Battle of Tordesillas (1812)

Battle of Tordesillas (1812)
Part of the Peninsular War
Stone bridge over the Duero at Tordesillas
Date 25–29 October 1812 Location Tordesillas, Spain 41°30′N 5°0′W / 41.500°N 5.000°W / 41.500; -5.000 Result French victory
Belligerents
French Empire	United Kingdom Portugal Spain
Commanders and leaders
Joseph Souham	Arthur Wellesley José Santocildes
Strength
53,000	35,000
Casualties and losses
350 killed, wounded or captured	800 killed, wounded or captured

Peninsular War: Spain

200km
125miles

Toulouse

12

Vitoria

11

Tordesillas

10

Burgos

9

Salamanca

8

Ciudad

7

Talavera

6

Corunna

5

Tudela

4

Bailén

3

Valencia

2

Madrid

1

  

  current battle

  Wellington in command

  Wellington not in command

In the Battle of Tordesillas, Battle of Villa Muriel or Battle of Palencia between 25 and 29 October 1812, a French army led by Joseph Souham pushed back an Anglo-Portuguese-Spanish army commanded by Arthur Wellesley, Marquess Wellington. After its failed Siege of Burgos, the 35,000-man Allied army withdrew to the west, pursued by Souham's 53,000 French soldiers. On 23 October, French cavalry defeated the Allied rear guard in the Battle of Venta del Pozo. The Allies pulled back behind the Pisuerga and Carrión Rivers and took up a defensive position.

Beginning on the 25th there were clashes at Palencia and Villamuriel de Cerrato as Souham sought to turn the Allied north flank. Wellington then adopted an unorthodox defensive position, prompting Souham to pause for two days. The stalemate was broken on 29 October when a party of naked French soldiers swam the Duero River at Tordesillas with their weapons on a raft. Upon reaching the far bank, they took up their guns and routed the Brunswick defenders of a key bridge. With an intact bridge in French hands, Wellington was forced to continue his retreat toward Portugal.

Meanwhile, Wellington's subordinate Rowland Hill withdrew from Madrid. The two British commanders united their armies near Alba de Tormes on 8 November. By this time the combined French armies were led by Nicolas Soult. Though 80,000 French faced 65,000 Allies on the old Salamanca battlefield neither commander initiated a battle, whereupon Wellington began a withdrawal. After a retreat in miserable conditions during which hundreds of soldiers were captured or died of hunger and exposure, the Allied army went into winter quarters. The actions were fought during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars.