SAN
SEBASTIAN The siege of San
Sebastian from June 28th to August 31st 1813 was the third of the three
great successful sieges carried out by Wellington's army during the
Peninsular War. The siege operations on this occasion were conducted by
Graham while Wellington was based at his headquarters in the Pyrenees at
Lesaca.
With Soult having
been thrown back across the French border there was no real reason to
hurry the siege. There was little hope of there being any interference
from any relieving enemy force and Graham was able to carry on the
operations and a more leisurely pace than at Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz.
On these latter two occasions, the close proximity of French relieving
armies had forced Wellington to commit his troops to the assault before he
was entirely satisfied with the condition of the breaches and as a result
heavy casualties were sustained.
San Sebastian was
rather a small town, situated on a low, sandy peninsula, dominated by a
rocky mountain called Monte Orgullo, upon which was built a castle. The
town was bordered on three sides by the waters of the Bay of Biscay and
could only be approached by land from the south. To the east of the town
flowed the river Urumea which at high water formed a sort of wide estuary.
The town itself lay at the southern foot of Monte Orgullo and was
separated from the castle by a line of defensive works. This meant that
even in the event of the town falling to the Allies the castle was still
defensible.
Graham chose the
eastern wall of the town, standing about 27 feet high, as the target for
his siege guns which were positioned upon the Chofre Sand Hills away to
the east. Having blasted suitable breaches Graham's men would have to
storm the place by crossing the Urumea at low tide.
Graham's
10,000-strong force began its siege operations on June 28th but it was not
until July 25th that the first assault was made by Oswald's 5th Division
and Bradford's Portuguese brigade, neither of which were able to get
inside the place which was defended by a brave and determined garrison of
about 3,000 French troops under the command of General Rey.
During the next few
days Soult launched his attack across the passes in the Pyrenees, an
episode chronicled in the previous chapter, but with the attack having
been repulsed the Allies were able to turn their attention to San
Sebastian once more.
On August 26th more
siege guns arrived from England, Wellington now being able to supply his
army through the ports along the coast of northern Spain, Passages in
particular. After four days of accurate, sustained fire the eastern wall
of San Sebastian was reduced to a crumbling wreck and a practicable breach
made with another, smaller being effected further to the north. Rey's
artillery also suffered and was practically silenced although both the
garrison and the Spanish population were kept busy all day and night
clearing the rubbish from the walls and repairing defences in the
breaches.
On August 30th
Graham was satisfied with the state of the two breaches and gave orders
that the place was to be stormed at noon the following day. The timing of
the attack was, therefore, quite a departure from the normal practice of
storming a town after dark. On this occasion, of course, the timing was
purely dependent on the tide but what it did mean was that Graham's
stormers would attack in full view of the defenders in broad daylight. It
was not a pleasing prospect but the storming of a town afforded the
British troops the chance of plunder and drink and of release from army
discipline. They had acquired a taste for such things at Ciudad Rodrigo
and Badajoz and no matter what obstacles were placed in their way they
were not to be put off, nor would there would be any shortage of
volunteers for the `forlorn hope'.
Graham's plan
involved an attack on the main breach by the 5th Division and Bradford's
Portuguese, who were supported by 750 volunteers from the 1st and Light
Divisions. Further to the north some 800 Portuguese volunteers would wade
through the shallow waters of the Urumea and attack the smaller breach.
The morning of
August 31st dawned bright and fresh after a night of heavy rain and
thunderstorms and as the columns of British and Portuguese stormers formed
up ready to begin the assault crowds of local people wearing their holiday
clothes began to congregate in order to watch. When the signal for the
assault was fired the Allied troops began to pick their way across the
beach through shallow rocky pools to make their way towards the breaches
which yawned silent, intimidating and invitingly before them. When the
`forlorn hope' approached the walls the watching French gunners opened up
with a devastating blast of grapeshot that swept away half of `the hope'
in an instant.
For the next hour or
so Graham watched helplessly as his men were smashed against the defences
while the spectators elsewhere watched in awe. The garrison proved as
tenacious as those at Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz and all manner of shells,
grenades and other combustibles were thrown down to explode amidst the
columns of Allied infantry. The defenders lined the ramparts and opened up
a withering fire into the attacking columns, bringing them grinding to a
halt.
At this point Graham
issued an order to Colonel Alexander Dickson, commanding the Allied
artillery, an order based partly on inspiration and partly on desperation.
Graham asked Dickson to open fire over the heads of the stormers and onto
the French guns in the town. It was perhaps one of the earliest examples
of a creeping barrage and was certainly a gamble, but it worked. The
astonished British stormers pushed their faces to the ground as shot and
shell screamed just a few feet overhead to crash into the French guns and
defenders behind the ramparts. The stormers lay listening to this
terrifying but pleasing symphony for about twenty minutes and when the
guns lifted they stormed forward to carry the defences which had been torn
apart by the guns. the breaches had all but been abandoned by the
defenders and when a magazine exploded killing and wounding a large number
of Frenchmen the town was as good taken. As Graham watched from the
sandhills he saw with relief his men disappear into the smoke as they
drove the remaining French troops from the breaches.
San Sebastian was
taken soon afterwards although the castle of La Mota held out until
September 8th. Allied casualties were 856 killed and 1,520 wounded. The
aftermath of the storming of San Sebastian was much the same as that at
Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz as the victorious troops embarked upon an orgy
of destruction which was made worse by a fire that engulfed the whole
town. There were fierce accusations afterwards that Wellington himself had
ordered the town to be put to the torch as it had been continuing to trade
with France, accusations which Wellington denied although he might well
have felt justified in resorting to such a measure.
We'd like to thank Ian
Fletcher, renowned military author on the Peninsula and Waterloo, for his
contribution to our website.
