The Battle of Somosierra

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Somosierra
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The Battle of Somosierra

#1

Post by Somosierra » 23 Feb 2003, 15:45

Somosierra
30 November, 1808

During his advance on Madrid, Napoleon Bonaparte found his progress blocked by General San Juan with 9000 troops and 16 cannon.

An initial move against the Spaniards failed to clear them and so the emperor, impatient at the delay, ordered the Polish cavalry against the strong defensive position.

The assault was a bloody one with two-thirds of the horsemen injured or killed, but the defenders were shaken by the incident and a combined infantry-cavalry attack threw them backwards.

Bonaparte was so impressed with the Polish horsemen he immediately promoted them from the Young Guard to the Old Guard and ordered the entire Guard to present arms to the Poles as they rode by.

--
Wojciech Kossak, 1907


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Musashi
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#2

Post by Musashi » 23 Feb 2003, 16:01

Napoleon did not care of Poland and thats pitty the Poles had to fought against Spaniards to realize "great" Napoleon's plans.

Regards


Somosierra
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#3

Post by Somosierra » 23 Feb 2003, 16:24

Musashi wrote:Napoleon did not care of Poland and thats pitty the Poles had to fought against Spaniards to realize "great" Napoleon's plans.

Regards
You are absolutely right!

I do not admire Napoleon – he actually was “the first Hitler”.

He once stated: “I do not care – there are 100 000 dead more or less!”, when duke Wellington was crying before the battle of Waterloo – he said: today many of those gallant men (from both sides) will die”…

I admire those great Polish soldiers – they fought like devils!

Regards,
Somosierra.

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Benoit Douville
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#4

Post by Benoit Douville » 24 Feb 2003, 03:19

Yeah but In 1807 in the Tilsit treaty Napoleon created the Duchy of Warsaw. The creation of this Duchy was for the Poles the signal of the beginning of the rebirth of the Polish nation. But I have to agree that the Tilsit treaty did not solved the Polish problem. Napoleon never realized his promise that Poland will become a reality under his regime. And of course the Poles soldiers fought bravely with great courage.

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#5

Post by Somosierra » 25 Feb 2003, 23:13


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Mikko
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somorierra link

#6

Post by Mikko » 11 Nov 2003, 14:27

Hi Somosierra,
I am from Madrid, and you can see in this link some photos and pictures and the history of the Somosierra Battle. (In spanish)

http://www.comadrid.es/dgpha/actuacione ... uccion.htm

Un saludo from Madrid (near Somosierra)
Mikko (Miguel)
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Musashi
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#7

Post by Musashi » 11 Nov 2003, 15:34

Hola Mikko!
Somosierra is not already a member of this forum at his own request. He afraided of be banned and resigned. It would have been very dishonourable for him, so he made such a decision.
I speak Spanish a little, so Your informations are very useful for me. Thats pitty I have not enough time to learn Spanish better now. However I like Spanish very much and I will learn it better in the future. Its very nice from the Spanish side they allowed the Poles to build the monument. Well, Polish-Spanish relationships are excellent nowadays :) We support each others in many cases.
BTW
Its very sad for me the Polish soldiers fought against the Spanish soldiers who fought for own independence :( :oops:
Saludos de Polonia,
Chris

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Mikko
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Somosierra

#8

Post by Mikko » 12 Nov 2003, 09:10

Hola Musashi,
Polish cavalry history is very famous in Spain.
I think Poland and Spain have had a good relations in general for a long time and now spanish military (legion) are under the orders of a Polish general in Irak.

Un saludo desde Madrid (España).
Mikko

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tom_deba
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#9

Post by tom_deba » 19 Feb 2005, 00:50

Somosierra used the sentence : “the first Hitler” depicting Napoleon. One should be really careful when comparing someone to such figures as Hilter. There were more differences (tactics, idea of extermination of Jews, totalitarian ideology) than similar characteristics.
Recently I have encountered in press an article titled "Alexander the Great - an ancient Hitler". Isn't it look piteoulsy? The fact that both Alexander the Great and Napoleon achieved great and quick victories (that are even compared to the idea of Blitzkrieg) does not justify that they can be named "Hitlers"!!!

Mikko - it is nice that you delivered such great pictures. I see that history of Polish cavalrymen is not forgotten in Spain. Such initiatives like founding plaques in historical places build hopes that relationships between Spain and Poland will be fruitful in future.


/tom/

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Re: The Battle of Somosierra

#10

Post by Stephan » 21 Mar 2005, 15:14

Somosierra wrote:Somosierra
30 November, 1808

During his advance on Madrid, Napoleon Bonaparte found his progress blocked by General San Juan with 9000 troops and 16 cannon.

