Napoleon in 1812

Chapter 48

8. Towards the Peninsula – 6

The first resistance Arthur Wellesley’s corps encountered from Madrid was at Fort Retiro, which guarded the entrance of Retiro. The city of Retiro, which had been designated as an intermediate supply point for the Allied forces since the beginning of the operation, was also located on the way to Burgos. It was a key point that had to be occupied by the Allied forces. Arthur Wellesley besieged Fort Retiro without any gap, and sent a messenger to the French garrison officers guarding the fort, urging them to surrender.

“Even after the promised time, they haven’t hung a white flag. Their will to fight seems sufficient. We should order the artillery to fire…”

“Hmm… let’s wait a few more days. In case we hear good news.”

The staff officers stepped down because they could not defy Wellesley’s authority even though they were frustrated, thinking that they were wasting time. But exactly four hours later, a white flag was hung at the top of Fort Retiro. When the officers asked him what the hell happened, Wellesley replied with a calm voice.

“When we ousted Joseph Bonaparte from Madrid, the defenders and the regiments of guards fled in various directions.”

In any country’s army, they was a system to regroup the soldiers who were defeated to the rear positions. Wellesley remembered the situation when Joseph Bonaparte fled to Valencia, where Louis-Gabriel Suchet’s corps was located, leaving the throne empty.

It was no coincidence that his eyes were on Retiro from the beginning.

“They must have gathered the defeated soldiers to expand the size of their army, but unfortunately, it seems that it was difficult to accept the given circumstances.”

As guerrilla units belonging to the Spanish Resistance were constantly harassing the supply routes in the rear, the French army’s food and supplies situation in the peninsula was not very good. In such a situation, the balance between the number of soldiers and the amount of war materials was broken because a small number of defeated soldiers were taken in to defend as well.

In fact, when the British soldiers opened the doors of the warehouses and supply centers of Fort Retiro and looked at the situation inside, they found that military food such as dry bread, biscuits, salt meat, and dried pasta were completely exhausted. The French officers tried to survive by eating even rats, but when the soldiers’ anger exploded, they had no choice but to raise a white flag.

The officers admired Arthur Wellesley’s insight, as he was delighted, looking around Fort Retiro. Inside the fortress, there were about 20,000 muskets and about 100 artillery cannons that the French could not retrieve. And there were more than 2,000 prisoners are a bonus. He made such a huge achievement without even fighting properly. Arthur Wellesley said that this was a pleasant start before going up against Napoleon.

It was only natural that the morale of the Allied Forces soared.

Generals and officiers were yelling ‘If you disrupt the military, you will be punished strictly according to the military rules’, but the atmosphere of excitement did not disappear easily among the soldiers of the coalition who were staying at Fort Retiro.

“It’s pathetic that the Allied soldiers, regardless of their rank, are already acting as if they’ve won the war. We can’t even recognize our red coats among the rest of the soldiers! They must be the most ridiculous army in British history.”

Colonel Tilain, a lieutenant to Major General Rowland Hill, spoke in an ferocious voice and condemned the laxity of his own soldiers. Rowland Hill agreed with him a hundred times. Rowland Hill thought that the only thing the British soldiers had that was lacking compared to the French was their beards, but now it seemed necessary to add one more thing.

It was the mental strength and self-control of each soldier.

‘It feels like they’re under some kind of weird spell. Everyone has been over-excited since they heard that Napoleon was coming in person. They weren’t supposed to react like this…’

Some soldiers were very confident in dealing with Napoleon’s troops. Some others were overwhelmed by Napoleon’s reputation, and were trembling with fear. This phenomenon was intensified after they easily captured Fort Retiro that was guarded by the French. Rowland Hill looked very anxiously at the different attitudes of the soldiers. He addressed his concerns to his commander, Arthur Wellesley.

“I don’t think that will be a problem.”

Wellesley looked indifferent.

“It’s impossible for any commander to have complete control over each soldier’s psychology. We need to respect their freedom of decision making. However, as long as military discipline is not disturbed!”

In other words, forcibly controlling the soldiers’ mental would backfire in this situation. Wellesley, who had been tightening the discipline of the military with strict rules, was trying to ease the tension now that he was preparing for a huge battle.

Roland Hill calmed down after hearing Wellesley’s assurance. That was right. If Arthur Wellesley said it was all right, then it was all right. The faith of the allied soldiers in him had reached this level. The internal disturbance subsided and the story spread among the soldiers.

Soldiers regarded this as Arthur Wellesley’s confidence in winning. As a result, the unity of the coalition became stronger.

Having spent two days in Retiro, where they had time to rest and recover their fighting spirit, the Allies began to march north again, leaving behind troops to guard their captives and the fortress. The Allied forces, waving flags of the three nations, arrived in front of Fort Burgos on September 30, 1812.

