Battle of Saragossa

Battle of Saragossa
Part of the War of the Spanish Succession
An artist's rendition of the Battle of Saragossa, or Monte Torrero
Date 20 August 1710 Location Zaragoza, Spain Result Victory for the Archduke Charles
Belligerents
Bourbon Spain	Holy Roman Empire Habsburg Spain  Great Britain  United Provinces Kingdom of Portugal
Commanders and leaders
Philip V of Spain Marquis de Bay	Charles III of Spain Guido Starhemberg Lord Stanhope Count of Atalaya
Strength
20,000	30,000
Casualties and losses
5,000 to 6,000 killed or wounded Over 7,000 captured	1,500 dead or wounded

The Battle of Saragossa (Spanish: Zaragoza) took place on 20 August 1710 between the Spanish-Bourbon army commanded by the Marquis de Bay and a multinational army led by the Austrian commander Guido Starhemberg during the War of the Spanish Succession.

The 1710 Spanish campaign opened on 15 May when the Spanish Bourbon army commanded by Philip V in person and Francisco Castillo Fajardo, Marquis of Villadarias, took the field for an attack upon the town of Balaguer. The imperial general Guido Starhemberg, commander of the Allied forces in Catalonia, collected his army and cut the thrust by preventing the Spanish army from fording the Segre river, a success in which the officers of the British contingent had a leading role. On June Philip V received reinforcements and made another attempt upon Balaguer with 20.000 infantry and 6.000 cavalry soldiers.

On 27 July 1710 the Spanish army suffered a sharp defeat in the Battle of Almenara, near Balaguer. The allied troops had taken up a strong defensive position and repelled the Spanish attacks until the British commander, James Stanhope, leading the allied vanguard, broke the Spanish lines. Philip V was forced to leave Catalonia and withdraw to Saragossa, the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon. The Castilian Villadarias was afterwards deprived of his rank, which Philip gave to the French general Alexandre Maître, Marquis de Bay.

On 9 August the Spanish army reached Saragossa and the Marquis de Bay positioned his troops between the river Ebro (on his left) and the Torrero heights (on his right). On 15 August, an allied cavalry-attack was successfully countered. Five days of skirmishes followed. On 19 August, the allied troops crossed the Ebro unchallenged and were allowed to deploy their army during the night.

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