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Marshal Suchet and the Siege of Valencia
By Dominique Contant,
Robert Ouvrard, and Jonathan
Cooper
Report of Marshal Suchet to Prince Berthier, Major General, on the
Taking of the Entrenched Camp at Valencia
From the camp before Valencia, 8th January 1812
Monseigneur,
I had omitted from my report of 29 December to give an account to Your
Supreme Highness of the sortie that the enemy had attempted on the night
of the 28th to 29th. (8) Blake,
with twelve thousand men, had endeavored to pierce our lines ; but the
elite companies of the First regiment of the Vistula vigorously repulsed
them, and nearly all of this column was driven back into the city over
the upstream bridge : profiting by the darkness of the night, barely
two or three hundred men were able to gain the mountains ; more than
400 were killed or were drowned in the canals. At this time, many deserters
are coming over to us : in four days we have received nearly five hundred.
From the 30th to the 31st, the forward posts of Sèveroli's division
lay very close to the city. Then the Spaniards made a sortie with two
thousand men and two guns ; but a battalion of the First of the Italian
Line advanced against them under canister fire, routed them and forced
them to re-enter the city. Majors Ponti-Provasi, aide-de-camp to the
Italian Minister of War, and Bouilli, aide-de-camp to General Severoli,
distinguished themselves : the latter was wounded in the leg by grapeshot.
On 29 December our advanced guard entered Saint-Philippe, where they
took one million cartridges and a great store of rice. I had Alcira,
on the Xucar, fortified; it is a very advantageous position for the
current operation. The inhabitants of this town, who number fifteen
thousand souls, came out to greet us and behaved well. The troops of
Blake's army who escaped from the affair of 26 December attempt to reform
between Alicante and Alcoy.
During the night of 1st to 2nd January, the trenches were opened by
three thousand men, to within eighty fathoms(9) of
the works at Saint-Vincent and Olivette. General Count Pannetier, arriving at our camp the same day, together
with his brigade, was placed in command of the trenches by seniority.
The work was vigorously undertaken, and the results would have been
all very fortunate if Colonel of Engineers Henri had not been mortally
wounded : the army shall miss this excellent officer; over the course
of two years, he has commanded the assault at seven different sieges,
where he has displayed equal amounts of bravery and skill. Despite the
fire maintained by the enemy, our labors were continued all day and
through the night until 5 in the morning ; by then the artillery had
managed to erect five batteries and to arm two lying sixty fathoms(10)
from the [enemy] works, while the engineers' trenches reached within
fifteen fathoms(11)
of the fosse.
The rapid advance of these works, [and] the astonishing desertion which
the enemy experienced, induced them to abandon their fortified camp.
They covered this movement with a murderous fire. With the break of
the day, Colonel Beloti, commander of the assault trenches before Olivette,
had three hundred grenadiers scale the fosse of the fort, where they
seized twenty pieces of artillery. At the same time, General Montmarie Soon after, General Palombini attacked the
suburb of Quarte as well, which he captured. I was not long in convincing
myself of the importance of the vast works which the enemy had given
up to us, together with eighty-one guns. Wishing to benefit from the
disorder which such an event entails in so large a city, I ordered the
bombardment [of the city proper] to begin, which was continued through
the night.
At 6 in the morning, I thought that Blake's retreat into the city,
with an army which had just abandoned such strong works, armed with
eighty guns, and the terrible effects of bombardment upon a large population,
would make the General amenable to a capitulation. I ordered Colonel
Meyer, my senior aide-de-camp, to bring to him my proposals, and to
explain to him the hope I held to spare the great city from ruin but
Colonel Meyer could not enter the city nor meet General Blake. Today,
at mid-day, I have received the General's response, by which he has
made known to me his lack of authority, or his submission to the instructions
of the junta and the monks.
I thus see myself constrained to vigorously continue my operations
against the place, where so many victims of fanaticism are collected.
The engineers open their works before the walls [of the city], the
artillery raises formidable batteries, and, in spite of dreadful rains
which make communications to some extent impracticable, they will be
in a position to make a breach in the final enceinte in a few days.
The army awaits the assault with ardor, and if we have, as at Saragossa,
a house-to-house battle, I will try to make it short by integrating
our operations and the capability of our miners. But, before being reduced
to this extremity, I still hope to be able to save a flourishing and
populated city the ultimate horrors of war. I address to Your Supreme
Highness the plans of the works taken, my letter to General Blake with
his answer, and a listing of the artillery that has fallen into our
control.
I am with respect, etc.
Signed: Marshal Count Suchet
Notes:
(8) See Blake's report
on the attempted sortie via the Saint-Joesph Gate
(9) 170 English yards
or 155 meters
(10) 128 English
yards or 117 meters
(11) 32
English yards or 29 meters
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