There is a story, probably apochryphal, that Beau Brummel, when his regiment was ordered to Brighton, resigned his commission on the grounds that he had not joined to serve in foreign parts. Consider then what must have been the feelings of the Spanish officers as they looked out across the grey waters of the Baltic during the winter of 1807-1808.

Foreign service was not of course unknown in the Spanish army, for they had an extensive empire, although it was usually garrisoned by units raised especially for the job. The Spanish holdings in the Low Countries were long gone, commemorated by the inclusion of a regiment of Walloons in the Guard. The "Division of the North" was not, however, serving for dynastic reasons, but rather as elaborate hostages demanded by the Emperor Napoleon Ier as a guarantee of Spanish good faith.

The outbreak of the French Revolution in 1792 concerned the Spanish Royal family, headed by Carlos XII since they were related to the French Royal Family. The Terror, and the execution of Louis XVI led to the Spanish declaration of war, and units of both the fleet and the army served at Toulon. An attempt to invade France, initially successful, was soon thrown back, and in 1796, an exhausted Bourbon Spain, and Revolutionary France signed the Treaty of Basle to terminate hostilities. Realising however that Spain could not remain neutral in the now widespread war, Godoy threw in his lot with France in the hope of partaking of the spoils of victory.

Almost immediately, the Spanish fleet was in disastrous action with the Royal Navy at Cape St Vincent, and her Caribbean islands under threat from British forces. When a general peace was declared in 1802, Spain had a large amount of rebuilding to do. In 1804, when the war began again, a reluctant Spain renewed her pact with the newly Imperialised France, with the result that she lost her yearly South American treasure fleet to a pre-emptive strike by the Royal Navy, and then lost a large part of her available line-of-battle ships during the Trafalgar Campaign.

During most of this period, the effective head of the Spanish government was Manuel Godoy, an ex-trooper in the Spanish Guard who as well as being Queen Maria Louisa's lover, had made himself indispensable to the incapable Carlos. Although hated by the supplanted aristocracy, he was secure enough in the King's affections to withstand any machinations.

To be fair however, he had made alliances with France mainly out of a sense of realpolitick rather than from fellow feeling, and he did have some desire to bring Spain, especially the army, out of the practises of the Eighteenth century. So desirous was he of throwing off the French shackles that when, in late 1806, Prussia began to mobilise, he ordered the Spanish army to also prepare for war, in this case to invade France. This was not some mad-cap exercise, for like most of Europe, Godoy considered Prussia to still be a strong military power, heirs to Frederick the Great, until the twin French victories of Jena and Auerstadt, and the subsequent rapid capitulations of the Prussian fortresses popped the bubble.

Napoleon was well served by his intelligence apparatus, and Godoy's explanation that he was mobilising with the intention of offering the Spanish units as auxiliaries did not fool him one bit, but since it served no useful purpose to do otherwise, Napoleon accepted the excuse.

The following year however, after the Polish campaign and the Treaty of Tilsit, Napoleon now advised Godoy that he was prepared to accept the offer of troops, which were to act as garrison troops in Denmark against British incursions. There is some historical debate over whether the units sent were chosen because they were the best, or because they were available, but whatever the reason, they needed bringing up to strength with drafts from the rest of the army.

Part of the force selected was the now surplus garrison of Etruria in Italy, which now became a French responsibility. The General chosen to command the whole force was the Marquis de Romana, one of the younger and more forward looking Spanish officers, who could be counted on to give a good impression.

The force consisted of:

1) From Spain

Line Infantry:

Princesa Regiment, 3 Battalions 2282
Asturias Regiment, 3 Battalions 2332
3/Guadalajara Regiment 778

Light Infantry:

2/Volunteers of Barcelona 1240

Line Cavalry:

Rey Cavalry Regiment 540
Infante Cavalry Regiment 540

Dragoons:

Almansa Dragoon Regiment 540

Artillery:

Company, Foot Artillery 270
Squadron, Horse Artillery 89
Train 68

2) From Etruria

Line Infantry:

Zamora Regiment, 3 Battalions 2256
Guadalajara Regiment, 1 and 2 Battalions 1504

Light Infantry:

1/Volunteers of Catalonia 1200

Line Cavalry:

Algarve Cavalry Regiment 540

Dragoons:

Villaviciosa Dragoon Regiment 540

Artillery:

Company, Foot Artillery 100

In addition, a company of Sappers and Miners joined later.

It is interesting that all of the units were Spanish. One can perhaps assume that no Swiss units were sent because of the terms of their contracts, but if, as is often said, the three Irish regiments were amongst the best, why were none included in the force; was Godoy worried about poaching perhaps?

As a second point, it is apparent that most of these units were up to, if not slightly above, strength, perhaps to avoid the trouble and expense of sending reinforcement drafts from Spain later.

