Beresford at Albuera

Author:

Professor H.V. Livermore

Report:

28

Page:

51

Year:

2001

Subject Matter:

Peninsular War

Excerpt:

The battle of Albuera was fought on May 16th 1811. It lasted four hours, at the end of which the field was strewn with some 11,000 casualties. In this sense it was the greatest battle of the whole war, though it does not figure among the famous victories of Bussaco, Salamanca and Vitória, or the first fight at Toulouse which is often overlooked since Napoleon had already fled from Paris and it was submerged in the general jubilation. To show the magnitude of Albuera, it may be compared with the first Anglo-Portuguese victory at Bussaco, where the allies numbered about 50,000 men and their casualies were set at less than 1,300, exactly divided between British and Poruguese: the French were said to have lost 4,500 but were not deterred from continuing to Torres Vedras and Santarém, which was Massena's headquarters from November 1810 until the following February.

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