Marshal Suchet and the Siege of Valencia

By Dominique Contant, Robert Ouvrard, and Jonathan Cooper

Letter of Marshal Suchet to Prince Berthier, Major General.  

From the camp before Valencia, 29th December 1811. (1)

Monseigneur,

The moment that a part of General Reille's (2) Corps arrived at Segorbe on the 24th, I went there to review the troops, and, by a forced march of thirty hours, I had them arrive on the banks of the Guadalaviar on morning of the 26th. During the night of the 25th to 26th, two trestle-bridges (3) had been built over the river by the engineers, while a bridge of boats (4) had been thrown across by the artillery in only an hour.

At eight in the morning, Harispe's division, Robert's brigade and the cavalry were with me across the river, without having met any strong resistance. I aimed to cut off from Blake's army the forces of Frere and of Bassecourt, which lay toward Requena, to entirely overwhelm the enemy on the main road to Murcia, and to capture the fortified camps which they had at Maniss's and Quarte. As soon as the troops of General Reille had started to cross the river, General Harispe moved upon Torriente which is covered by a deep and difficult ravine, in front of which the enemy cavalry were assembled. Sixty of our hussars being too far advanced, they were chased back by a thousand enemy horse and General Boussard was gravely wounded (5) : his aide-de-camp Robert perished while trying to help him; but quickly the Fourth Hussars and the Thirteenth Cuirassiers put this cavalry to flight, and delivered their General, who was a prisoner.

Since the Spanish troops had not left their fortified camps, I ordered General Musnier to approach Maniss�s. I then heard the fire of Palombini's division which had remained on the left bank, and which I had charged with attacking Mislata by forcing a passage of the river under the protection of six large caliber guns. This movement, which was to be only secondary, gave way to a very hot action, in which the valor of the Italians was keenly displayed. General Balathier, on foot and at the head of the Second Light and Fourth of the Line, crossed the river on a dam despite the enemy's murderous fire of grapeshot and musketry; he crossed several canals, and firmly persevered against much larger forces. At the same time, General Palombini had his Second Brigade, composed of the Fifth and Sixth of the Line, cross the river at a ford; these troops encountered sharp resistance, but the valor of the soldiers and officers triumphed over all the efforts of the enemy to hurl them back into the river. During this action Colonel of Engineers Henri erected a bridge and fieldworks to cover it. The combat was prolonged and obstinate in front of this division, supported by the Napoleon Dragoons who, in spite of the difficulty of the ground, made several fortunate charges, while General Robert, at the head of the One-hundred Fourteenth of the Line and the First of the Vistula, threw himself on the entrenchments at Maniss's and Quarte and seized them. At the same time, my aides-de-camp Meyer, Richard, Antoine, and the staff officers Visconti and d'H�ronville, with fifty lancers of my escort, captured five limbered canons, and General Reille, at the head of S�v�roli's division and Bourke's brigade, forced marched to block the enemy's retreat by way of Aldaya. The hussars of the Ninth regiment took one hundred prisoners, and General Reille, having united with General Palombini, caused the retirement of the Spaniards upon Valencia.

At midday, General Habert, after shelling the enemy fortifications and driving off with this fire the English boats which criss-crossed the mouth of Guadalaviar, had one hundred Neapolitan light horse, each one having a light infantryman doubled up on his horse, cross to the right bank of the river, and soon passed the river himself with three thousand men, he seized the lazarette, took five enemy guns, and dispersed three hundred peasants with his cavalry. The English maintained a cannonade for more than three hours with two ships-of-the-line, two frigates and several gunboats against sixteen pieces of our artillery, erected in part on the mole at Grao.

As soon as these movements were completed, General Harispe moved out from Torriente. At Cartorroja on the road to Murcia, and before nightfall, all our divisions, by a spontaneous movement, enveloped the place so as to force the enemy to throw themselves into their vast fortified camp.

In these operations, the enemy lost five hundred men killed and five hundred prisoners, one flag, fourteen guns and sixteen caissons. A part of their forces which could have escaped by the road to Murcia was driven into the marshes of Albufera. (6)

Our losses were most notably borne by General Palombini's division; it had eight officers and forty-one soldiers killed; twenty-six officers and three hundred twenty-nine soldiers wounded. Among the men killed were the brave Colonel Barbieri of the Second Light, sorely to be missed, and Captain of Engineers Ordinaire, (7)  and among the wounded Colonels Saint-Andr� and Peyre. Our total losses amounted to five hundred twenty-one men, as per the attached report.

Due to our crossing of the Guadalaviar, the forces of Freyre and Bassecourt, which were at Requena, found themselves cut off from the main army, and I presume that they will be pursued by the troops which the Emperor sent via Cuenca in La Mancha. Blake, contained in Valencia, will undoubtedly make great efforts to escape, but we will also make some to stop him.

I have the honor to send to Your Serene Highness the plans of the fortified camp that must be taken before coming at the walls of the city, and a sketch of the works which were taken during the operations on the 26th.

General of Cavalry Delort, who I had sent with five hundred light infantrymen and one thousand horse in pursuit of the enemy, arrived on the evening of the 27th at Alcira, on the Xucar. Generals Mahy and Obispo, who were there with three or four thousand soldiers, fled precipitously during that night, having struck down the bridges, abandoning ten guns. The local inhabitants hastened to restore the passage and received our troops eagerly. Villa-Campa, who occupied Cullera with fifteen hundred men, fled upon the approach of three hundred horse led by Colonel Christophe.

The area is more secure now than on the 26th, and, during the night of 1st to 2nd January, I hope to open the trenchworks. The army has but one desire, that to give, with the renewal of the year, new evidence of devotion and love for the Emperor.

I am, with respect, etc.

signed: MARSHAL COUNT SUCHET.

P. S. I estimate that the troops of General Palombini will return to camp on 1 January.

Notes:

(1) When Suchet wrote this report, he had been preparing his assault on Valencia for two months, awaiting only his reinforcements. In all of these documents, one may the high quality of expression in Suchet's writing.

(2) Reille had arrived at Teruel on 14 December. For some days, his advance had been slowed by the movements of Freyre and the Marquis of Montijo. The arrival of Darmagnac's division allowed Reille to join Suchet. Together with Severoli's division, also detached from Navarre, these troops formed a Reserve Corps of 22 battalions and 6 squadrons, with 40 guns and totaling some 14.000 men.

(3) The troops crossed on the trestle bridges constructed by the Captain of Engineers Dupau.

(4) The bridge of boats was used for the passage of the artillery.

(5) He received on this day 5 lance wounds and 3 saber cuts, from which he never completely recovered. He died of exhaustion and the effects of his wounds on 10 August 1813, at Bagnère-de-Bigorre. His dying words, to his brother, were, " Ah, my dear Isaac, would that the Emperor know that I have only one regret as I die : that I will not have the chance to do more in his service and for my country."

(6) Suchet refers to Generals Mahy and Obispo, as well as Villa-Campa, who thus escaped with their divisions.

(7) Captain Ordinaire died while directing the construction work for the trestle bridge, under enemy fire, between Quatre and Mislata.