The Peninsular War

1808 - 1814

Talavera 1809

The 1st Guards were in the Peninsula from the beginning but were reinforced by the 2nd Guards Brigade (Coldstream and Scots) in May 1909. In overall command was Sir Arthur Wellesley, under whom they successfully crossed the Douro, captured Oporto and covered themselves in glory at Talavera on 28th July 1809. They were part of Sherbrooke's 1st Division, in the centre of the line. They suffered a severe artillery bombardment and then an attack by 15,000 French infantry. They held their fire until the enemy were at a range of 50 yards and then fired a withering volley. As the French struggled to recover, the Division charged them and drove them back. Unfortunately they pressed on too far and had to be rescued by the 48th Foot. The Coldstreamers lost 300 out of 1,000 men. They were awarded a battle honour for Talavera on 12th Feb 1812 and a special medal was struck for 'meritorious officers'.

Fuentes d'Onoro 1811

Wellesley withdrew to his well prepared defensive lines of Torres Vedras for the winter. 1810 was not a very active year but in the spring of 1811, after a long march, the Guards Brigade were present at Fuentes d'Orno (3rd-5th May 1811) where the 1st Division was now under the command of Maj-Gen Miles Nightingall, a hypochondriac who managed to get himself wounded in the foot. Only the Light Companies saw action, while the rest of the Brigade remained on the crest of a ridge overlooking the village, also suffering casualties from artillery fire. It was a victory against the French, led by Massena, but Wellesley, who was now Viscount Wellington of Talavera said that 'if Boney had been there we should have been beat'. However, it was a battle honour for the Coldstreamers.

Barossa 1811

A composite Guards Battalion was sent to Spain in March 1810 which included 3 companies from the 2nd Battalion, all commanded by Maj-Gen W T Dilkes. They were garrisoned in Cadiz but found themselves under siege for two and a half years. In 1811 they were part of a sortie under Maj-Gen Thomas Graham which turned out to be a hard 15 hour march to Barossa followed by a desperate fight, lasting an hour and a half, against a well-rested force that was twice their number. They suffered the loss of a third of their number but earned a battle honour and another gold medal for the officers. They returned to Cadiz where the siege continued.

Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz 1812

Although the Guards Brigade were part of the 1st Division which was present at all the major battles of this year they did not have a central role. In the unwritten rules of war, armies were supposed to rest during the winter months but Wellington stole a march on the French and besieged Ciudad Rodrigo in January. The siege lasted from 8th January to 19th and Viscount Wellington received an Earldom as a reward. He moved on to Badajoz, in April, which was not so easy. Another unwritten rule of war at the time was that during a siege, if the walls are breached, the besieged must surrender. But the French Governor, Armand Philipon decided to make life very difficult for the British. As a result, when the town was finally captured the soldiers went on the rampage that lasted for two days.

Salamanca 1812

The Battle of Salamanca was fought on 22nd July 1812. The action took place south of the Spanish city of Salamana which is on the River Tormes, 100 miles north-west of Madrid. Wellington commanded an army of 50,000 British, Portuguese and Spanish against Marmont's French. It was a brief battle lasting less than an hour, resulting in a resounding victory for the Allies and the shattering of the French Army of Portugal. The Allies marched triumphantly into Madrid on 12th August and then moved on to besiege Burgos in September. But this had to be abandoned on receipt of news of the impending approach of King Joseph and Marshal Suchet. Wellington was forced to withdraw to Portugal on a march that brought considerable suffering to his hungry troops.

Two Guards Brigades, 1813

When the siege of Cadiz was lifted after Salamanca, the composite Guards Battalion were free to join Wellington's army. There were now two Guards Brigades, both of which had Coldstream Guards. The 2nd Brigade was composed of the 1st Battalions of the Coldstream and Scots Guards while the 1st Brigade was composed of the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 1st Guards and the composite battalion of Coldstream and Scots Guards. After a quiet winter they moved north-east to drive the French from Spain. They crossed the Duoro on 4th June and won the Battle of Vittoria on 21st June 1813.

San Sebastian 1813

The last two obstacles to Wellington in Spain were Pamplona and San Sebastian. The task of storming the fortified coastal town of San Sebastian was given to Lieut-Gen Thomas Graham who had commanded the Guards at Cadiz. The siege took 9 weeks from 12th July to 8th Sept and resulted in heavy casualties. The Guards battalions offered a volunteer party of 200 which suffered the loss of 160. The first storming of a breach took place on 25th July and failed, but on 31st August the attack succeeded and the town was taken. The French still occupied the castle which was not surrendered until 8th September. Much of the horror of Badajoz was repeated at San Sebastian and this time the looting, raping and killing lasted a week.

Adour 1814

The Guards Brigades were involved with the crossings of various hazardous rivers. These were the Bidossa 7th Oct 1813, the Nivelle 10th Nov 1813, the Nive 9th Dec 1813 and the Adour 23rd Feb 1814.

The 2nd Guards Brigade distinguished themselves on this last operation when 6 companies of the Scots Guards and two of the Coldstream crossed the river before dark and held a precarious bridgehead all night, until relieved the next morning. The operation is also of interest because this assault force used a new rocket battery against the French and it apparently had a very discouraging effect on them.

