The Battle of Benavente (29 December 1808) was a cavalry clash in which the British cavalry of
Lord Paget defeated the elite ''
Chasseurs à cheval
''Chasseur'' ( , ), a French term for "hunter", is the designation given to certain regiments of French and Belgian light infantry () or light cavalry () to denote troops trained for rapid action.
History
This branch of the French Army or ...
'' of the French
Imperial Guard
An imperial guard or palace guard is a special group of troops (or a member thereof) of an empire, typically closely associated directly with the Emperor or Empress. Usually these troops embody a more elite status than other imperial forces, i ...
during the
Corunna Campaign
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the war, military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying ...
of the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spai ...
. The French chasseurs were broken and forced into the
River Esla; their commanding officer, General
Lefebvre-Desnouettes, was captured. The action was the first major incident in the British army's harrowing retreat to the coast and ultimate evacuation by sea.
Background
The
Corunna campaign
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the war, military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying ...
started with the
Battle of Cardedeu.
Sir John Moore led a British army into the heart of northwestern Spain with the aim of aiding the Spanish in their struggle against the French occupation. However,
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
had entered Spain at the head of a large army in order to retrieve French fortunes. This, together with the fall of Madrid to the French, made the position of the British army untenable. The British army had begun their retreat and were being pursued by the main French army led by Napoleon; the cavalry under
Henry, Lord Paget were performing an effective screening role to cover them. On Christmas Day the
10th Hussars
The 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army raised in 1715. It saw service for three centuries including the First World War and Second World War but then amalgamated with the 11th Hussars (Prince Al ...
had taken 100 enemy cavalrymen prisoner, and on 27 December the
18th Hussars
The 18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first formed in 1759. It saw service for two centuries, including the First World War before being amalgamated with the 13th Hussars to form the 13th/18th Royal H ...
had been attacked no less than six times, on each occasion they countercharged successfully. On the 28th the British cavalry were acting as a rearguard posted on the River Esla, to cover the army's withdrawal to
Astorga.
;Forces
The French force consisted of four squadrons of the Chasseurs à cheval of the Imperial Guard, plus a number of
Mamelukes of the Imperial Guard
The Mamelukes of the Imperial Guard () were a cavalry unit that served in Napoleon I’s Imperial Guard during the Napoleonic Wars. Originally made up of Mameluk slave soldiers, the unit eventually was mostly recruited from a wide mixture of Midd ...
.
The British forces were drawn from the brigades of
John Slade:
10th Hussars
The 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army raised in 1715. It saw service for three centuries including the First World War and Second World War but then amalgamated with the 11th Hussars (Prince Al ...
and the
18th Hussars
The 18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first formed in 1759. It saw service for two centuries, including the First World War before being amalgamated with the 13th Hussars to form the 13th/18th Royal H ...
and of
Charles Stewart (later took the surname Vane): pickets of the
7th Hussars and 3rd Hussars of the
King's German Legion
The King's German Legion (KGL; german: Des Königs Deutsche Legion, semantically erroneous obsolete German variations are , , ) was a British Army unit of mostly expatriated German personnel during the period 1803–16. The legion achieved t ...
(KGL).
Battle
Outlying pickets of the British cavalry were stationed along the western bank of the River Esla, which was swollen with rain. The bridge at Castrogonzalo had been demolished by British engineers early on the 29th, and it was not until about 9:00 in the morning that
Lefebvre-Desnouettes, a noted favourite of Napoleon, was able to ford the river with three strong squadrons of his chasseurs and a small detachment of Mamelukes. The French forced the outlying pickets of the British cavalry back onto the inlying picket commanded by
Loftus Otway (18th Hussars). Otway charged, despite heavy odds, but was driven back for 2 miles towards the town of
Benavente. In an area where their flanks were covered by walls the British, now reinforced by a troop or squadron of the 3rd Hussars KGL and commanded by Brigadier-General Stewart, counter-attacked and a confused melee ensued. The French, though temporarily driven back, had superior numbers and forced the British hussars to retreat once more, almost back to Benavente. Stewart knew he was drawing the French towards Paget and substantial numbers of British reserves.