Wellesley’s corps set up a camp in the town of Renuncio, about 3.5 miles from Fort Burgos.

“The current situation is very clear.” On the map showing Burgos and the surrounding area, there were models of soldiers with red flags and blue flags lined up. The red soldiers were the combined Portuguese, Spanish and British forces. The blue soldiers represented the French army.

“I was able to confirm today that the final destination of the army led by the French Emperor is here in Burgos. According to the intelligence, their scheduled arrival date is about 15 days from now.”

The Marquis of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, pushed the blue soldiers south with his baton. The blue soldiers were pointing their guns at Fort Burgos. The buzz of the officers grew. A Spanish officer asked a question.

“Nabot held a ceremony in Paris on September 15. And there are about 650 miles between this place and Paris. It is impossible for the French troops to arrive so soon unless they are marching more than 20 miles a day.”

“Surprisingly, they are marching so fast, Colonel. It’s like looking at the French army from 10 years ago.”

“..!!”

Napoleon’s strategy for wars and battles was largely divided into two types depending on the battlefield situation, conditions, and timeline.

The first was mobile warfare, to advance faster than the enemy based on extraordinary mobility, take an advantageous position, and destroy the enemy with the fire superiority of concentrated troops in combat. The second was siege and annihilation warfare, to organize large corps covering enemy troops and attack from all directions with an overwhelming number of soldiers.

These two strategies led Napoleon to become the incarnation of war.

However, there were conditions for a complete mobile warfare. He needed skilled soldiers and veterans, with strong physical strength, a lot of practical experience, and high loyalty. The continued war left no skilled soldiers in the French army, therefore Napoleon could hardly use the first strategy anymore.

From then on, Napoleon became too obsessed with large armies, numerical superiority, and annihilation warfare, and the climax was the Russian expedition. Arthur Wellesley had called the expeditionary forces the height of inefficiency. But Napoleon was also a war genius.

That inefficient army brought Russia to its knees. Napoleon returned with a brilliant victory, and was now using the mobile warfare of the first years. This had great implications for the Allied officers.

Arthur Wellesley raised one corner of his mouth.

“It seems that the news I’ve been hearing from Paris lately was not in vain. The French Emperor seems to have undergone a lot of emotional changes.”

At Wellesley’s comments, officers from the three countries nodded and agreed. If the leader of an enemy country suddenly became competent as if he had become someone else, it was not good news for them. But at a time when the war on the Iberian Peninsula was still raging, it was good news that the enemy troops were reduced. Arthur Wellesley was a commander capable of making Napoleon deeply regret his choice.

“We’ve discussed it once before when we stayed in Retiro, but let’s look at it again.”

It was Lieutenant General William Stewart, 11] the son of the Earl of Galloway and the chief of staff of the Allied forces, who spoke. He moved the red soldiers to create a picture of the siege of the Burgos fortress guarded by blue soldiers. He also took the map of the terrain outside of Burgos so that all officers gathered in the barracks could understand.

At a glance, there were rugged mountains and hills lined up.

“If we take Fort Burgos, we can use the nearby ridges to form a second line of Torres Vedras. If things go like this, even the French Emperor, who is called the genius of war, will have to turn back.”

“It’s undoubtedly the best outcome at this point.”

“That’s right. But if we can’t take the fort before the Emperor’s army gets here, we will have to step down. I recommend ‘here’ to be the next battlefield, as I think it’s the best place.”

Lieutenant General Stewart’s finger was pointed at the Arlanzón River.

It was time for Arthur Wellesley’s troops to advance to Burgos, after taking Fort Retiro. About 330 miles northeast of them, the Iberian expeditionary forces were resting in modest quarters. Even though everyone was asleep, Napoleon Bonaparte, the commander-in-chief of the expedition, was not sleeping.

He was quietly writing something on a piece of paper, sitting with a torch in a dark tent at night.

“This war will require more sophisticated and sharper strategy than ever before, and the ability to communicate organically between the corps and the commander’s long-term and constructive ‘sight’.

The Iberian Peninsula was more special than any other battlefield Napoleon had ever experienced. And it was complicated. That was why his side had to fight in a special and complicated way. And Napoleon was well aware that ‘this way’ would create controversy and debates not only in France but also throughout Europe.

‘If it’s for victory, I’ll do whatever it takes. I don’t know how future history will judge me… First, I must win this hellish war.’

Three letters written by Napoleon himself went into a drawer. The recipients’ names were revealed on the sealed letters.

Colonel Jean-Louis Dubreton Marshal Louis-Gabriel Suchet Marshal André Masséna

TL notes

[1] William Stewart