Battle of Rolica
17th August 1808
by Ian Barstow, U.K.
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Historical BackgroundThe appeal of the 1808 British campaign in Portugal is an obvious one for wargamers There are relatively few troops to represent on the wargaming table and the British actually do some attacking. Rare indeed. Maps and army lists are also freely available and reference work is easy to come by. Oh yes, and there's Arthur Wellesley. Wellesley's army of about 9000 men and 18 guns began disembarking at Figueras at the mouth of the Mondego river on the 1st of August 1808, where he was joined by Major General Sir Brent Spencer and 5000 more troops from Gibraltar. The landing was a slow affair taking 8 days to complete and before it concluded Wellesley heard that he was to be replaced in command by Sir Hew Dalrymple with Sir Harry Burrard as his second in command. These two had an all too lamentable reputation which was to come home to roost later in the campaign , but until they arrived Wellesley was determined to engage the enemy if only for the benefit of his own career; up to then he was considered by many in government as just a Sepoy General. On the 10th of August Wellesley advanced down the coast road towards Leiria intending to maintain supplies from the fleet, and having very little information about what lay inland. He was met by General Bernardino Freire commanding about 5500 Portuguese troops, who promptly refused to co-operate unless he was allowed to burden himself on the British commissary. This demand was rejected and only 2000 Portuguese under Trant (an Irishman) joined the British. This force then continued on towards Lisbon. Whilst the British were getting used to Iberian hospitality the French commander in Portugal, General de Division Andoche Junot, was casting around to put together a formation to engage Wellesley. He had early information of the British landing but his troops were dispersed, with Loison's Division partisan hunting, leaving only Delaborde's small division to delay the British. Following a sharp skirmish at Brilos on the 15th of August Delaborde pulled back to Rolica where he took up position on the hill of that name. Wellesley followed up at a leisurely pace and camped within view of the French on the 16th. Both sides knew what the 17th of August 1808 would bring. Although outnumbered over two-to-one Delaborde was relatively confident of his chances. The British came with a reputation for impetuous action exacerbated by the skirmish at Brilos and he had chosen an excellent defensive position. The Rolica valley was shaped like a horseshoe plastered with exposed rocky outcrops and finished at the enclosed end by a difficult ridge grooved by three gullies. Initially positioned on Rolica Hill, Delaborde watched the British deploy for action. Wellesley was as much in the dark about Loison's actual position as was Delaborde himself and with this in mind he planned a double envelopment of the French position with left wing acting as a flank guard if required. Just after dawn, Ferguson and Bowe moved out with 6 guns to the left whilst Trant's Portuguese moved to the right. In the centre, Nightingall, Hill and Crawford with 12 guns began demonstrating to Delaborde's front with the intention of pinning him in position. However, Delaborde was well served by his advanced pickets and seeing what was afoot he pulled back to the steep gullied ridge where he was sure that the Redcoats would come a cropper. It seems likely that Wellesley was less than pleased with his plan being so transparent and he was in a quandary as to what to do next. Having taken half the morning to accomplish nothing he reasonably expected that Loison was three hours nearer and his opponent was nobody's fool. Furthermore, he wanted to avoid heavy casualties. On the other hand to retire would be to demoralise his own men and effectively consign his own career to the dustbin. He thus decided to proceed with his attack using the outflanking troops now in that specific role. The next part of the action began with Colonel Lake commanding the 29th Foot of Nightingall's Brigade precipitately attacking up one of the gullies. Lake must have thought things were going well when the 245 men of the 4th Suisse Regiment promptly surrendered but Delaborde knew these troops to be of poor quality and there surrender only helped to disorganise the 29th who could not form up properly in the narrowing gully and in the ensuing firefight Lake was killed and his battalion thoroughly repelled. What was worse was that having seen Lake's idiocy Wellesley was obliged to order a full assault to save him from practical annihilation. Initially the French were able to deal with these naturally uncoordinated attacks but weight of numbers forced the French back. Delaborde knowing the game was up retired by alternate battalions covered by his Chasseurs a Cheval until they reached the Zambugeira Pass where the close presence of fresh British pursuers broke the French morale and they were driven through the defile in some disorder losing 3 guns and the majority of their battle losses. Final losses were 600 men killed and wounded for the French along with three guns captured against 479 for the British. It is safe however to say that without the rout at the Zambugeira Pass the larger losses would have been with Wellesley's men. WARGAMING ROLICAThis is a relatively straightforward battle to refight with no off-table troops and an attack/defence outlook. It would be preferable to convince the British player that Loison might turn up at any moment, and being that Rolica is not a commonly seen battle this is a possibility. You could even arrange a what if scenario with Loison turning up although this would alter the shape of things considerably. In reality Rolica is a test of generalship rarely seen where so few troops are involved. The British player should aim to commit as few troops as possible in order to limit casualties whilst the French player has to engage in an aggressive defence knowing that he will probably be overwhelmed. It is essential for him to quickly crush isolated British attacks and make use of the gully position. He could be in serious trouble though if he does not react as quickly as Delaborde and pull back to the steep ridge from Rolica Hill. The terrain itself should consist of an open valley floor dotted with outcrops of rock and scrub-land just to annoy the British deployment. All hills are steep with the ridge itself sheathed in light woodland and at least one contour above the rest of the hills. The three gullies also require careful reconstruction to force the British to use them. All buildings are stone construction and the main road is lined by stone walls. The stream should be dried out as this is the middle of summer. As far as objectives go I would suggest that if Wellesley can drive the French off whilst losing less than 500 men then he can consider the battle a success. As for Delaborde, if he can successfully withdraw from Rolica Hill to the ridge without being overwhelmed he should receive some kudos for his ability. Assuming he ends up along the ridge, if he can inflict more casualties than he suffers and remain on table for at least 6 hours then he can be considered the victor. A draw can be achieved by both sides gaining their victory conditions although the violent nature of attack and defence games makes low casualties unlikely. British Order of Battle
Commander in Chief: General Sir Arthur Wellesley Brigade: General Roland Hill
1/9th Foot 937 1/38th Foot 1076 3126 INFANTRY, 0 CAVALRY , 0 GUNS.
1/40th Foot 1042 1/71st Foot 1015 1st 6lb Battery 6 2722 INFANTRY, 0 CAVALRY , 6 GUNS.
1/82nd Foot 1045 1st 9lb Battery 6 1951 INFANTRY, 0 CAVALRY , 6 GUNS.
1/32nd Foot 1064 2nd 6lb Battery 6 2010 INFANTRY, 0 CAVALRY , 6 GUNS.
1/50th Foot 1066 1/91st Foot 1031 2851 INFANTRY, 0 CAVALRY , 0 GUNS.
5/60th Foot 1053 20th Light Dragoons 270 1503 INFANTRY, 270 CAVALRY , 0 GUNS.
12th Portuguese Line 504 21st Portuguese Line 504 24th Portuguese Line 504 Portuguese Dragoons 258 2074 INFANTRY, 258 CAVALRY , 0 GUNS. French Order of Battle
Officer commanding: General de Division Henri Delaborde Brigade: General de Brigade Thomieres
2/70th Ligne 780 3/2nd Legere 956 3/4th Legere 976 4th Suisse 226 26th Chasseurs a Cheval 250 8lb Compagnie a Pied 8 4138 INFANTRY, 250 CAVALRY, 8 GUNS. Large Map Battle of Rolica (slow: 117K) Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #14 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1993 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com |