Siege of Lleida (1810)

Siege of Lérida (1810)

A view of Lérida

Date	23 April and 29 April to 14 May 1810
Location	Lleida (Lérida), Spain
Result	French victory

Belligerents

First French Empire

Kingdom of Spain

Commanders and leaders

Louis Gabriel Suchet

Jaime García Conde

Henry O'Donnell

Strength

13,000, 30 guns

Conde: 8,000, 105 guns
O'Donnell: 7–8,000, 6 guns

Casualties and losses

Lérida: 1,000
Margalef: 100–120

Lérida: 8,000, 105 guns
Margalef: 2,500, 3 guns

In the Siege of Lérida from 29 April to 13 May 1810, an Imperial French army under Louis Gabriel Suchet besieged a Spanish garrison led by Jaime García Conde. On 13 May, García Conde surrendered with his 7,000 surviving soldiers. Lleida (Lérida) is a city in the western part of Catalonia. Margalef is located on Route N-240 about 10 kilometres (6 mi) southeast of Lérida. The siege occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars.

After a fruitless attempt to seize Valencia in March, Suchet determined to move against Lérida. By mid-April, the French were before the city. Suchet heard that a Spanish army commanded by Henry O'Donnell was trying to interfere with the planned operation. O'Donnell's column was intercepted and in the Battle of Margalef on 23 April, it was routed with heavy losses. This action was followed by a siege in which Suchet used brutal methods to bring a speedy surrender. On 13 May, García Conde capitulated with his 7,000 surviving soldiers. This event was the start of an astonishing series of successful sieges from 1810 to 1812 in which Suchet's troops seemed to be unstoppable.

In January 1810, General of Division Louis Gabriel Suchet commanded the French III Corps, with three infantry divisions commanded by Generals of Division Anne-Gilbert Laval and Louis François Félix Musnier, and General of Brigade Pierre-Joseph Habert. Laval's 1st Division consisted of 4,290 effectives in six battalions, Musnier's 2nd Division counted 7,173 men in 11 battalions, and Habert's 3rd Division numbered 4,329 soldiers in seven battalions. General of Brigade André Joseph Boussart led the 1,899 troopers of the corps cavalry brigade. These were divided into two unusually strong regiments, one heavy and one light. The III Corps also had 1,287 gunners, sappers, and other attached troops. Suchet's total of 23,140 effectives included 4,162 soldiers in garrisons.

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