Germans and Dutch in the battle of Talavera 1809

‘The Germans and Dutch in the battle of Talavera’

28 July 1809

By Geert van Uythoven

German Division (GD Baron Jean-François Leval)

1st Brigade (Colonel Heinrich P.R. von Porbeck)

2nd Nassau Infantry Regiment (2 battalions)

4th Baden ‘Groß-Herzog’ Infantry Regiment (2 battalions)

Baden Foot Artillery Battery (8x 6-pdr cannon)

2nd Brigade (Major-General David Hendrik Chassé)

Dutch Infantry Regiment (1st bat/2nd IR & 2nd bat/4th IR)

3rd Dutch Horse Artillery Battery (2x 6-pdr cannon; 4x 24-pdr howitzers)

3rd Brigade (General Balthazard Grandjean)

Hesse-Darmstadt ‘Groß- und Erbprinz’ Infantry Regiment (2 battalions)

Frankfurt Infantry Battalion (3rd Rhine Confederation)

The French 1st Army Corps would attack the Allied left wing again, while the attack against the Allied centre would be executed by the 4th Army Corps (Sebastiani) and the Division ‘Lapisse’ of the 1st Army Corps. The Dutch horse artillery, commanded by Captain Hendrik Rudolph Trip, was placed on the left wing of the 1st Division (Sebastiani, ad-interim General Leger-Belair), while the German Division –including the Dutch Brigade-- was on the left wing of the 4th Army Corps.

Around 14.00 or 14.30 pm, battle was resumed. The German Division had to cross an olive grove to attack the enemy positions. The trees however disordered the advancing troops [Major-General Chassé spoke about ‘en colonne serrée’], against an enemy which was resisting heavily. Already from the start the troops in the centre suffered from the heavy artillery fire of the Allies, and the French Divisions as well as the German Division suffered heavy loss during their attack against the strong Allied positions. A Spanish horse artillery battery advanced into the valley en prolonge. However, when reaching the bank of the brook below it could not advance any further and was forced to a halt. When making ready to fire it became the target of the French batteries on the height on the other side of the valley, and completely demolished before it could fire one shot [Hartmann] 1). When the Nassauers had reached the open they never took the time to reform. They all fired their muskets in one huge volley, and reloaded while continuing advancing. They were received by the fire of an Anglo-Spanish battery on the Pajar de Vergara. After the few hundred paces the Nassauers halted and fired another volley. Then they marched forward again while reloading. Firing another volley they received orders to retreat, followed on their heels by the English infantry under General Alexander Campbell who counterattacked the German Division with his own Division, supported by the Brigade ‘Mackenzie’ and Spanish cavalry. To cover his left, Leval ordered the 3rd Brigade (Hessian and Frankfort infantry) to form square. They were to late however and had to give way under the fury of the English infantry and Spanish cavalry, leaving the ground littered with their dead and wounded. The Baden Regiment made ready to receive the advancing English with a volley, calmly awaiting until they have closed. At that moment their commander Colonel von Porbeck is killed, its loss causing hesitation and disorder, and the Badeners also falling back.

The Allies tried to follow up their success, but the Hessian and Frankfort battalions again formed square, and this time they held out, checking the advance of the Spanish cavalry. Leval is ordered to retreat his Division and to fall back through the lines of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Division (Sebastiani); 58e and 75e Régiment de Ligne (6 battalions). Retreating orderly (although disordered), the German Division moved through the lines of the French, but its artillery, hampered by the olive grove, cannot keep up: most of their horses have been either wounded or killed, and despite the greatest efforts 11 Hessian, Dutch, and French guns have to be abandoned [Costa de Serda].

One of the Nassauers had his knee shattered by a musket ball during the advance, falling backwards. When his regiment retreated he stayed behind. Shortly after another, two English soldiers wanted to run him through with their bayonets, but when the Nassauer told them that he was not French they let him live. One of the English soldiers appeared to be a German himself, removing his bayonet from the belly of the Nassauer saying: “Du bist ein armer Teufel wie ich” [‘you are a poor devil, like I am myself’]. After half an hour the English came running back. Some of them threw away their rifles, all looking with fear over their shoulders to the pursuing Nassauers. About fifty English were taken prisoner [De Moor & Vogel].

The German soldier Koch noticed that his musket failed, trying to remedy the problem all of a sudden he noticed his unit had already retreated to the olive grove. At that moment, two English soldiers stood before him which wanted to take him prisoner. But Koch turned around and ran back, the English soldiers not bothering to shoot him [De Moor & Vogel].

Later that day, the German Division attacked from the olive groves again twice, but on both instances it had to retreat again. In the evening around 18.00 pm, the French positioned several artillery batteries which covered the whole space between the olive groves and the ridge. The same seemed have taken place on the right wing opposite the Spanish. Under cover of this artillery, the French infantry retreated [Hartmann].

One of the 6-pdr cannon of the Dutch horse artillery, pulled by a French horse team and served by French gunners that day, had to be abandoned together with some French guns. Another piece, commanded by Artillery-Sergeant W. Grijsbach, was demolished the moment the infantry of the 1st Division had to retreat, and despite the efforts of its crew, under heavy fire, it also had to be abandoned because of lack of horses. Both pieces however were retrieved a few days later, after the enemy had left 2) 3). Standing close to this gun Captain Trip was wounded to his head, his horse being wounded also. Loss of the Dutch horse artillery company was light; except Captain Trip only two soldiers of the train and four horses had been wounded, and seven horses and three mules had been killed 4).

