BADAJOZ,
16
March - 6 April 1812 With Ciudad Rodrigo
in his hands Wellington moved south to lay siege once more to Badajoz, by
far the strongest French-held fortress on the Portuguese border. Once
again Wellington deceived the French by leaving a thin screen of cavalry
behind which his main army was able to march south without being detected.
Badajoz, capital of
Estremadura, was a much more formidable proposition than Rodrigo and had
been besieged twice before by the British, in May and June 1811. This time
Wellington hoped it would be a case of `third time lucky.' Its
fortifications formed an enclosure of nine bastions connected by walls of
between 20 to 46 feet high with a castle that acted as citadel. The town
was also covered by several outworks; the Fort San Christobal, the lunette
Werle and the Tete du Pont, all on the right bank of the Guadiana and
linked to the town by a Roman bridge. On the left bank were the lunettes
Picurina, Pardaleras and San Roque, all strong outworks covering the
southern approaches to the town. Inside the town the French garrison
consisted of around 5,000 men all ranks, including a detachment of the
crack German Hesse d'Armstadt Regiment. Commanding these troops was the
governor of the town, Armand Phillipon, who was to prove a brave and
resourceful adversary.
Wellington decided
to attack Badajoz by breaching its walls on the southern side at the Santa
Maria and Trinidad bastions and on March 16th 1812 3,000 British troops
broke ground about a thousand yards from Fort Picurina. The weather was
atrocious with high winds and cold, heavy rain and for the first week or
so the weather was as bad as any of the men digging could remember. In
spite of this the digging, loathed by the ordinary soldier as `navvy's
work', pushed on briskly. So quick was the progress that a sortie was made
on March 19th by the French who captured many valuable entrenching tools
as well as doing much damage to the works.
Each day saw the
unmasking of a new battery but the French themselves were not idle,
constructing all manner of defensive works to make the forthcoming assault
all the more dangerous. One of the most effective works constructed by the
French was a dam constructed at the lunette San Roque. This dam across the
Rivellas had created a false lake or inundation in front of the British
trenches and meant that their attack would have to be made across the
front of the French guns. This would cramp them in their approach and was
something which was to cause the stormers many problems. Attempts were
made to blow it up but none were successful. On the night of March 25th,
500 men of the 3rd and Light Divisions stormed the Fort Picurina and next
morning work got underway constructing batteries inside it.
With two French
armies marching to relieve Badajoz the taking of the place became a time
problem for Wellington. He knew that it would take a while for
satisfactory breaches to be made but was aware that to wait too long might
force him into fighting a covering action similar to that fought by
Beresford the year before at Albuera.
Throughout the rest
of March and until April 5th the British guns blasted away at to breach
the Santa Maria and Trinidad bastions. They were reported practicable at
sunset on the 5th but even as he inspected them through his telescope
Wellington was informed that approaching French armies were just a few
days away. He knew that to take the fortress by storm would cost him
hundreds of casualties but as time was running out he gave orders that
Badajoz was to be stormed that night.
The British troops
duly prepared for the assault they believed would be made that night but
shortly before the appointed hour a group of officers arrived in camp with
a report that Wellington had postponed the assault until after dark the
next night, the 6th. In the meantime a third breach would be made in the
curtain wall between the two existing breaches. This delay has often been
cited as one of the reasons behind the high casualty figure sustained by
the British during the assault because Phillipon took the opportunity to
shore up the defences and turn the breaches into death traps. The French
had dug a ditch in which Wellington had hoped to form his men but the
defenders, unseen, now filled it with water and this was to cause the
stormers a great deal of trouble. Also, all the accessible places had been
blocked with savage chevaux-de-frise, made from razor sharp sword blades.
Fascines, woolpacks and sandbags replaced fallen ramparts and the slopes
of the breaches were covered with planks of wood, studded with twelve-inch
spikes and chained to the ground. Barrels of gunpowder were placed ready
to be rolled down into the ditch to exploded amongst the British and all
sorts of shells and explosives were laid along the ramparts ready for use.
Wellington timed the
assault to begin shortly before 10 o'clock at night. Picton's 3rd Division
was to cross the Rivellas and take the castle by escalade; the 4th
Division, under Colville, was to storm the breach in the Trinidad bastion;
the Light Division was to storm the Santa Maria bastion and finally,
Leith's 5th Division was to take Fort Pardaleras and continue on to storm
the San Vincente bastion by escalade. A detachment under Major Wilson of
the 48th, meanwhile, was to take the lunette San Roque. It will be noted
that the attacks by the 3rd and 5th Divisions were intended to be just
diversionary attacks, the breaches being the main points of attack. Yet,
as we shall see, these two escalades were to prove the decisive factors in
the storming of Badajoz.
By late afternoon on
April 6th everything was ready. The hour had been set and the troops
waited in darkness as the clock in Badajoz toiled away each hour until
finally, at twenty minutes to ten the attack finally got underway.
First into action
was the detachment under Major Wilson that attacked the San Roque. After a
brief fight the fort was taken with little resistance from the French.
Shortly afterwards, the main attack began. The `Forlorn Hope' went first
followed by the storming parties who dashed forward to the edge of the
ditch, placed their ladders in position and descended. More British troops
stormed forward and soon the ditch was filled with men crowding together.
Suddenly, a bright flame shot up exposing the British to the French who
had been watching and waiting for the ditch to fill up before lighting the
fuses that would explode the mines beneath it.
