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In the Battle of Zújar of the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars, on 9 August 1811 an Imperial French division from Nicolas Soult's army attacked a Spanish division belonging to Manuel Alberto Freire de Andrade y Armijo's Army of Murcia. The French division, led by Nicolas Godinot, defeated Joseph O'Donnell's Spanish division with heavy losses. Zújar is located on Route 323, northwest of Baza, Granada in Spain. Spanish armies under Freire and Joaquín Blake y Joyes threatened the French grip on the south of Spain during the summer of 1811. Marshal Soult, who had just suffered a bloody defeat at the Battle of Albuera in May, left a colleague's army to observe the Anglo-Portuguese and marched south at the end of June. After driving off Blake's army, the marshal moved east with 12,000 men to deal with the Army of Murcia. Freire's army had enjoyed initial success in its campaign against Jean François Leval's weak IV Corps. At the beginning of August, Freire was joined by Blake's force, which had been shipped to the Region of Murcia by a British naval squadron. The arrival of Soult with reinforcements quickly turned the tables. While Soult faced Freire's main force, Godinot's division brushed aside one Spanish force, then threatened to block Freire's line of retreat. After Godinot savaged O'Donnell's division at Zújar, Freire was able to get away. But French cavalry under Pierre Benoit Soult crushed his rear guard at Las Vertientes, east of Cúllar. After the twin defeats, the Murcian army scattered into the mountains. ==Background== Since being mauled at the Battle of Baza on 4 November 1810, the ''Army of Murcia'' remained inert. Defending against it was the French IV Corps under General of Division Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta. In April 1811, Marshal Nicolas Soult began drawing troops away from the area so that he could strike at an Anglo-Portuguese army to the west. At this time, General of Division Jean François Leval assumed command of the seriously attenuated IV Corps.〔Oman (1996), IV, 477〕 On 1 June 1811, General Manuel Alberto Freire de Andrade y Armijo commanded 14,453 soldiers present under arms in the ''Army of Murcia''. Also known as the ''3rd Army'', this body of troops consisted of three infantry and two cavalry divisions. Brigadier General A. La Cuadra commanded 4,015 men in the 1st Division, Brigadier General Juan Creagh led 4,442 soldiers in the 2nd Division, Brigadier General Antonio Sanz directed 3,220 infantry in the 3rd Division, Brigadier General M. Ladron commanded 1,014 troopers in the 1st Cavalry Division, and Brigadier General V. Osorio led 709 horsemen in the 2nd Cavalry Division. There were 786 artillerymen and 267 sappers. The 2,180-man garrison of Cartagena also fell under Freire's orders.〔Oman (1996), IV, 637〕 Taking advantage of French weakness, Freire pushed westward on the Lorca to Baza to Granada highway with the divisions of Creagh, Sanz, and the cavalry. Meanwhile, La Cuadra's division diverged to the north on the road to Pozo Alcón. Freire's advance was slow and cautious, allowing Leval to retreat without being hustled along. Nevertheless, the French general abandoned the Mediterranean coast between Almería and Motril〔 and the towns of Baza and Guadix. Troops from La Cuadra's command raided as far northwest as Úbeda. Agents from Freire's column stirred up the local guerillas, including the band led by the Conde de Montijo. These cut the supply lines between Granada and Málaga. With only 3,000 to 4,000 troops, Leval was in a dilemma. He was out of touch with his Polish division in Málaga and his garrisons at Jaén and Cordova. To seriously oppose Freire, he had to concentrate his command, but he was forbidden to do so by Soult.〔Oman (1996), IV, 478〕 Meanwhile, William Beresford's Allied army defeated Soult at the Battle of Albuera on 16 May 1811. Casualties in the engagement were appalling. French losses are estimated at 7,000 men killed, wounded, and captured. British casualties numbered 4,156, Spanish losses were 1,359, and 389 Portuguese fell, for a total of 5,904 Allied casualties.〔Smith (1998), 362–363〕 Despite the victory, the Second Siege of Badajoz ended with the Allies raising the siege on 10 June and falling back to Elvas in Portugal. This was because Marshal Auguste Marmont appeared on the scene with a second French army. Meanwhile, Joaquín Blake y Joyes took 10,000 Spanish troops and marched south. Hearing reports of Freire's activity and worried about Blake's column, Soult marched away on 24 June, leaving Marmont to face the Allies. First he headed to Niebla where Blake was besieging a French garrison. The Spanish general marched rapidly south and his troops were taken on board a British squadron〔Gates (2002), 274–276〕 at Ayamonte on 8 July.〔 Blake's force landed at Cadiz on 10 July and the general immediately lobbied the Supreme Central and Governing Junta of the Kingdom to be made Captain General of the provinces of Murcia, Aragon, and Valencia. Granted his wish, he sailed at the end of July with 7,000 infantry and 500 cavalry in the divisions of José Pascual de Zayas y Chacón and Manuel Lardizabal. Landing at Almería on 31 July, Blake marched his troops north toward Baza. This accretion of strength would place Leval's outnumbered force in a truly alarming situation. However, Blake and Zayas hurried off to Valencia where they began to prepare the city to face Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet's army, which hovered to the northeast.〔 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 Zújar」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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