Battle of Alcaniz
23 May, 1809

Wargaming the Battle of Alcaniz

by Richard Partridge
map by Derek Stone


As can be seen from the forces, the battle is not especially large in terms of the troops, and could easily be fought one on one during an evening, and moreover is one in which the Spanish are not totally outclassed. Suchet's 114, 115 and 121 Ligne should count as conscripts under the rules you are using, and the Spanish regulars should be the same as the more experienced French units.

The Spanish player should not be restricted in the formations he can adopt. Blake was a forward looking general who had suffered sufficiently to want to fight using the revised drill manual, so let the Spanish attack in columns and put out skirmishers if they desire. You will note that the French have no L6g6re units, so this means that whilst all the French infantry can skirmish, only the voltigeur companies will get any skirmisher bonuses.

The terrain is straight forward, with a series of hills along which Blake's army is positioned, and against which Suchet has to lead an attack. Since the Spanish guns were able to keep up a continuous fire on Musnier as he came in, Las Horcas had very little dead ground, so count the isolated hills held by Lazan and Roca as slopes. The Rio Guadelope is crossable only at the bridge and at a near-by ford, so any unit pushed back to it will be unable to fall back and will surrender on a panic or rout morale result.

Notes


[1] Probably the most accessible biography of Suchet is the chapter by Professor Jeanne Ojala in Napoleon's Marshals, edited by David Chandler, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1987, bur recently reprinted. See also Napoleon's Peninsular Marshals by Richard Humble, Macdonald, 1973.
[2] For details of the 2 sieges of Zaragoza, see Charles Oman History of the Peninsular War, Vols I & II, Clarendon Press 1903 and Raymond Rudorff War to the Death, Hamish Hamilton, 1974.
[3] Oman, Vol. 11, page 415, has the Corps at "...not much more than 10000 men under arms, thought the nominal force of the 3rd Corps was still about 20000 sabres and bayonets."
[4] References to the Battle of Alcaniz are: Oman, History of the Peninsular War Vol. II, pages 417-419; David Gates, The Spanish Ulcer, pages 161-162, Guild Publishing 1986; William Napier, History of the War in the Peninsula, Vol. 11, pages 98-99, reprinted Constable 1992; Neither Ojala nor Humble treat the battle in any detail.
[5] See George Nafziger The French Army: The Infantry, Part 1, pages 13-15 & 54, Raider Games 1987.
[6] Although I have used Oman as my prime source for the Spanish OB, I have checked it against the available units shown in the complete breakdown of volunteer regiments formed during the Guerra de la Independencia contained in Jose Maria Bueno Carrera's Uniformes Espaooles de la Guerra de Independencia, pages 14 - 25, Aldaba Militaria, 1989, and in Charles Esdaille The Spanish Army in the Peninsular War, Appendix 3, Manchester University Press 1988.

Battle of Alcaniz 23 May, 1809


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