Battle of Buçaco

The battles of Buçaco (pronon.IPA drunk. “sa.ku) was a battle of the war of Spain and Portugal, disputed by the British forces and Portugueses under the command of Arthur Wellesley the September 27th 1810, in order to stop the pressure of the French in their continuation of the allied troops in retirement towards the lines strengthened of Torres Vedras.

Unfolding

Having occupied the heights of Buçaco - a 16 km length peak approximately - with: 25000 British soldiers and the same number of Portuguese soldiers, Wellesley was tackled five times of continuation by: 65000 French under the command of the marshal Masséna. This last did not have any certainty concerning the deployment and the number of the unfavourable forces. Wellesley had deployed them on the opposite slope of the peak, where they could not be easily seen, nor even weakened by an artillery bombardment. The attacks were delivered by the army corps of the marshal Ney and the general Reynier, but in spite of an extremely violent combat, the French did not manage to dislodge the allied forces and were pushed back with losses assembling itself to: 4500 died or wounded, against of the Anglo-Portuguese losses of approximately: 1250 men.

Consequences

Masséna then ordered a movement turning around the peak to take the position of blank, and Wellesley took again the October 10th, the walk of retirement of its army towards the beforehand strengthened lines of Torres Vedras. Finding these fortifications too powerful to be attacked, Masséna was withdrawn in its winter quarters. Vivres lack for its troops and badgered by the raids with the British, it lost: 25000 men, captured by the allies or died of hunger and disease, before resigning itself to the retirement in Spain at the beginning of 1811. Wellesley had then succeeded in releasing all Portugal of the French except for Almeida, city located meadows of the border.

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