Bayonne 1814

The Guards were not involved in the battle of Toulouse but Bayonne proved to be a final and tragic chapter in the Peninsula War for them. The French commander of Bayonne, Thourenot made a sortie from the town with 6,000 men and was met by both Guards Brigades. This was a confused battle in the dark on the night of the 10th April 1814 (5 days after Napoleon had abdicated), and 506 men from the Guards were lost, including Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry Sullivan. These men lie in a special Guards cemetery which still exists today.

Bergen-op-Zoom 1814

In March 1814 a composite Brigade of Guards, numbering 1,000 men, from all three regiments joined an unsuccessful expedition against Antwerp. The fortress of Bergen-op-Zoom was the scene of a disaster when a failed attack ended in the death or capture of two thirds of the Guards Brigade.

The Waterloo Campaign 1815

The leaders of the Allied nations were assembled in Vienna, carving up Napoleon's empire when they heard of his escape from Elba. When it was realised that this was a serious comeback the four countries, Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia agreed to contribute 150,000 men each to an army to be led by Wellington. In the event, only Britain and Prussia provided troops although the British Divisions included a large number of Hanoverians and King's German Legion.

The Coldstream Guards were represented by their 2nd Battalion in this campaign. They were in the 2nd Guards Brigade with the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards under Major-General Sir John Byng. The two Guards Brigades were in the 1st Division under Major-General George Cooke. On Thursday 15th June 1815 the Guards brigades were camped at Enghien. Many of the officers were at Lady Richmond's Ball in Brussels with Wellington. Some time after midnight, news came through that Napoleon's army was two and a half miles away from Quatre Bras, so everyone had to move fast.

Quatre Bras 1815

The Guards had very little sleep that night and set off at a brisk pace, arriving at the cross roads at 1700 hrs on 16th June by which time the battle had been going for three hours. It was a hot day and the men were exhausted and thirsty after their 26 mile march but they had to go straight into battle as they arrived. Despite this they managed to fight bravely against the French in Bossu Wood. The battle was a long hard struggle and the men were exhausted.

Waterloo 1815

The hot weather turned into a severe thunderstorm and torrential downpour on the evening of the the 17th. The army spent the wettest night many of them had ever experienced and woke up on sodden, muddy ground. It was 18th June 1815. The two armies were occupying ridges with 1,200 yards between them along a frontage of about 4,200 yards. Napoleon delayed the start of the battle in the hope that the ground would dry out, so little happened until 11.30am.

Hougoumont

From Wellington's viewpoint the three main buildings that formed landmarks on the battlefield were La Haye Sainte in the middle, Papelotte on the left, and Hougoumont on the right. The chateau of Hougoumont was a manor house and farm with ornamental garden, orchard and woods. The 1st Guards were posted on the ridge behind the chateau and some of them had been involved in a skirmish around Hougoumont on the evening of the 17th. But the defense of the buildings was given, initially, to the Light Companies of the Coldstream and Scots Guards under the command of Coldstreamer, Lieut-Col James Macdonnell, the personal choice of Wellington. They spent the morning barricading all the gateways into the enclosure of buildings, except for the north gate which had to remain accessible to supplies and reinforcements.

The first attack came from troops in Reille's Corps under the command of Jerome, who was ordered by his brother Napoleon, to take Hougoumont at all costs. He took the order literally and many Frenchmen died in the attempt, by the end of the day the number was 8,000. The first attack was repulsed by firing from within the chateau and outside. More attacks came, but thankfully without artillery which could have destroyed the walls of the enclosure. Those guardsmen who were still outside managed to withdraw into the chateau and the north gate was shut, but before it could be barricaded it was rushed by a party of 12 brave Frenchmen led by Lieutenant Legros, a large man with an axe. They barged in but all died fighting. Only a young French drummer was allowed to live. The closing and barricading of the gates was accomplished by Macdonnell and nine others.

Sir John Byng ordered three companies of the Coldstream Guards under Lt-Col Dan Mackinnon to go down and support the beleaguered garrison. They drove the French from the west wall and entered the enclosure. Napoleon himself became involved and ordered howitzer fire to be used. Incendiary shells were fired at the buildings and they caught fire, killing many of the wounded who were inside. Colonel Alexander Woodford entered the struggle with the remainder of the Coldstream Guards, leaving two companies on the ridge to guard the Colours. They fought their way into Hougoumont to reinforce the defenders. Woodford outranked Macdonnell but at first declined to take command away from him.

The situation became critical at one stage so that the King's German Legion were sent forward to counter-attack on the outside of the building. This effectively proved the last straw for the French who gave up their attempts to take Hougoumont. Woodford was commanding the garrison at the end of the battle when Wellington ordered a general advance to pursue the French. The force inside the enclosure ranged from 500 to 2000, but they managed to keep a whole French Corps occupied all day. The casualty figures for the Coldstream Guards on the 18th June was one officer and 54 other ranks killed, 7 officers and 249 other ranks wounded. Four men were unaccounted for.

Source: http://www.britishempire.co.uk/forces/armyunits/britishinfantry/coldstream.htm