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The Battle of Collioure (20 – 23 December 1793) saw troops from the Kingdom of Spain attack a Republican French division during the War of the Pyrenees. The Spanish troops led by Gregorio García de la Cuesta were completely successful in ousting the French under Louis Pierre François Delattre from Collioure, Fort Saint-Elme and Port-Vendres. The contending sides were the Spanish ''Army of Catalonia'' commanded by Antonio Ricardos and the French ''Army of the Eastern Pyrenees'' led by François Amédée Doppet and Eustache Charles d'Aoust. In September 1793, the French successfully defended Perpignan from Spanish attack but December saw a series of French defeats. One of the French representatives on mission, Claude Dominique Côme Fabre was killed during the fighting at Collioure. Aoust and Delattre were arrested, condemned and executed by guillotine for the disaster. ==Background== In the year 1793 the ''Army of the Eastern Pyrenees'' suffered from the attentions of overbearing representatives on mission. While these political agents exercised enormous powers over the military leaders, they probably abused their authority in this army more than in any other. Claude Dominique Côme Fabre called commanders-in-chief useless and wanted the rank done away with. His colleague Raymond Gaston declared, "I know neither generals nor special powers ... I alone should command here and I shall be obeyed." Louis-Charles de Flers was appointed commander on 14 May 1793 and was dismissed on 6 August. Flers was arrested and executed by guillotine on 22 July 1794. Hilarion Paul Puget de Barbantane was commander from 7 August to 11 September. Terrified by the maneuvers of Spanish commander Antonio Ricardos, he abandoned his army and fled to Narbonne where he resigned his command. Though thrown in prison, Barbantane managed to escape the Reign of Terror. In the Battle of Peyrestortes on 17 September, the leaderless army scored a victory thanks to Generals Eustache Charles d'Aoust and Jacques Gilles Henri Goguet and Representative Joseph Cassanyes. On 18 September Luc Siméon Auguste Dagobert was appointed commander. Ricardos defeated Dagobert at the Battle of Truillas on 21 September, though the Spanish afterward retreated to the Tech River valley. After clashing with the representatives, Dagobert resigned and returned to his division in the Cerdagne. On 29 September the representatives chose Aoust as temporary commander. The new commander Louis Marie Turreau finally arrived on 11 October and was aghast at the way the representatives ordered around the generals. The representatives did not like Turreau and asked to the Minister of War to recall him. Because of a missed communication between the War Office and army headquarters, Turreau decided to allow Aoust to continue in acting command while he sat on the sidelines and wrote complaining letters to his political friends. Several unsuccessful attacks were made on the Spanish positions in October. Turreau's application for transfer finally came through and the representatives named Aoust temporary commander from 22 November. François Amédée Doppet assumed command of the army on 28 November. Doppet found the army in a terrible state, the men badly equipped and the horses and mules dying from lack of feed. The representatives practically ignored Doppet, issuing orders without informing him of the actions of his own units. On 6 December, Doppet received information that the Spanish planned to attack Villelongue-dels-Monts the next day and tried to warn the garrison. Paying no heed to their commander, the defenders set out to attack the Spanish. The result was a fiasco; the French were routed and the Spanish captured Villelongue. In order to break contact with the enemy and draw his army back into winter quarters, Doppet planned an attack on Villelongue. The representatives chose Aoust to lead the assault, which was launched on the evening of 18 December and was a success. Jean Lannes, Pierre Banel, Jean Joseph Guieu and Pierre Francois Sauret were involved in the fighting in which heavy losses were inflicted on the Portuguese garrison and 15 guns were seized. On 20 December, Doppet became ill in the same epidemic that would sicken or kill 10,000 soldiers. He did not recover for two and a half months and was replaced by Aoust. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Collioure」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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