Campaign Summary - September 1808

Peninsular Campaign Summary - September 1808

Andalusia and New Castile:

Castanos destroyed the couple of battalions left in his path in the mountain passes North of Baylen, then proceeded northwards, pursuing Moncey's troops at a safe distance and stopping to organize a supply depot in Valdepenas.  His Army of Andalusia, after his reaching an agreement to co-operate with Cervellon's Army of Valencia, joined that latter general's forces in the vicinity of Ocana, facing Moncey's Corps across the Tagus.

Leon and Castile:

Bessieres attempted to destroy his opponent Gen Mahy's army in short order after his string of victories over the Army of Galicia in August.  However, at the Crossing of the Ucieza, his attempt to destroy the Spanish miscarried badly and he lost half of Mouton's division before retreating back to Burgos.  Bessieres spent the rest of the month recuperating in the area of Burgos, before marching west again to threaten Mahy, having been reinforced in the meantime with large elements of Joseph's Army of Spain. Mahy in his turn has used the respite to bring up further reinforcements from Astorga, while detaching Acevedo's division to make a lightning attack north at the end of the month and destroying the French garrison of Santander.

Aragon:

Joseph's single-minded pursuit of victory in Zaragoza paid off, as Palafox surrendered* once a significant enough breach in the defences had been made.  Delighted with the early capture of the city and the surrender of its remaining 5000 strong garrison, Jospesh headed west towards Burgos with his three divisions in order to reinforce Bessieres before that general resumes his offensive against the Army of Galicia.

Catalonia:

More cat-and-mouse stuff..  Duhesme has continued to blockade Gerona hoping sickness will do its work and Lechi has now surrounded Rosas.  This gamble has led to Palacio being able to blockade Barcelona and occupy Hostalrich, but Duhesme is hoping that now he has established a secure(-ish!) line of communication with Perpignan and his subordinate Gen Reille, he will be able to either drive the Spaniards back or bring them to battle before the Neapolitan infantry garrison in Barcelona capitulate to the Spaniards.

Valencia:

Cervellon has merely followed up Moncey as the latter general has retreated to a position on the North bank of the Tagus.  The French garrison of Madrid, in attempting to maintain the flow of supplies to the region has pretty much devastated the local area.  It will be interesting to see if this hurts the Allied or Imperial cause more during the winter months...

Portugal:

Junot has successfully sued for peace and the Convention of Cintra has been signed, meaning his beaten corps will return to the fray afresh in December.  However, Gen Murray**, briefly replacing Gen Wellesley in the period before Gen Moore assumes command, although moving terribly slowly, has occupied the city, has been reinforced with horse, foot and guns and has started marching eastwards towards the Spanish border.

Game Notes:

A quieter month in the campaign with the French defeat around Plasencia quieting their last major offensive movement.  On balance though, I suspect that the successful conclusion to the siege of Zaragoza, as well as re-gaining the initiative for the Imperials, has left them more reason to be happy than the spanish, in spite of Mahy's fine victory.

 *The rules give a chance for besieged commanders to surrender after a practicable breach has been made by the besieging forces.

**There are no counters in the game for Gen Dalrymple, so I used Gen Murray as the interim commander instead.