03 October 2023

Peninsular War - Battle of Gamonol, 1808

In this game, loosely based on the Battle of Gamonal, the French, under Soult, repeated history and broke the Spanish line. The Spanish flanks held well, but the French - despite being held up by Spanish light infantry and guerrillas hidden amongst the light woods, located in the middle of the battlefield - concentrated their assault on the centre of the line, breaking a number of weaker Spanish battalions. 

The Spanish commander, Conde de Belvedere, shamefully left the field as his army crumbled. It was said of the Spanish general that he was "... a rash and headstrong young aristocrat with no military experience whatever. His family influence had made him a general at an age when he might reasonably have expected to lead a company and he found himself by chance the interim commander of an army: hence came the astonishing series of blunders that led to the combat of Gamonal."

















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