The main interest of 1811, however, centres in the operations of Wellington and his opponents, Masséna, Soult, and Marmont. In the previous year the tide of French conquest reached its high-water mark, when Soult appeared before the walls of Cadiz, and Masséna forced his way to the foot of the long chain of redoubts that formed the Lines of Torres Vedras. Already, before 1810 was over, Masséna’s baffled army had fallen back a few miles, and this first short retreat to Santarem marked the commencement of a never-ceasing ebb7 of the wave of conquest on the Western side of the Peninsula. Matters went otherwise on the Eastern coast in 1811, but all Suchet’s campaigns were, after all, a side issue. The decisive point lay not in Catalonia or Valencia, but in Portugal.
[p. iv]When Masséna finally evacuated8 Portugal in March 1811, forced out of his cantonments by Wellington’s skilful9 use of the sword of famine, a new stage in the war began. The French had lost the advantage of the offensive, and were never to regain10 it on the Western theatre of war. All through the remainder of 1811 it was the British general who dealt the strokes, and the enemy who had to parry them. The strokes were feeble, because of Wellington’s very limited resources, and for the most part were warded11 off. Though Almeida fell in May, the siege of Badajoz in June, and the blockade of Ciudad Rodrigo in August and September, were both brought to an end by the concentration of French armies which Wellington was too weak to attack. But the masses of men which Soult and Marmont gathered on the Guadiana in June, and Dorsenne and Marmont gathered on the Agueda in September, had only been collected by a dangerous disgarnishing of the whole of those provinces of Spain which lay beneath the French yoke12. They could not remain long assembled, firstly because they could not feed themselves, and secondly13 because of the peril14 to which their concentration exposed the abandoned regions in their rear. Hence, in each case, the French commanders, satisfied with having parried Wellington’s stroke for the moment, refused to attack him, and dispersed15 their armies. That the spirit of the offensive was lost on the French side is sufficiently16 shown by the fact that when their adversary17 stood on the defensive18 upon the Caya in June, and at Alfayates in September, they refused to assail19 his positions.
We leave the allied20 and the French armies at the[p. v] end of the autumn campaign of 1811 still in this state of equipoise. Wellington had made two successive attempts to strike, and had failed, though without any grave loss or disaster, because the forces opposed to him were still too great. His third stroke in January 1812 was to be successful and decisive, but its history belongs to our next volume.
The main bulk of the seven sections herewith presented consists of a narrative of the successive phases of the long deadlock21 between Wellington and his enemies along the Portuguese22 frontier: but I have endeavoured to give as clear a narrative as I can compile of all the side-campaigns of the year, in Andalusia, Murcia, Estremadura, Galicia, the Asturias, and Catalonia, and to show their bearings on the general history of the great Peninsular struggle.
I must apologize for the long space of time—three years—that has elapsed between the appearance of the third and the fourth volumes of this work. But it was impossible to produce these sections till I had taken two more voyages over the more important fighting-grounds of 1811—one round Catalonia, the other along the line of Masséna’s retreat from Portugal. It was only in the last days of September 1910 that I was able to accomplish the latter journey. It was made under the happiest conditions, for the government of King Manuel kindly23 lent me a motor-car, and put at my disposition24 the services of Captain Teixeira Botelho, an admirable specialist on the artillery26 side of the Peninsular War. Guided by him, and accompanied by my friend Mr. Rafael Reynolds of Barreiro, I was able to study the topography of Pombal, Redinha, Condeixa, Casal Novo, and Foz do Arouce, not to speak of many other[p. vi] picturesque27 spots of military interest. Hence my survey of the main fighting-grounds of 1811 has been fairly complete—I spent long days at Fuentes de O?oro and Albuera, walked all round Badajoz and the field of the Gebora, and studied Tarragona and other Catalan sites. Barrosa alone, I regret to say, I have not been able to visit.
