Portuguese Rifleman
9th Czadores 1813
by Adrian George
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On Paper the Portuguese army appeared impressive having 24 infantry, 12 cavalry and 4 artillery regiments. But all three arms of service were deficient to say the least, poorly trained, badly led with low moral. Not surprisingly Junot’s forces had little difficulty in overcoming this force and occupying Lisbon. A Small British expeditionary force under Arthur Wellesley landed in August 1808 and following the Battle of Vimeiro, succeeded to temporarily eject the French from Portugal. Almost immediately the British began the seemingly impossible task of rebuilding the Portuguese army. Under the reforms and guidance of William Beresford, the Portuguese underwent a miraculous transformation, in a relatively short period of time, with better equipment, training and leadership, the Portuguese deservedly earned a reputation as fine fighting troops. Among the units of their new army were the ‘Cazadores’ or light infantry. The initial six battalions quickly proved their worth, and in 1811 the ‘Loyal Lusitanian Legion’ was broken up to form the 7th, 8th and 9th battalions. My illustration is of an NCO of the 9th Cazadores at the time of the Battle of Vittoria in 1813. He is a ‘Tiradore’ or sharpshooter armed with the British Baker Rifle. His accruements are also of British manufacture, though his uniform is locally made. 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 |
In response to Portugal’s blatant refusal to
comply with the ‘Continental Blockade’
of Britain, Napoleon dispatched General
Andoche Junot at the head of 25,000 French
troops, with the task of crushing Portugal once
and for all in October 1807.