An initial move against the Spaniards failed to clear them and so the emperor, impatient at the delay, ordered the Polish cavalry against the strong defensive position.

The assault was a bloody one with two-thirds of the horsemen injured or killed, but the defenders were shaken by the incident and a combined infantry-cavalry attack threw them backwards.
This sounds like a headless order and a win by sheer luck.
In polish is the saying "mad as somosierra".

Was it mad? No. Napoleon get stuck up, there was no way for his infatery to get on, the infantery losses were already heavy and it would be much worse before the spanish defences were taken.

And Napoleon saw the only chance was a quick forward thrust as the defenders were preocuppied with the attacking infantery on the sides and the forrard defences "asleep" not seeing Bonaparte was opposite them with his guard.
A quick well done straight charge by the guard - and the cannons were taken with all the canoniers killed or wounded.

The reinforcements secured the positions.

A brilliant tactical stroke by Napoleon and NO MADNESS or foolishness at all, either by Napoleon or the brave soldiers.
Yes, many of them wounded or killed - but the job done much more cheaply and much quickier than if done by a conventional attack.

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tigre
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Re: The Battle of Somosierra

#11

Post by tigre » 16 May 2015, 17:18

Hello to all :D; a little more on this..........................

A CONCRETE CASE: SOMO-SIERRA.

For six months, war in Spain had been in progress. The imperial armies spent themselves in sterile struggle. The resounding checks sustained by Junot and Bupont had roused conquered Europe. Hopes of revenge awoke. French forces were in danger of being swallowed up in the peninsula, and even the prestige of Napoleon was in danger of foundering there. The Emperor understood the danger. The situation had to be corrected at once. Only he would bring victories capable of crushing Spanish resistance and terrorizing the old coalition. He decided to intervene immediately and in person.

On 1 November he was at Bayonne with the best of his forces, He crossed the Pyrenees, reached Vittoria, on the 5th and joined his armies withdrawn north of the Ebro.

Four Spanish armies covered Santander, Burgos, Calahorra, and Saragossa. The Spanish center was weak. Napoleon had already conceived his maneuver: he would fix the right and left with Lefevre and Moncey, and With 80,000 men of the corps of Victor, Sault, Ney, and the cavalry of Bessieres, he would crush the center. He took the offensive immediately, and in three weeks won successes at Espinosa, Burgos, and Tudela. Without delay, he threw Ney on the rear of Castanos by Soria; Lannes with the III Corps on Calahorra, and the I Corps with the Guard on Aranda. It was Madrid, the very heart of Spain, where Napoleon aimed to strike a decisive blow.

The adversary, dismayed by such a sudden change, assembled his forces and marched hastily to the passes of the great wall which, between Douro and the Tage, blocks the road to Madrid: the Guadaramma Mountains.

On the 29th, the situation was as follows: Napoleon reached Aranda, crossed the Douro with the Guards, Victor’s corps and the reserve of cavalry, and proceed to the foot of the chain. At noon he was at Boceguillas with his staff. He took a short rest, then mounted his horse and went to reconnoiter the defile.

He received precise information that the Pass of Somo-Sierra was occupied and the terrain organized. 13,000 Spaniards under a remarkable officer, Don Benitos San Juan, had been thrown into the mountains to cover the capital, hardly 50 miles distant. An advance guard of 3,000 men was at Sepulveda. The rest of the force held the Somo-Sierra bottleneck. Infantry in echelons was entrenched in tiers on both flanks, the main part in the bottleneck. Artillery, established on the road itself, was in position on successive terraces. Four batteries of four pieces each, protected by parapets and embrasures swept the defile for a distance of 2600 yards.

Coming from Villarejo toward Somo-Sierra, an abrupt wall dominates the valley for over 500 yards. A single break, hardly 880 yards, crosses the Sierra, and this break, likes the entrance to a port, is defended by a mole of 1600 yards which extends obliquely from southwest to northeast. A single road follows the ravine, and this road is winding, narrow, strangled between the two cliffs. It climbs steeply, and the heights which surround it are dry, rocky, and covered with brush. The whole resembles an amphitheater 2 1/2 miles long, narrow, and rising to an altitude of 1500 yards. For defense, It was a blessed position, almost sanctified, and believed invincible."

Source: Review of Military Literature. June 1939.

Mre follows. Cheers. Raúl M 8-).
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tigre
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Re: The Battle of Somosierra

#12

Post by tigre » 23 May 2015, 17:24

Hello to all :D; a little more on this..........................

A CONCRETE CASE: SOMO-SIERRA.

MEANS.

To open the passage, Napoleon had part of Victor’s, Corps (Villatte, Ruffin, and Lapisse divisions), cavalry of the Guard, and Latour-Maubourg's cavalry division.