I have to offer grateful thanks to many possessors of documents, who have been good enough to place them at my disposition. The most important of all were the D’Urban papers, lent to me by Mr. W. S. M. D’Urban, of Newport House, near Exeter; the diary and official correspondence of his grandfather, Sir Benjamin D’Urban, Beresford’s Chief-of-the-staff during the Estremaduran campaigns of 1811, were simply invaluable29 for the comprehension of those operations. I had already acknowledged my indebtedness to the D’Urban papers in my narrative of 1810; but in the following year, when Beresford was acting30 as the leader of an independent army, they were even more important—as my constant references to them in notes will show.
A new source of high value came to my knowledge last year, through the kindness of Mr. G. Scovell, of Hove, who placed in my hands the papers of his grandfather, Major Scovell, who acted in 1811-12-13 as Wellington’s cipher31-secretary. Not only was this officer’s personal diary of great use to me, but the file of the intercepted32 French dispatches in cipher, with the interpretation33 of them worked out with infinite pains, proved as valuable as it was interesting. Many of the originals, written on small scraps34 of the thinnest paper, and folded into such minute shapes that they could be sewed on to a button, or hidden in a coat[p. vii]seam, had evidently been taken on the persons of emissaries of the French generals, who had been captured by the guerrilleros, and had probably in most cases cost the bearers their lives. The ciphers35 were of two sorts: in the more complicated every word was in cipher; in the less complicated only names of persons and places and the numbers of troops or dates were disguised, the bulk of the dispatch being in plain French. In the key to these last there were several hundred arbitrary numbers used, and it was Major Scovell’s task to make out from the context, or the repetition of the same figures in many documents, what the individual numbers meant. By the end of his researches he had identified four-fifths of the names, and those which he had not all belonged to unimportant persons or places, infrequently mentioned.
A much shorter but quite interesting file of diary and letters placed at my disposal were those of Cornet Francis Hall of the 14th Light Dragoons. They practically covered only the year 1811, but were very full, and written in an animated36 descriptive style, very different from that of many dry and short journals. They contained by far the best account of the cavalry37 part of the fighting at Fuentes de O?oro that I have ever seen, and I am exceedingly obliged to the writer’s granddaughter Miss E. G. Hall for allowing me to utilize38 them.
I am still occasionally using notes of 1811 made from two collections of unpublished letters, of which I had occasion to speak in my last preface, those of General Le Marchant, now in the hands of Sir Henry Le Marchant of Chobham, and those of General John Wilson belonging to Commander Bertram Chambers[p. viii] R.N. To both of the courteous39 possessors of these files of correspondence I owe my best thanks.
I must mention, as in previous volumes, much kind help given me by those connected with the military archives of Paris, Madrid, and Lisbon. Once more I must acknowledge the unfailing kindness of M. Martinien at the French War Ministry40, who did so much to make easy for me endless searches through the overflowing41 cartons of its Library. At Madrid Commandant Juan Arzadun of the Artillery Museum placed much suggestive material at my disposal, and found me one or two scarce books, while Major Emilio Figueras at the War Ministry searched out and copied for me a number of unpublished ‘morning states’ of the various Spanish Armies. I must also recur42 to the name of Captain Teixeira Botelho of the Portuguese Artillery, my companion on the line of Masséna’s retreat, who furnished me with a rich mine of information in his unpublished subsidios para a historia da Artilheria Portugueza.
Among my English helpers I must give a special word of thanks to Major John Leslie, R.A., to whose researches I owe all that I know about the British artillery in the Peninsular War. His ‘Dickson Papers’ are always at my elbow, and I owe him particular gratitude43 for the Artillery Appendix XXIV, which he has been good enough to compile for me. To the Hon. John Fortescue, the historian of the British Army, whom we were proud to welcome at Oxford44 as Ford28 Lecturer this year, I am deeply indebted for his answers to my queries45 on many dark points, and most especially for his notes as to several suppressed parts of the Wellington Correspondence. Mr. Rafael Reynolds of Barreiro, who shared in my[p. ix] September tour of last year, has obtained for me in Lisbon a number of rare Portuguese volumes, most especially a complete set of Marshal Beresford’s Ordens do Dia for the whole Peninsular War—an almost unprocurable collection, containing every general order, report of a court martial46, list of promotions47, and statistical48 paper, which was issued to the Portuguese Army. It is absolutely invaluable for identifying names and dates, and settling questions of organization. The Rev6. Alexander Craufurd, grandson of the famous commander of the Light Division, has continued, as in previous years, to place his store of information concerning the campaigns of that hard fighting unit at my disposal.
