of 14,500 troops under Sir Arthur Wellesley[1] landed and proceeded to drive the French out of Portugal.  With the Portuguese liberated, Wellesley was ordered home and handed over to Sir John Moore.  Moore was ordered to advance into Spain and this provoked Napoleon to send an army of 200,000 against him.  This forced Moore to retreat with his army across the mountains in the depth of winter to the port of Corunna where the army was evacuated.

 

This first expedition contained only two battalions of Grenadiers in the 1^st Guards Brigade, but Britain soon sent another expeditionary force in May 1809, and this time the 2^nd Guards Brigade, comprising of the 1^st Battalion and the 1^st Bn Third Guards, was included in the order of battle.

 

The Peninsular campaign was a series of battles and encounters over the next five years, in many of which the Coldstream played an active part.

 

Crossing of the Duoro 12th May, 1809.  Wellesley ordered the 1^st Division to cross the River Duoro, and the Guards Brigade was in the forefront of this bold attack which led to the capture of the Portuguese city of Oporto.  The French were pursued out of the town causing Marshal Soult to loose much of his baggage train and artillery, and many men.

 

Talavera 28th July, 1809.  After the victory at Oporto, Wellesley moved south towards Madrid.  However, he now had to co-operate with the Spanish army, but due to their incompetence this was far from easy, and this led to a battle being fought at Talavera.  A counter-attack by the Coldstream against French columns was so successful that they advanced too far and found themselves cut off and attacked by artillery from the flank.  Wellesley sent the 48^th Foot[2] to their assistance and this gave the Guards time to rally and advance with the 48^th Foot, which proved to be the decisive moment of the battle.

 

Wellesley now retreated back into Portugal where he remained in defensive positions until he felt strong enough to resume the attack.  Two companies of the 2^nd Battalion joined the campaign in March 1810 when it arrived as part of a Composite Guards Brigade consisting of detachments from all three regiments.  However this Brigade was sent to reinforce the garrison of Cadiz and remained there for much of the next two and a half years.  However, they did have their moment of glory.

 

Barrosa 5th March, 1811.  In 1811, the Guards Composite Brigade was withdrawn with other parts of the garrison in a bold move to attack Cadiz.  They were sent by sea to Tarifa, west of Gibraltar, where they were to march to Cadiz and attack the French from the rear.  However, due once again to Spanish incompetence, the rearguard was attacked by 9,000 French near the village of Barrosa.  Despite being only 5,000 strong, they launched a bold counter-attack and took the French on in vicious close-quarter fighting and finally drove them off.

 

Fuentes d’Onor 3^rd-5^th May, 1811.  This was a fierce engagement fought over two days on the Portuguese border in which the 1^st Battalion was fully engaged. In 1812, Napoleon withdrew many of his troops in Spain for his attack on Russia, so consequently Wellington[3] saw this as an opportunity to go onto the offensive.

 

The 1^st Battalion took part in the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo which fell in February 1812, and then in the siege of Badajoz which fell on 6^th April. 

 

Salamanca 22^nd July, 1812.  The light companies of the Guards Brigade occupied the village of Los Arapiles during the battle of Salamanca and fought off repeated French attacks.  Wellington later heaped much praise upon their performance on this occasion when the British Army ‘defeated 40,000 Frenchmen in 40 minutes’.

 

From Salamanca, Wellington went on to liberate Madrid in August, which forced the French to lift their two-and-a-half year siege of Cadiz.  The 2^nd Battalion detachment, along with the rest of the Cadiz garrison marched north and covered 400 miles in 19 days.  However they reached the rest of the army on 18^th October, just in time to return to Portugal for the winter!

 

The 1^st Bn First Guards arrived at Corunna in the October, and with five Guards Battalions now in the Peninsular, Wellington formed two Guards Brigades, both in the 1^st Division.

 

With Napoleon’s disastrous losses in Moscow, Wellington decided that the spring of 1813 offered the opportunity to drive the French out of Spain once and for all.  He set off from Portugal on 22^nd May, 1813, and by the end of the year he had advanced over 500 miles, crossed the Pyrenees, and established his army deep inside French territory.

 

The 1^st Battalion and the Composite Battalion took part in many actions up to the conclusion of hostilities.  Both took part in the battle of Vittoria on 21^st June, but were to suffer heavy loss when 54 Coldstream volunteers formed part of the storming party at San Sebastian on 21^st August.  They suffered fifty per cent casualties.

 

Both Guards Brigades took part in a series of river crossings in the Pyrenees, namely Bidassoa on 7^th October, Nivelle on 10^th November and Nive on 9^th December 1813.  The advance continued into 1814, and the 2^nd Battalion detachment distinguished itself at the Crossing of the Ardour on 23^rd February, 1814.  Here the two Coldstream companies, with six from the Third Guards, held a small bridgehead against repeated French attacks.

 

Napoleon abdicated on 5^th April, 1814, and was exiled to the island of Elba.  However this news did not reach either Wellington or the French commanders until a week later, in which time an unnecessary battle had been fought at Toulouse.  The Guards were not present at this battle, but they suffered heavily in the final act of the war. 

 

The French town of Bayonne was besieged but, despite being aware of Napoleon’s abdication, the Commander refused to believe it and he launched a Sortie from Bayonne on 14^th April, 1814.  At 0300hrs a force of 6,000 men broke out of the citadel and headed northwards.  Complete surprise was achieved and the full brunt of the attack fell on the two Guards Brigades.  Fierce, confused fighting took place throughout the night, and although the attack was defeated by dawn, the cost was high; the Coldstream lost 32 killed and 127 wounded.

 

In July 1814, the 1^st Battalion returned home after six years active service in the Peninsular War.

back to top

©Website and Customised Images copyright, designed and maintained by A.J Brady