Battle of Valencia (1808)

Battle of Valencia
Part of the Peninsular War
El Crit del Palleter by Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1884): "Yo, Vicent Doménech, un pobre palleter, li declare la guerra a Napoleó. ¡Vixca Ferran VII i mort als traïdors!" (I, Vicent Doménech, poor baker though I be, hereby declare war on Napoleon. Long live Ferdinand VII and death to traitors!)
Date 26–28 June 1808 Location Valencia, Spain 39°28′N 0°22′W Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
Spain	French Empire
Commanders and leaders
Conde de Cervellón Felipe Augusto de Saint-Marcq	Bon Adrien Jeannot de Moncey
Units involved
Army of Valencia	Corps of Observation of the Ocean Coasts
Strength
1,500 regulars, 6,500 levies, 12,000 armed civilians	8,000-9,000 regulars
Casualties and losses
unknown, very light	1,100-1,200 dead or wounded

The First Battle of Valencia was an attack on the Spanish city of Valencia on 26 June 1808, early in the Peninsular War. Marshal Moncey's French Imperial troops failed to take the city by storm and retreated upon Madrid, leaving much of eastern Spain unconquered and beyond the reach of Napoleon.

Background

The Spanish conventional warfare started with the Battles of El Bruch. By the summer of 1808 large parts of Spain had rebelled against the French invaders, but Napoleon believed that he was facing a series of minor insurrections. Accordingly, he ordered a number of small columns to be sent out from Madrid to deal with the rebels.

Marshal Moncey was given a column of 9,000 men to restore order in Valencia. Moncey had a choice of routes. The longer slow route led via Almansa, while the shorter quicker route cut across mountains. Moncey shared Napoleon’s belief that he was facing a local insurrection, and chose to take the quicker mountain route.

The French were faced by a much wider revolt against their occupation of Spain. The Valencian Junta had a force of 7,000 regular troops and a much larger number of levies and volunteers with which to oppose the French. The commander of the Spanish force, the Conde de Cervellon, expected Moncey to take the easier route, and so left the mountain passes almost undefended. Moncey was able to sweep aside small Spanish forces at the River Cabriel (21 June) and the Cabrillas defile (24 June), arrived outside Valencia on 24 June.

Moncey's column, the Corps of Observation of the Ocean Coasts consisted of 47 infantry battalions of 24,900 men; 12 cavalry squadrons of 2,850 men; and 48 guns of 1,250 gunners. The opposing Army of Valencia stood at a strength of 1,500 regulars, 6,500 levies, and 12,000 armed citizens.

Order of battle

Corps of Observation of the Ocean Coasts (French)

• Corps of Observation of the Ocean Coasts: Marshal Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey, Duke of Conegliano
  • Corps Cavalry: General of Division Emmanuel de Grouchy
    • 1st Brigade: General of Brigade Privé
      • 1st Provisional Dragoon Regiment (3 x squadrons)
      • 2nd Provisional Dragoon Regiment (3 x squadrons)
    • 2nd Brigade: General of Brigade Wathier
      • 1st Provisional Hussar Regiment (3 x squadrons)
      • 2nd Provisional Hussar Regiment (3 x squadrons)
  • 1st Division: General of Division Louis François Félix Musnier de La Converserie
    • 1st Brigade: General of Brigade Brun
      • 1st Provisional Infantry Regiment (4 x battalions)
      • 2nd Provisional Infantry Regiment (4 x battalions)
      • 3rd Provisional Infantry Regiment (4 x battalions)
      • 4th Provisional Infantry Regiment (4 x battalions)
    • 2nd Brigade: General of Brigade Prince Karl Friedrich Ludwig Moritz von Isenburg-Birstein, Prince of Isenburg-Birstein
      • Westphalian Battalion
  • 2nd Division: General of Division Jacques-Nicolas Gobert
    • 1st Brigade: General of Brigade Jacques Lefranc
      • 5th Provisional Infantry Regiment (4 x battalions)
      • 6th Provisional Infantry Regiment (4 x battalions)
      • 7th Provisional Infantry Regiment (4 x battalions)
      • 8th Provisional Infantry Regiment (4 x battalions)
    • 2nd Brigade: General of Brigade François Dufour
      • Irish Legion (1 x battalion)
  • 3rd Division: General of Division Antoine Morlot
    • 1st Brigade: General of Brigade Bujet
      • 9th Provisional Infantry Regiment (4 x battalions)
      • 10th Provisional Infantry Regiment (4 x battalions)
      • 11th Provisional Infantry Regiment (4 x battalions)
    • 2nd Brigade: General of Brigade Count Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes
      • Royal Prussian Regiment (1 x battalion)
  • Corps Artillery
    • 2 x Companies drawn from 3rd & 5th Horse Artillery Regiments
    • 6 x Foot Artillery Companies drawn from 3rd & 5th Foot Artillery Regiments
    • Imperial Guard Artillery Train
    • 12th bis Train Battalion
    • 76 x Pioneers

