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In the Battle of La Bisbal on 14 September 1810 a Spanish division led by Henry O'Donnell (also known as Enrique José O'Donnell) and supported by an Anglo-Spanish naval squadron led by Francis William Fane and Charles William Doyle surprised an Imperial French brigade commanded by François Xavier de Schwarz. The Imperial troops were from the Confederation of the Rhine, a collection of small German states that were allied to Napoleon. Part of a division led by Marie François Rouyer, Schwarz's brigade was almost completely wiped out, most of its soldiers being taken prisoner along with its commander. One of the few Allied casualties was the capable O'Donnell, wounded in the foot. The battle occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. The action occurred amid the events leading up to the Siege of Tortosa in December 1810 and January 1811. As Louis Gabriel Suchet prepared to attack Tortosa, Marshal Jacques MacDonald was ordered to support him. The marshal cooperated by advancing into southern Catalonia with a large force. To distract MacDonald from his mission, O'Donnell determined to raid northern Catalonia. The raid was a brilliant tactical success but it failed to deter the marshal from assisting Suchet. Finally, a logistical crisis forced MacDonald to withdraw to northern Catalonia. ==Background== In June 1810, Marshal Pierre Augereau was replaced in command of VII Corps by Marshal Jacques MacDonald.〔Gates (2002), 289〕 Orders soon came from Paris. MacDonald was instructed to drive toward Tarragona while his colleague General of Division Louis Gabriel Suchet was to lead the III Corps to capture Tortosa.〔Gates (2002), 292〕 Suchet's corps had successfully concluded the Siege of Lerida on 13 May and the Siege of Mequinenza on 5 June.〔Smith (1998), 342-343〕 Located on the Ebro River, Tortosa lay on the main highway between the provinces of Catalonia and Valencia. By seizing the city, Napoleon hoped to sever the link between the two areas. Before Suchet could implement the plan, he was compelled to return to Aragon to suppress the guerillas. MacDonald also had difficulties. He first needed to restock his empty depots with supplies from France. It was August before either commander was ready to carry out their emperor's strategy.〔 MacDonald marched his field army of 16,000 troops south to support Suchet's operations against Tortosa. MacDonald left General of Division Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers with almost 10,000 soldiers to garrison Barcelona. In addition, there were 18,000 troops manning the defenses of other cities and holding open the road to France.〔Oman (1996), III, 495-496〕 Captain General Henry O'Donnell commanded the Spanish Army of Catalonia. Seeing that MacDonald was too strong to directly confront, O'Donnell resolved to operate against the unsuspecting Imperial forces in the north.〔Oman (1996), III, 497-499〕 By doing so, he hoped to draw MacDonald away from Tarragona and Tortosa.〔Gates (2002), 293〕 O'Donnell decided to leave the divisions of Generals Juan de Courten, Pedro Sarsfield, and Joaquín Ibáñez Cuevas y de Valonga, Baron de Eroles to hold Tarragona and take the division of General Luis González Torres de Navarra, Marquess of Campoverde north. He planned to avoid the large Barcelona garrison and attack General of Division Marie François Rouyer's German division which was holding the area between Girona and Palamós on the Mediterranean coast. Meanwhile, Colonel Charles William Doyle sailed north with 500 foot soldiers aboard the British frigate ''HMS Cambrian'', the Spanish frigate ''Diana'', and other vessels. Captain Francis William Fane of the ''Cambrian'' commanded the Allied naval squadron. In early September, O'Donnell managed to elude the garrisons of Barcelona, Hostalric, and Girona without being noticed.〔 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 La Bisbal」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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