Lastly, the compiler of the index, a weary task executed under many difficulties, must receive my heartfelt thanks for much loving labour.
I must apologize to readers for some occasional discrepancies49 in spelling which may be discovered in the text and maps. They are mainly due to the fact that all along the Portuguese-Spanish frontier every town and village is spelt differently by its own inhabitants and by its close neighbours of the other nationality. I find it impossible to avoid the occasional intrusion of a Portuguese spelling of a Spanish locality, and vice25 versa. Matters are made still more hard by the fact that the spelling of local names in Portugal (less so in Spain) seems to have been much changed since 1811. It is difficult to avoid occasionally an archaic50, or on the other hand a too-modern, form for a name. These slight errors, or discrepancies between names as spelled in the text and in the maps, were nearly all caused by alterations51 between the received spelling of 1811, followed in the maps I used, and that of 1911.[p. x] I do not think that they will cause any difficulty to the reader, who will not e. g. find it hard to recognize that Foz do Arouce is the same as Foz de Arouce or Casal Novo as Cazal Novo.
In a few cases the critic may find a slight difference in the numbers of troops, or of killed and wounded, which are given in the text and in the appendices. In almost all cases this results from the fact that the official totals quoted in the text turned out not to work out in exact agreement with the detailed52 list of items in the ‘morning states’ or the complete casualty lists. These errors, always trifling53, could not be discovered till the arithmetic of the appendices had been verified, sometimes when the text had already been printed off. The most frequent discrepancies were found in comparing Wellington’s totals of Portuguese strengths or casualties with the detailed official figures. In all instances the differences are small, but the Appendices must be taken to give the more exact numbers.
C. OMAN.
Oxford:
July 1, 1911.
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1
relegated
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| v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类 | |
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Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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breach
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| n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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ebb
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| vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态 | |
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8
evacuated
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| 撤退者的 | |
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skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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warded
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| 有锁孔的，有钥匙榫槽的 | |
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yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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13
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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19
assail
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| v.猛烈攻击，抨击，痛斥 | |
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allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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21
deadlock
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| n.僵局，僵持 | |
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Portuguese
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| n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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26
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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Ford
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| n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过 | |
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invaluable
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| adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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cipher
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| n.零；无影响力的人；密码 | |
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32
intercepted
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| 拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 )； 截住； 截击； 拦阻 | |
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interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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scraps
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| 油渣 | |
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ciphers
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| n.密码( cipher的名词复数 )；零；不重要的人；无价值的东西 | |
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36
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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38
utilize
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| vt.使用，利用 | |
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courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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41
overflowing
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| n. 溢出物,溢流 adj. 充沛的，充满的 动词overflow的现在分词形式 | |
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42
recur
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| vi.复发，重现，再发生 | |
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43
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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45
queries
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| n.问题( query的名词复数 )；疑问；询问；问号v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的第三人称单数 )；询问 | |
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46
martial
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| adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的 | |
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47
promotions
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| 促进( promotion的名词复数 )； 提升； 推广； 宣传 | |
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48
statistical
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| adj.统计的，统计学的 | |
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49
discrepancies
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| n.差异，不符合（之处），不一致（之处）( discrepancy的名词复数 ) | |
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50
archaic
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| adj.(语言、词汇等)古代的，已不通用的 | |
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51
alterations
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| n.改动( alteration的名词复数 )；更改；变化；改变 | |
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52
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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53
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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