Army of Valencia (Spain)

• Army of Valencia: Admiral Don José Caro
  • Saint March's Division: Field Marshal Felipe Augusto de Saint-Marcq y D'Ostrel
    • Bourbon Volunteers Infantry Regiment (1 x battalion)
    • Chelva Infantry Regiment (1 x battalion)
    • Campo Segorbino Infantry Regiment (2 x battalions)
    • Soria Provincials (1 x battalion)
    • Ferdinand VII Cazadores (500 x men)
  • Royal Maestranza de Valencia Cazadores Cavalry (4 x squadrons) – light cavalry regiment
  • El Turia Infantry Regiment (3 x battalions)
  • 2nd Saboya Infantry Regiment (3 x battalions)
  • 2nd Valencia Infantry Regiment (3 x battalions)
  • Bourbon Volunteers Infantry Regiment (1 x battalion)
  • Campo Segorbino Infantry Regiment (2 x battalions)
  • Alicante Infantry Regiment (3 x battalions)
  • Chelva Infantry Regiment (1 x battalions)
  • Cullera Infantry Regiment (2 x battalions)
  • La Fe Infantry Regiment (2 x battalions)
  • Valencia Cazadores (3 x battalions)
  • Ferdinand VII Cazadores (1 x battalion)
  • Orihuela Cazadores (3 x battalions)
  • Mountain Tiradores (200 x men)

The Arrival at Valencia

València walls: The trinquet is next to a tower and a bridge on the left

The city was not entirely undefended. Three battalions of regular troops, supported by 7,000 Valencian levies, all under the command of Don José Caro, a naval officer, were defending a position at San Onofre, four miles outside the city. Moncey was forced to spend most of 27 June fighting this force, eventually forcing it to retreat back into the city.

Valencia was not defended by modern fortifications. Instead, the city was surrounded by a wet moat and its medieval walls. However, the surrounding area was very flat, and the Spanish were able to flood it, forcing Moncey to concentrate his attack on a limited number of gates on the southern side of the city. The defenders outnumbered the French. There were around 20,000 armed men in Valencia, of whom around 1,500 were regulars and 6,500 levies with at least a little training. They also had a number of artillery guns, which were well placed to protect the gates. The gates were also protected by barricades built up over the previous few days.

Moncey was not expecting the Spanish to put up a serious fight at Valencia. On 28 June he ordered two brigades to attack the city, one against the gate of San José and one against the gate of Quarte. Both attacks failed, although the French did reach the front of the barricades. Moncey then attempted to use his field artillery to bombard the Spanish defences, but his guns were soon silenced by the Spanish guns within the city.

Moncey then ordered a second assault, this time against three gates (San José, Quarte and Santa Lucia). This attack was also beaten off, with higher casualties than the first. Moncey simply did not have enough men to capture Valencia when faced with such determined resistance. The French had not expected to be assaulting a defended city, so Moncey’s column contained no siege guns.

Moncey's Failure

After the failure of this second assault, Moncey realised that the situation was hopeless. He was also aware that the Spanish army that he had bypassed by crossing the mountains would be approaching. He decided to abandon the expedition to Valencia, and move back towards Madrid. This time he decided to take the Almanza road. There was always the chance that this would produce an open battle, which the French were confident they would win. In the event the Spanish moved to defend the mountain passes, believed that the French would return by their original road, and the two armies missed each other again.

Outcome

Estimates of the French losses at Valencia vary wildly, from as low as 300 up to 2,000. They were probably nearer 1,100, with 800 wounded and 300 dead. Moncey’s failure in front of Valencia was the first indication that the Spanish would prove to be very determined defenders of fortified positions. It was soon overshadowed by the disastrous French defeat at Baylen on 19 July, which saw a French army under General Dupont defeated in open battle, but it played just as important a role in ending any chance of a quick French victory in Spain.

Aftermath

The Spanish conventional warfare proceeded with the First siege of Zaragoza.

See also

• Baltasar Calvo
• Timeline of the Peninsular War

References

• Bodart, Gaston (1908). Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905). https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_A0kNAAAAYAAJ. Retrieved 7 May 2021. 
• Gates, David (2001). The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81083-2. 
• Oman, Sir Charles William Chadwick (1902). A History of the Peninsular War: 1807–1809. I. Oxford: Clarendon Press. https://archive.org/details/historyofpeninsu01oman. Retrieved 7 May 2021. 

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