Battle of Majadahonda

Date	11 August 1812
Location	Majadahonda, Spain
Result	Tactical draw

Belligerents

French Empire

United Kingdom

Portugal

Commanders and leaders

Gen Trelliard

Brig-Gen D'Urban

Strength

2,000

2,300

Casualties and losses

200 casualties

176–200 killed, wounded and captured

In the Battle of Majadahonda on 11 August 1812, a British-Portuguese cavalry force under Brigadier-General Benjamin d'Urban fought a French cavalry division led by General of Division Anne-François-Charles Trelliard. The French scored an initial success by routing a Portuguese cavalry brigade and seizing three artillery pieces. Later, the French withdrew when reinforcements arrived in this Peninsular War action. Majadahonda is located 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) and Las Rozas is 17 kilometres (10.6 mi) northwest of Madrid.

After General Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington's great victory at the Battle of Salamanca, the Anglo-Portuguese Army moved on Madrid from the northwest. On 11 August, the 1st, 11th and 12th Dragoons of D'Urban's Portuguese brigade formed Wellington's advanced guard. Behind them was Bock's brigade under Colonel de Jonquières, consisting of the 1st and 2nd King's German Legion (KGL) Dragoons. Farther back in the column, Colonel Colin Halkett led the 1st and 2nd KGL Light Infantry battalions, plus 7 companies of the Brunswick Oels battalion.

D'Urban's troopers were surprised by Trelliard's division, which included the 13th, 18th, 19th and 22nd Dragoons, plus the Westphalian Chevau-légers and the Italian Napoleone Dragoons. The Portuguese horsemen were routed and three cannons were lost. A frustrated D'Urban wrote of his troopers,

"At Salamanca they followed me into the enemy's ranks like British dragoons; yesterday they were so far from doing their duty that in the first charge they just went far enough to land me in the enemy's ranks. In the second, which (having got them rallied) I rashly attempted, I could not get them within 20 yards of the enemy – they left me alone, and vanished before the French helmets like leaves before the autumn wind."

Bock's heavy dragoons soon arrived and the Portuguese horsemen rallied behind them. With the help of the 1st KGL Light Infantry battalion, the combined British-Portuguese force managed to halt the French advance. Trelliard withdrew after hearing of additional allied reinforcements. The next morning the allies entered Majadahonda and discovered the lost cannons.

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Wikipedia