182 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



CHAP. XI. 



The Great Theatre of the War in the Peninsula, the Frontier of Por- 

 tugal.'-- Reduction by ike French of Ciudad Radrigo — and Almeida, 



IT had been delermined in a 

 council of war held in July or 

 August, 1809, that marshal Soult 

 should attack Ciudad Rodrigo : 

 the reduction of which would cut 

 off the only communication in the 

 hands of the Spanish government 

 with the Northern provinces of 

 the countr)'. And this was to be 

 followed by the siege of the strong 

 fortress of Almeida, which would 

 open an entrance into Portugal. 

 *The frontiers of which, accord- 

 ingly, as Mortier had before been 

 sent against Badajoz, now be- 

 came the great theatre of war in 

 the peninsula. The army destined 

 for this warfare was called the 

 central army. 



Among the maxims that ap- 

 pear to have beenadopted by Buo- 

 naparte, it is one to accomplish as 

 many objects as possible by the 

 same troops : which maxim again 

 is intimately connected with the 

 most prominent feature in all his 

 military operations, namely, rapi- 

 dity of motion. The siege of Ba- 

 dajoz was suspended until the in- 

 surrections should be quelled in 

 . the south-east of Spain. That of 

 Ciudad Rodrigo suspended until 

 Leon should be completely subdu- 

 ed, Asturias overrun, and Gallicia 

 held in check by a formidable 

 force near its frontiers. A small 



body of French, three orfourthou- 

 sand, towards the end of Decem- 

 ber, 1809, entered the capital of 

 Leon, from whence, on their ap- 

 proach, the Spaniards retreated. 

 A corps, which was the 8th, un- 

 der general Junot, laid siege to 

 Astorga, and held other places in 

 subjection, by a proper distribu- 

 tion of garrisons. A strong di- 

 vision under general Bonnet took 

 possession of Oviedo, the capital, 

 extended itself over the whole pro- 

 vince of Asturias, and threatened 

 again to penetrate into Gallicia. 

 General Bonnet, though engaged 

 in continual encounters with the 

 Guerillas, established communica- 

 tions both with Leon and St. An- 

 dero. Hecouldhaveeasilyadvanc- 

 ed into Gallicia, but he received 

 orders to wait in his present posi- 

 tions until his further movements 

 should be determined by future 

 events. Astorga was taken, after 

 a short siege, on the 12th of 

 April. Three thousand five 

 hundred Spaniards, with English 

 firelocks, and wearing English 

 clothes, laid down their arms, 

 and were conducted in two co- 

 lumns to Barneza, from whence 

 they were sent to France. But 

 the whole of the prisoners taken 

 during the siege of Astorga, ac- 

 cording to the dispatch of Junot to 



• Correspondence relative to the affairs of Spain and Portugal. The marquis of 

 Wellesley to sir Arthur Wellesley, Seville, 30th of August, 1S09. 



