Peninsular War

In the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro , the British-Portuguese Army under Viscount Wellington checked an attempt by the French Army of Portugal... under Marshal André Masséna to relieve the besieged city of Almeida. Masséna had followed the British-Portuguese back to Lisbon the previous year, until arriving before the Lines of Torres Vedras. He determined against storming this extensive double line of interlocking fortifications. After starving outside Lisbon through a miserable winter, the French withdrew to the Spanish border with the British-Portuguese army following them. Having secured Portugal, Wellington set about re-taking the fortified frontier cities of Almeida, Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo. Whilst Wellington besieged Almeida, Masséna reformed his battered army and marched to relieve the French garrison in the city. Wellington chose to check the relief attempt at the small village of Fuentes de Oñoro. Wellington left his line of retreat exposed in order to cover all routes to Almeida: he felt this risk was justified because the French would not have more than a few days supplies whereas he had more than that.
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The Battle of Espinosa was a battle of the Napoleonic Wars, fought on November 10 and November 11, 1808 at the township of Espinosa de los Monteros... in the Cantabrian Mountains. It resulted in a French victory under General Victor against Lieutenant General Joaquín Blake's Army of Galicia. On the first day of the battle, Victor, seeking an easy victory to erase his humiliation at Valmaseda, launched a series of ill-advised attacks that were thrown back with heavy losses by General La Romana's disciplined regulars. By nightfall, Blake's positions still held. On the morning of November 11, Victor regained his composure and coordinated a massive French attack that pierced Blake's left wing and drove the Spaniards from the field. The French captured a healthy total of 30 guns and 30 standards. Although not a decisive defeat in itself, the hopeless confusion of the tattered and weary Spanish army meant that Espinosa marked the deathblow to Blake's Army of Galicia.
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The Battle of Ciudad-Real was fought on March 27, 1809, and resulted in a French victory under General Sebastiani against the Spanish under General... Conde de Cartojal. French 4th Corps had to cross the bridge over the Guadiana River which was defended by the Spanish corps of Count Urbino Cartaojal. Polish lancers of the Legion of the Vistula under colonel Jan Konopka charged through the bridge taking it by surprise, then outflanked Spanish infantry and attacked it from behind as the main French and Polish forces crossed the bridge, and attacked the Spanish front lines. The battle was over when undisciplined Spanish soldiers dispersed, and began to retreat in the direction of Santa Cruz. Józef Rudnicki, adiutant-major of the 4th Infantry Regiment of the Legion, described the battle in his diaries : "as soon as the French regiments of the 4th Corps met our division, we rushed immediately toward the Consiegra and Cuidat-Real, before of which town we found the Spanish corps, waiting for us on good positions.
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The Battle of Burgos, also known as Battle of Gamonal, was fought on November 10, 1808, during the Peninsular War. A powerful French army under... Marshal Bessières overwhelmed and destroyed the outnumbered Spanish under General Belveder, opening central Spain to invasion. Spanish history remembers this battle for the vain gallantry of the Guard and Walloon regiments under Don Vicente Genaro de Quesada. Forming a rearguard for the shattered Spanish lines, these troops repelled repeated charges by General Lasalle's. The cost was high for the Spaniards: of the 307 men in the rearguard only 74 survived, caked with blood; uniforms in tatters; bayonets bent and blunted. It is said that Bessières personally returned Quesada's sword and had his wounds treated in the French field hospital. These acts of chivalry became increasingly rare as the Peninsular War dragged on.
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