Battle of Capri 1808
From the Beach to Anacapri
by Robert Fletcher, FINS, USA
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Faraglioni from beach near Marina Piccolo. Black & White Postcard circa 1900 As the French mounted the second cliff, the English defenders above opened fire. After a few minutes, the landing party was found pinned down, unable to move under an accurate small arms fire. Thomas led an attack, attempting a quick rush on the defenders, which resulted in failure. Several French and Neapolitan officers and a dozen soldiers falling killed and wounded. In the English camp, both Lowe and Hamill believed the Cala di Orrico attack to be a feint, not the main attack. Major Hamill reorganized his positions planning to wait for dark to conduct a counterattack. British soldiers in the tower of Damecuta came under fire from Lamarque’s naval support and were forced to abandon the position. General Lamarque and his aide Adjutant Vincent Peyris, landed at Cala di Orrico to personally lead the night attack. His forces now totaled some 650 men, taking cover on the cliffs. Meanwhile, Lowe's cannon traded fire with the French and Neapolitan ships at both Marina Piccolo and Marina Grande. He was unable to decide where the real attack was to fall until evening, when the French ships sailed off to support Lamarque. With the fall of darkness, Major Hamill called up the regiment and placed into position several companies of reinforcements that had been sent by Lowe, commanded by Captain Richard Church. Church states “On my arrival at the heights of Damecuta, I found the enemy had already effected his debarkation under cover of the fire of a frigate, sloop-of-war, one mortar-boat, and about 30 gunboats, besides various armed boats.” The Royal Malta regiment was formed into a line to anchor the centre of his position from Orrico to the lime-kiln road; Corsican companies were placed at Damecuta and Cala del Limbo in support. Below, French and Neapolitan officers and non-commissioned officers formed up their companies, each yelling out his company’s number. Upon hearing this, the British infantry fired several volleys off into the darkness, not hitting anything. The British positions were at a clear disadvantage, their positions being lit by the full moon. The French were hidden in dark shadows below the cliffs. General Lamarque placed his Royal Guard Grenadiers, Voltigeur Company, and a Neapolitan detachment on the right. In the French centre were the French Corsicans and on the left, the Tenth regiment and several companies from the Isembourg Regiment. The French manhandled two mortars and two light cannon up onto the cliff shelves, surprising the moonlight lit British positions. The defenders were somewhat unnerved, not being able to see the assailants and being brought under fire. A short time after the French artillery opened fire, the French fixed bayonets and climbed upwards formed in two columns in the darkness. Hearing the sound of climbing, the Royal Malta companies continued to fire, hoping to hit the French. Adjutant Jean Thomas led the attack again, being the first officer on the hilltop into the Royal Malta’s positions, quickly followed by Colonel Livron, who lost two fingers during the fight. After a few moments of hand-to hand fighting, the Maltese broke. Once the French occupied the hilltop, Thomas quickly reformed the men and charged again. Captain Church and the Corsican Rangers watched in surprise as four companies of the Royal Malta threw down their arms and surrendered. Other Maltese attempted to reform ranks behind their original positions, but were charged by Thomas and his men and broke. During the ensuing melee, Major Hamill was killed as advancing Neapolitan infantry overran the disorganized Royal Malta detachments. Hamill was reportedly shot by a Voltigeur of the Neapolitan First Light Infantry Regiment, Loreto Antico, when he refused to surrender, unlike the Maltese he led. By ten o'clock at night, the French were in possession of Anacapri and the cliffs. A counterattack by two companies of the Corsican Rangers sent up from Capri by Colonel Lowe failed as a withering fire drove them back. Colletta states that the Franco-Neapolitan force lost 7 dead and 135 wounded (another source states 14 dead / 121 wounded) during fighting on the first day. Over 300 of the English led troops were captured, as well as, a number of artillery pieces and stores. During the night, the French forces maintained a constant pressure down the slopes on an increasingly demoralized English / Allied force. Hudson Lowe took no further offensive actions. During the night, he had three small boats put to sea and set sail for Palermo, with messages calling for help and a relief force. In the morning, General Francois Destres commanded the advance, pushing French troops to occupy positions on the Phoenician stairs, separating Anacapri from Capri. Captain Church and two companies of the Corsican Rangers escaped from being cut off, making their way along the “il Passetiello” the Cliffside trail behind the French. The remainder of the Royal Malta regiment was not so fortunate, finding themselves surrounded inside the fort at Santa Maria a Cetrella. The remnants of the Royal Malta regiment were called on to surrender and after an hour of negotiations, another 320 men became prisoners. Lamarque took their surrender, but the Royal Malta regimental standard was not captured. The men having cut the flag into pieces hid it in their clothes, later destroying it in prison. The French had the prisoners taken off Capri using the boats bringing supplies. Colonel Lowe, the Bourbon troops, and the Corsican Rangers, remained alone, behind the town fortifications. Lowe ordered work on improving the defences, and hoped for the Royal Navy's appearance. Battle of Capri 1808
The Invasion From the Beach to Anacapri The Siege of Capri Epilogue Jumbo Photos of Capri (very slow: 362K) Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire # 78 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com |
The French and Neapolitan troops found
themselves on a wet rock beach with broken
cliffs above, some 30 meters in height. Led by
Colonel Livron the troops were collected and
set to climbing. The first cliff shelf was only 5
meters up and with the use of the lamplighter's
ladders, the attackers easily climbed up. Ladders
were pulled up and positioned to scale the
second cliff face.