The two forces reached Germany on 12 and 24 June 1807, and Denmark shortly after, although part of the force was present at the siege of Stralsund which surrendered on 18 August 1807. In Denmark, both divisions were united under Romana's command, although as Corps Commander they had Marechal Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte Corvo. Since they were to be used for controlling smuggling etc., the constituent units were split up across the islands of Funen and Jutland, although Bernadotte kept a grenadier company from the Zamora regiment with him as an escort. According to Bueno, the distribution of major units were:

On Jutland:

Zamora, in Veile, Frederica and Koldino Algarve, in Tender, Husum and Torming Rey, in Horsens, Skanderborg and Aarhus Infante, in Randus and Mariager

On Funen:

Princesa, in Nyborg, Kjertemunde, Asserts and Middelfart Villaviciosa, in Faaberg Almansa, in Gogensee and Odensee Artillery and Sappers, in Nyborg and Kjertemunde One of the Light Battalions was in Svedenborg

On Langeland:

One Light Battalion, and part of the artillery

On Zeeland:

Guadalajara Asturias

During the later part of 1807, and into 1808, the French tried to restrict news of what was happening in the Iberian Peninsula from the Division, such as the invasion of Portugal as a consequence of the Treaty of Fontainebleau and the flight of the Portuguese Royal Family, but letters, couriers and newspapers (both Spanish and French) were able to give details of the deteriorating domestic situation, although Le Moniteur gave it something of a different slant no doubt. The overthrow of the monarchy, and the subsequent risings did no good at all, and Bernadotte felt grave misgivings when he was ordered to take an oath of allegiance from the Spanish to Joseph Bonaparte whom his brother had now made King. The parade had to be called off because of the men's attitude.

It was at this stage in the story that events began to mirror pulp fiction, if Oman is to be believed. The full story can be found in Studies in the Napoleonic War, but put simply, a Scottish monk, Brother James Robertson, from a Benedictine monastery at Ratisbon in the Danube Valley was in 1807 engaged in missionary work in Ireland. He knew the Viceroy, the Duke of Richmond, from the latter's visit to Germany in 1795, and to cut a long story short, offered his services to collect intelligence in Germany.

In 1808, Robertson was approached by Sir Arthur Wellesley, then Secretary of Ireland, to go to Denmarkand persuade La Romana to escape with his army on board British transports and thus back to Spain. Robertson carried out his mission, and all except some 5000 men managed to get to the rendezvous and embark. The infantry landed in Galicia, whilst the cavalry went south to get horses. Those that did not escape were formed into the Regiment Joseph Napoleon, eventually to end up in Russia; it may well have been that some of Romana's veterans reached Spain again by making a second metamorphosis into Imperial Alejandro. Thus did the expedition to Denmark finish.

THE MARQUIS DE LA ROMANA

Marquis de la Romana

Don Pedro Caro v Sureda, the Marquis de la Romana was born in Palma on the 3 October 1761. He was educated both in France and Spain, at the University of Salamanca, and eventually joined the navy, serving at the Siege of Gibraltar during the American War of Independence.

When war with France broke out, he transferred to the army and took part in the invasion of Southern France. He distinguished himself in command of light infantry and in 1800 was named CaptainGeneral of Catalonia. In 1807, he was nominated to the command of the Spanish Expeditionary force to Denmark, and returned with it in 1808 when the War of Independence broke out; he commanded the Galician Army at Mancilla. The remnants, riddled with typhus, was forced to subsist in the mountains during the winter of 1808-09, and was brushed aside when Marechal Soult began his campaign in Northern Portugal.

After the French evacuated Galicia in the spring of 1809, Romana dissolved the local junta because of their refusal to help his army, but was soon after called to serve in the Supreme junta at Seville. When the junta was forced to flee to Cadiz in face of the French invasion of Southern Spain in the spring of 1810, La Romana again took over the Army of the Left, campaigning along the Spanish border from Cuidad Rodrigo to Badajoz.

This first brought him into substantial contact with Viscount Wellington, who had to keep entreating him not to seek battle. In late 1810 he was in command of the Spanish army serving alongside the Anglo-Portuguese forces in the Lines of Torres Vedras, until he died at Cartaxo on 23 January 1811, Wellington and his staff being amongst the mourners at his funeral.

From the limited amount of information available, it is difficult to get an appreciation of La Romana, but he would seem to have been promoted at a young age, and was put in command of the Expeditinary force on merit. There is nothing to mark him as a great commander, but Wellington appears to have appreciated him for his ability to cooperate, an it would have been interesting to see what would have happened to his career in 1812 when Wellington took over command of the Spanish Army; would it have been of more use with Romana in command?

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jose Maria BUENO La Expedicion Espanola a Dinamarca 1807-1808
Charles ESDAILLE The Spanish Army in the Peninsular War
Ray JOHNSON Napoleonic Armies.
George NAFZIGER Armies of Spain and Portugal, 1808-1814
Charles OMAN Studies in the Napoleonic War
Martin WINDROW and Gerry EMBLETEN Military Dress of the Peninsular War

In addition, there was an article on the Romana Division in the first two editions of Le Moniteur, the journal of the Napoleonic Association. Unfortunately my copies have gone walkabout, so I am unable to give any attribution; apologies to the author.

El Division del Norte Part 1
El Division del Norte Part 2
El Division del Norte Part 3