Battle of Alcaniz
23 May, 1809

Orders of Battle

by Richard Partridge
map by Derek Stone


III Corps d'Armee (-) commanded by General de Division LouisGabriel Suchet

Division Grandjean

    Brigade Laval:
    14 Ligne (3 Bns) 1080
    3 Regiment, Legion de la Vistule (2 Bns) 964

Division Musnier (+)

    1st Brigade:
    114 Ligne (3 Bns) 1627 1 Regiment, Legion de la Vistule (2 Bns) 1039

2nd Brigade

    115 Ligne (3 Bns) 1732
    Attached: From Division Morlot; 121 Ligne (I Bn) 400
    From Division Girard, (V Corps), battallion reunis of voltigeur company of 40 Ligne, and a battalion of 64 Ligne 450

Brigade Wathier (-)

    4 Hussards (3 Sqdns) 326
    13 Cuirassiers (2 Sqdns) 200

18 Pieces of Artillery, say 3 Compagnies a Pied, all with 6 x 6 pounders, i.e. ignore the howitzers.

The 14 Ligne was without its voltigeur companies, having lost them during a punitive expedition on 19 May.

The 114 and 115 Ligne were ex Regiments Provisoires, formed into Ligne by a decree of 1 July 1808. They did not form compagnies d'elite until March 1809, but clothing was so much in arrears that if formed by the time of the battle, they were probably indistinguishable from the fusiliers. The 121 Ligne was an ex- Regiment Supplementaire originally formed in 1807, and converted in January 1809; it probably had compagnies d'elite. [5]

Army of the Right commanded by General Joaquin Blake

General Areizaga:
Voluntarios de Daroca (V, Ln), 2o Voluntarios de Aragon (V,Ln), Tiradores de Doyle (V, Ln), Reserva. de Aragon (V, Ln), 3o Tiradores de Murcia (V, L), company of Tiradores de Cartagena (V, L); Division Strength 2669

Marquis de Lazan:
Voluntarios de Valencia (R, L), Ferdinando VII (V, Ln), 3 Bon America (R, Ln), part of Regimiento Suizo de Traxler (R, Ln); Brigade Strength 1605

General Roca
3 Bon Saboya (R, Ln), 2 Bon Am6rica (R, Ln), Valencia (all three battalions present, R, Ln)), 20 Cazadores de Valencia (V, L) 1

Bon Voluntarios de Zaragoza (V, Ln); Division Strength 3742 Cavalry, made up of detachments from Santiago (de Linea), Olivencia (de Cazadores) and Espanoles (de Husares); Strength 445

Artillery totalled nineteen guns formed in one battery; I would suggest that they were organised in two, 6 gun and one 7 gun companies all 8 pounder Foot. [6]

The codes shown against the infantry units above are: R = Pre war Regular units, V = Volunteer units formed during the War; Ln = Line or heavy infantry; L = Light infantry

Battle of Alcaniz 23 May, 1809


Back to Napoleonic Notes and Queries # 16 Table of Contents
Back to Age of Napoleon List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Master List of Magazines

© Copyright 1995 by Partizan Press.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com