The French had gained the upper hand in the fight and were preparing to deliver a final charge when Lord Paget made a decisive intervention. He led the
10th Hussars
The 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army raised in 1715. It saw service for three centuries including the First World War and Second World War but then amalgamated with the 11th Hussars (Prince Al ...
, with squadrons of the 18th in support, around the southern outskirts of Benavente. Paget managed to conceal his squadrons from French view until he could fall on their left flank. The British
swords
A sword is a cutting and/or thrusting weapon.
Sword, Swords, or The Sword may also refer to:
Places
* Swords, Dublin, a large suburban town in the Irish capital
* Swords, Georgia, a community in the United States
* Sword Beach, code name for t ...
, often dulled by their iron scabbards, were very sharp on this occasion. An eyewitness stated that he saw the arms of French troopers cut off cleanly "like Berlin sausages." Other French soldiers were killed by blows to the head, blows which divided the head down to the chin.
The French made a fighting withdrawal back to the river, though their squadrons were eventually broken and a running fight ensued. The chasseurs were forced into and across the river, those who were left on the western bank were either cut down or made prisoner. Lefebvre-Desnouettes' horse was injured and he could not cross the river; he was then made prisoner, either by Levi Grisdale of the 10th Hussars or Johann Bergmann of the King's German Legion hussars, opinions differed at the time. As the chasseurs swam their horses across the river the British troopers fired on them with their
carbine
A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges.
The smaller size and lighte ...
s and pistols. The French cavalry re-formed on their side of the river and opened carbine fire on the British, though they were subsequently dispersed by the fire of British horse artillery.
Aftermath
The victory gained over the elite of the French light cavalry raised the morale of the British hussars; it underlined the moral ascendancy they had achieved over the French cavalry at the earlier
Battle of Sahagún
The Battle of Sahagún (21 December 1808) was a cavalry clash at Sahagún, Spain, in which the British 15th Light Dragoons (Hussars) defeated two regiments of French cavalry during the Corunna Campaign of the Peninsular War. Losses to one o ...
. The retreat of the British army, however, continued with the
Battle of Mansilla
In the Battle of Mansilla or Battle of Mansilla de las Mulas on 30 December 1808 an Imperial French corps led by Nicolas Soult caught up with a Spanish corps commanded by Pedro Caro, 3rd Marquis of la Romana. Soult's cavalry under Jean Ba ...
and the
Battle of Cacabelos as part of the
Corunna campaign
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the war, military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying ...
. Napoleon had viewed the action from a height overlooking the river; his reactions were rather muted and he made light of the losses to, and humbling of, his "Cherished Children." That evening Lefebvre-Desnouettes, who had suffered a superficial head wound, was entertained at the table of the British commander-in-chief Sir John Moore; Moore gave him his own sword to replace the one taken when he surrendered. The French general was imprisoned in England where he eventually broke his parole, an unpardonable sin according to English public opinion, and escaped back to France, whereupon Napoleon reinstated him to his former command of the guard chasseurs. Within the social code of the time a "gentleman", when giving his parole, pledged his honour not to escape. In return for this he was not incarcerated and allowed very considerable freedoms. According to this code, when he escaped, Lefebvre-Desnouettes dishonoured himself. In addition, Napoleon became a party to the dishonour when he did not send Lefebvre-Desnouettes back to face imprisonment.
Gallery
File:An Officer of the Imperial Horse Guards Charging.jpg, An officer of the ''Chasseurs à cheval'' of the Guard by Théodore Géricault
Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault (; 26 September 1791 – 26 January 1824) was a French Painting, painter and Lithography, lithographer, whose best-known painting is ''The Raft of the Medusa''. Although he died young, he was one of the pi ...
, c.1812
File:1847 Passage de l'Esla map.jpg, Copy of an 1808 French map which shows the relative position of river Esla, Benavente and Castrogonzalo
File:Lefebvre Desnouettes.jpg, General Lefebvre-Desnouettes
File:Thomas Lawrence, Charles William (Vane-)Stewart, Later 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, 1812, oil on canvas, National Portrait Gallery, London.jpg, Brigadier General Charles Stewart
Notes
References
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External links
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{{Napoleonic Wars
Benavente
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Battle of Benavente
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December 1808 events