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Ocaña (Cavalry)

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Title
Ocaña (Cavalry)
Description
As the French and Spanish armies converged on Ocaña on the morning of the 18th, the French cavalry vanguard under Milhaud encountered three of General Freire’s Spanish cavalry divisions. The French deployed with Paris’ light cavalry in front of Milhaud’s …
Publisher
Date
1809-11-18
Scenario#
111
Scenario Description
As the French and Spanish armies converged on Ocaña on the morning of the 18th, the French cavalry vanguard under Milhaud encountered three of General Freire’s Spanish cavalry divisions. The French deployed with Paris’ light cavalry in front of Milhaud’s dragoons and horse artillery. Paris’ light division executed a spirited charge that cut the Spanish light cavalry to pieces. Paris, in turn, was checked and forced back when Freire brought forward his heavy cavalry reserves. Milhaud then led his dragoons forward in a furious counter-charge that sent the Spanish cavalry fleeing from the field. Thus ended one of the largest cavalry actions in the Peninsular War. With the French cuirassiers fully engaged against the Austrians, the French dragoons established themselves as the premier heavy cavalry in the Peninsula.
Location
Ocaña, Spain
Battle Name
Battle Narrative
The Battle of Ocaña was fought on 19 November 1809 between French forces under Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult, Duke of Dalmatia and King Joseph Bonaparte and the Spanish army under Juan Carlos de Aréizaga, which suffered its greatest single defeat in the Peninsular War. General Juan Carlos de Aréizaga's Spanish army of 51,000 lost nearly 19,000 killed, wounded, prisoners and deserters, mostly due to the French use of their cavalry. Tactically, the battle was a Cannae-like encirclement of the Spanish army, and the worst defeat ever suffered by a Spanish army on home soil. The strategic consequences were also devastating, as it destroyed the only force capable of defending southern Spain; the area was overrun over the winter in the Andalusia campaign.
Narrative Source
Wikipedia: Battle of Ocaña
Combatants
French
Spanish
Additional Information
Peninsular War

Geolocation