Some British troops
who survived the first rush forward said afterwards that it was like a
volcano. The columns were blown to pieces by the mines and by the
incredible fire of grape and musketry that was poured into the ditch from
the ramparts. Hundreds of men were swept away in an instant. The Light
Division let out a deafening cheer and leapt into the chasm too, only to
be flung back by the furious French fire from behind the breaches. The 4th
Division joined in to attack the Trinidad bastion but in the confusion it
met with disaster when the leading columns jumped into the ditch filled
with water, scores drowning before the mistake was realised.
By now both the 4th
and Light Divisions were mixed together and both made for the same point,
an unfinished ravelin that, in the darkness, they believed to be one of
the breaches. They swarmed over it but again they were met by a blaze of
musketry and grape and were swept from it like sand in the wind. They were
confused and blinded by the fiery explosions that erupted around them and
when a Portuguese brigade joined in the attack it only added to the
confusion. Blows were exchanged as the men struggled to free themselves
and many were simply carried forward on the points of the bayonets of
those behind. The cheering, the shouts and the sounds of the explosions
and gunfire were now added to by the roar of the British guns in the
trenches.
But in spite of the
incredibly brave attempts by the British to mount the breaches no
impression could be made and the French, gaining in confidence, came
forward, jeering and inviting the British to `come into Badajoz'. Not a
single British soldier had entered the town even though over forty rushes
were made at the breaches. The situation was critical. The dead lay in
ever increasing heaps, many of them burning, while the wounded crawled and
staggered around in the darkness seeking shelter. As the frustrated and
despairing troops were driven back the desperate British attacks began to
fade, leaving behind nearly 2,000 of Wellington's best men smashed upon
the defences.
The attack on the
castle by Picton's 3rd Division had been raging with equal ferocity.
Picton, in fact, had been wounded early in the attack and command passed
to General Kempt. The British troops had first to cross the Rivellas which
was done by either wading through the water or by crossing the dam. The
dam, however, was very narrow and could only be passed in single file.
Soon, it was a seething mass of impatient soldiers and when the French
guns opened on it many slipped over the edge and drowned in the
inundation.
When the enraged
British troops finally got to the castle walls the ladders were placed
against them and were quickly mounted by the men. At the top they were met
by French defenders armed with bayonets, muskets and pikes and they simply
pushed the ladders from the walls to send them crashing down amongst the
crowds of soldiers waiting below. Time after time the British troops
mounted the ladders only to be tossed back by the French who hurled logs,
rocks and barrels of gunpowder down on them. An hour had passed but, as at
the breaches, no impression could be made. However, just as the French
began to sense victory Colonel Ridge, of the 5th Regiment, seized one of
the ladders and placed it against the castle where the wall was lower
where an embrasure afforded the men some protection. Ridge called out to
his men to follow him and soon the ladder was crowded from top to bottom,
so quickly in fact that before the French could push it away the weight
had become too great and the ladder stayed firmly in place against the
wall. Ridge pressed on with his sword guarding his head and with the
bayonets of those behind him thrust upwards to protect him. Then,
incredibly, he was standing on the castle ramparts.
The British troops
rushed furiously up the ladders to support him and at last the tide seemed
to turn in their favour. More British troops came up to consolidate the
position and soon the castle was in British hands. Tragically, Ridge, the
first man to enter the town, was shot dead soon afterwards as he led his
men through the gloom of the castle which Phillipon had hoped would
provide a last place of refuge in the event of the British attacks on the
breaches being successful. Now, that hope had gone and with it went all
hope of holding the town. As the 3rd Division
cleared the castle news of its fall gradually filtered back to Phillipon
and then to the French troops defending the breaches. The news came as a
great shock to them and panic and disorder quickly set in.
Away at the San
Vincente bastion the 5th Division had also escaladed the high walls, the
men performing a remarkably brave feat in climbing the walls in the face
of stiff opposition. Once inside, they made for the breaches with bugles
sounding the advance and when they were answered by those of the 3rd
Division all French resistance at the breaches collapsed.
All this time
Wellington had been watching intently with some dismay as his men were
smashed against the defences but just as he was about to sound the recall
an officer rode up with the news that Picton's men had taken the castle.
Upon hearing this news Wellington ordered the 4th and Light Divisions into
the breaches once more but this time they met with only limited
resistance. Even so, the breaches were incredibly difficult to negotiate
and the men still had trouble getting through. It was now about two
o'clock in the morning of April 7th and Badajoz was finally in British
hands, Governor Phillipon managing to escape across the Guadiana to the
Fort San Christobal where he and his staff surrendered a few hours later.
Inside the town all
hell was let loose as the victorious British troops embarked on the now
infamous orgy of debauchery and destruction, fuelled not only by the fury
of the assault but also by the large amounts of liquor found inside the
town. They had endured a miserable last 21 days in the trenches and had
suffered terribly getting inside the town. Once there, however, their
anger found vent and they dissolved into a dangerous mob of drunken
disorderly soldiers.
In all, the capture
of Badajoz cost Wellington some 5,000 men of which 3,000 had become
casualties during the assault including five generals, Picton, Kempt,
Bowes, Harvey and Colville who were wounded. The 4th and Light Divisions
suffered 1,000 casualties, all of whom were struck down in a small area
just one hundred yards long in front of the breaches. It was little
wonder, therefore, that Wellington was moved to say afterwards, "The
capture of Badajoz affords as strong an instance of the gallantry of our
troops as has ever been displayed. But I anxiously hope that I shall never
again be the instrument of putting them to such a test as that to which
they were put last night." We'd like to thank
Ian Fletcher, renowned military author on the Peninsula and Waterloo, for
his contribution to our website.
