Battle of Coruña

From Freepedia

The Battle of Coruña was a desperate last action battle fought by the British Army and the vanguard of a French Army lead by Napoleon.

After it's moderate successes in the summer and autumn of 1808, driving Marshal Junot and his French army from Portugal, the small British army faced destruction. Marching into Spain with some 300,000 soldiers, Napoleon set about pacifying the Iberian peninsula. Napoleon dispatched Marshal Nicholas Soult ahead of the main army as a vangaurd, tasked with destroying the British force of roughly 30,000 men lead by Sir John Moore.

Upon hearing of the huge French army heading for Portugal, Moore began a hasty retreat through the mountains towards the small Spanish town of Corunna. The retreat, made in a harsh winter, was a shambles which saw the morale and order of the army almsot totally collapse. The exhausting marches, cold weather and frequent skirmishes with the leading French units saw many turn to alcohol and become so drunk they were left behind. The regiments of the rearguard only maitained their discipline because of the repeated attacks by the French.

Reaching Corunna, the remnant of the British army were within sight of the waiting ships of the Royal Navy when Soult arrived with his French Corps.

Taking the best surviving regiments, including the 51st Highlanders and the 95th Rifles, Moore engaged the French and managed to stave off total destruction, giving the exhausted troops time to board the transports in the harbour. Sir John Moore was struck in the chest by a cannonball during the battle and died shortly after in Corunna, but not before he had saved the army from destruction. Supporting fire from naval friagtes and battleships kept Soult at a safe distance and the British managed to escape and return to Britain.

The British returned to Portugal later that year, refreshed, resupplied and with a new commander, Sir Arthur Wellesley, who went on to become the 1st Duke Of Wellington and a constant thorn in Napoleon's side.

Marshal Soult marched into Corunna shortly after the British had left and, finding the bosy of Sir John Moore, gave the British commander a proper burial.