DECISION.

Before this narrow entrance, obstructed and beaten in front and flank by fires of infantry and artillery, Napoleon did not hesitate. He made his decision: by ascending on both flanks, he would make the position fall. He returned to Boceguillas and gave his orders for next day: Lapisse's division was to capture Sepulveda; Ruffin's division, all the slope north of the Guadaramma to the bottleneck; the 9th light would operate to the right, the 24th to the left, the 96th on the road with 6 pieces of artillery in support. The cavalry would hold itself ready to exploit success.

EXECUTION.

The morning of the 30th, Sepulveda was attacked, and was immediately abandoned by the defenders who withdrew toward Segovia, At 9 o'clock, on the road from Somo-Sierra, Victor began his attack. A fog masked movements from the adversary. In the center on the highway, the 96th progressed normally to the bridge, but to the left and right on account of broken rocky terrain and low visibility, the advance of the 9th and 24th was very slow. Victor brought up two pieces of artillery.

About 11:00 o'clock, Napoleon arrived with the Guard cavalry, the light horse leading. The regiment, in column of platoons behind a fold of terrain on the right, was sheltered from cannon but exposed to fire of musketry. The Emperor received precise information from escaped French prisoners and from Major Lejeune, returned from reconnaissance. This information confirmed and completed previous information on the subject of the difficulty of terrain and organization of enemy defense. The fog lifted; Napoleon, nervous, moved toward the bridge on the left of the road, with the Polish 3d Squadron Light Horse and two platoons of Guard Chasseurs, to make a personal reconnaissance of the situation. Glass in hand, he remained under fire, in spite of his staff, and surveyed the horizon.

Before him, the infantry, impeded by terrain and a slashing fire, hesitated, marked time, immobile, Napoleon was impatient with failure of the attack and flew into a rage: Since his infantry was powerless, he would require his cavalry to open the breach across the mountain; without waiting longer, he gave the order to the escort squadron "to advance and capture the position".

Colonel Pire, dismayed at this audacious folly, went forward with his squadron to reconnoiter. After a rapid glance, judging that the position could not be approached from the front, he stopped the Poles and went to the Emperor. "Impossible, Sire!"

At this word, Napoleon replied: "Impossible! Impossible! I do not know that word! What? My Guard stopped by Spaniards, by bands of peasant armies?" And turning toward Segur: "Go, Segur! Go take the Poles, make them take everything or bring back prisoners!" Segur departed at the gallop and transmitted to Koxietulski the order to charge at once.

Montbrun intervened, in his turn. Pire insisted: "It is impossible!" "The Emperor does not believe it!"

"Impossible! Then come with me and see if the devil made of fire can stop us!" And Segur turned to the squadron commander: "Forward the Emperor commands it! To us the honor! Poles forward!"

Source: Review of Military Literature. June 1939.

More follows. Cheers. Raúl M 8-).

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tigre
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Re: The Battle of Somosierra

#13

Post by tigre » 25 May 2015, 16:08

Hello to all :D; a little more on this..........................

A CONCRETE CASE: SOMO-SIERRA.

Kozietulski commanded by fours at the trot, and launched them between the two walls in the assault of the mountain. Behind him a hundred Poles followed, traversed a ditch, cleared a torrent, and scattered stones under horses’ feet. To left and right, the fusillade rolled. At the first turn was a battery. Kozietulslki, wounded, turned the command to Dzienowanski. Men fell, obstructing the passage. An instant, the squadron stopped under fire of musketry, seemed to hesitate, then took its course over the bodies! Lieutenant Krzyanowski fell near the second battery, Captain Dziewanowski? (or Dzienowanski) near the third. Then suddenly before this hurricane, the batteries ceased, cannoneers fled! The light cavalry continued the ascent sabering and overthrowing all before them. The moral effect was such that Spanish infantry, itself concealed, sheltered, dug in, abandoned its entrenchments.

When the handful of men who remained mounted reached the summit of the "inaccessible position," they found before their eyes this extraordinary spectacle: the whole Spanish army, throwing down its arms, leaving its baggage and munitions, in flight. The three Polish squadrons that followed were launched in pursuit, in the midst of carriages, caissons and wagons in disorder; and the foot soldiers arrived, guns at sling, singing: "Come! All will be well, comrades!"

Seven minutes had sufficed to open the way to Madrid. The charge in which 57 Poles had been killed or wounded, had delivered 10 flags, 16 cannon, 30 caissons, 200 wagons, and all the colonels of a division. "Extraordinary triumph of speed over immobile fire." Extraordinary triumph of moral over material force.

Source: Review of Military Literature. June 1939.

It's all folks. Cheers. Raúl M 8-).

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