General Leger-Belair, ad-interim commander of the 1st Division, praised the behaviour of the Dutch horse artillery. He told that personally to Captain Trip, saying that he had nominated him to become a knight of the Légion d’Honneur. He also wrote the same to Major-General Chassé, as well as to the Dutch King Louis, writing him: “I request to permit me to report to Your Royal Highness the honourable behaviour of Captain Hendrik Rudolph Trip, commanding the battery of the 3rd Company Dutch Horse Artillery, of which two pieces had been attached to my brigade on the 28th of this month during the battle of Talavera de la Reyna. This brave officer, already at the start of the battle wounded to his head, continued to commanded these pieces, not retreating for getting his wound dressed after repeated orders by his commander. I take the liberty to recommend him to his majesties generosity 5).” For his bravery, on 30 August 1809 Captain Trip was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel.

The after action report by Sebastiani says the following about the German Division: “Les divisions française et allemande du 4e corps se sont couvertes de gloire. Le brave colonel du régiment de Baden, le baron de Porbek, a été tué à la tête de son corps; le major Welsch, commandant le bataillon de Francfort, a été grièvement blessé. Le major d’artillerie hollandaise Steinmetz a été sur ses pieces, en commandant l’artillerie de la division. –Je dois une mention à M. le général Schaefer (de Nassau) et à M. le baron de Kruze, colonel de ce régiment, qui se sont fait remarquer par leur valeur et leur sang-froid. –M. le général Schaefer de Bernstein (de Hesse), qui a soutenu trios fois les effort de la droite de l’ennemi, mérite d’ètre particulièrement cite, ainsi que le brave régiment de Hesse, commandé par le major Eysermann, et le bataillon du Prince-Primat. –Quelle belle conduite que celle du baron de Grave, colonel du 2e régiment hollandaise! C’est le mème qui défensit, avec tant de valeur, le fort de Mérida.” The Division lost 1,007 men at Talavera.

Footnotes:

1) [Hartmann:] The author has on this occasion and more often later observed how impractical and dangerous manoeuvring with the prolonge is. Even on level ground the guns are easily damaged, and the gun-carriages are even broken in full view of the enemy. “Artillery which is not able to limber or unlimber within range of enemy fire, has no right to be called field artillery”.

2) [Sypesteijn:] General Senarmont, commander in chief of the artillery in Spain, has reported the loss of both guns in his report. He wrote: “2 pièces de 3, don’t les chevaux furent tués, restèrent engages dans les arbres”. General Sebastiani however had not mentioned this loss in his report, annoying the Emperor who said: ”les généraux, qui me trompent par des rapports inexacts, manquent à leur devoir”. By his orders investigations were started, with the result that the Emperor ordered that both guns had to be paid by Sebastiani, costs to be deducted of his pay. The defence of Sebastiani was as follows: “sauf en ce qui concerne les bouches à feu abandonnées, don’t il s’est fait mention ni dans ce rapport, ni dans celui du Général Senarmont, commandant l’artillerie. L’Empereur ne fut informé de la perte de ces pieces que par les bulletins anglais; il en conçut un violent mécontentement et entama, à ce sujet, une correspondance fort vive avec le roi d’Espagne et le ministre de la guerre. Pressé de questions, le général Senarmont avoua d’abord trios pièces, et ce ne fut que dans le courant de 1810 que Napoléon parvint à connaître vérité. Le nombre total des pièces laissées aux Anglais était de onze, don’t dix pour le 4e corps. Deux de ces pièces furent reprises quelques jours plus tard, par le maréchal Soult au pont d’Arzobispo.”

3) According to Thiers, who according to a number of historians wrote a reasonably reliable description of the battle, the German Division had lost 8 guns. According to Hartmann the Allies took a total of 20 guns, but apparently lacked the horse teams to take them with them. He also states that the English lost a 6-pdr cannon which had been hit in the mouth of the tube. This cannon was buried. The after action report of Wellesley also says 20 guns were taken.

4) Letters written in Illescas by Captain Trip on 3 August 1809 to Major-General Chassé, and 4 August 1809 to the Dutch Minister of War.

5) Letter written in Illescas on 3 August 1809, published in the Konincklijke Courant of 26 August 1809.

Main sources:

- Costa de Serda, “Opérations des troupes allemandes en Espagne de 1808 à 1813 – première partie, sommaire de la campagne de 1809”, in ‘Spectateur Militaire’ No. 28-31 (1872-1873).

- Hartmann, Major-General of the Hanoverian Artillery, “Beiträge zur Geschichte des Krieges auf der pyrenäischen Halbinsel in den Jahren 1809 bis 1813”, in ‘Hannoversches militairisches Journal’ 1. Jg, 1. Heft (Hannover 1831)[Hartmann was an eye-witness of the battle of Talavera, being with the KGL artillery].

- Moor, J.A. de & Vogel, H.Ph., “Duizend miljoen maal vervoekt land – De Hollandse Brigade in Spanje 1808-1813” (Amsterdam 1991)

- Sypesteijn, Jhr. J.W. van, “Geschiedenis van het Regiment Nederlandsche Rijdende Artillerie” (Zalt-Bommel 1852)