The Curious Case of Badajoz

@Zack White Very busy for the next 2 days. I will look into it before the end of the week. I can also check on the portuguese archives and Luz Soriano. Do you read Portuguese?

That's very kind Rui - thank you! Sadly my Portuguese is non-existent, but I appreciate the offer. I have colleague who might be able to help though if you do manage to find anything.

Dear @Zack White "A starving army is actually worse than none. The soldiers lose their discipline and their spirit." (Seville August 8th, 1809, Wellington to Lord Wellesley) In the Portuguese Army the punishment for plunder, as well as looting, was the death sentence (gallows), and that was enforced and often reminded to the troops. Ordem do Dia (Leiria, 4th October 1810):

Translation: "It is announced again to the Troops, that all individuals who are caught looting or stealing, will be hanged, and all strays or soldiers absent from their units, will be punished in the place where they are found without any further process…" I checked all full 6 volumes of Ordens do Dia, the Volumes from Luz Soriano and the Army Digital Archives.

There are no references to Portuguese soldiers performing plunder, pillage or looting after the sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz or San Sebastian, in the Ordens do Dia of 1812 and 1813. As it seems the discipline was strictly enforced. As a matter of fact, in the 6 volumes of Ordens do Dia, published and distributed during the war (1809-1814), there are no references to cases of major plunder unless on the Ordem do Dia of 3rd September 1812, where Beresford heavily punishes soldiers and officers of a detachment of 1000 soldiers released from hospitals and moving to join their units for the siege of Burgos that showed bad behaviour in Spain with desertions and plunder. The case was severely punished, many soldiers were court-martialed in Salamanca, at least 5 soldiers had death sentences by firing squad, and many had serious physical punishments (pranchadas). Also, an overall admonition was given and overall demotion of all other ranks to soldiers. All the officers leading this detachment lost a step in rank and were "agregados" to the regiments, losing a durable commission. The text ends with this guidance:

"This Order is to be read once per Week in each deposit belonging to the Portuguese Army, and to all the detachments before marching." Here are the two full pages from the Ordens do Dia - 1812:

I believe this case was an exception together with the behaviour on the retreat from Bussaco to the Lines and during that period of 1810.

Rather than that, I do not have any records or recollection of large misbehaviour by Portuguese soldiers, either in Spain or in France. At least I do not know any record of major plunder and pillage, connected or not with atrocities, murder and rape, like the ones caused by the French in Portugal (1808 and 1810-11), in Alcantara (1809) or in Tarragona (1811), the British in Badajoz (1812) or the Spanish in South France (1814), the latter leading to Wellington sending all the Spanish Army back to Spain. But maybe you have more information on this?

You also have to bear in mind the political and strategic damage instances such as this could cause. British politics was by no means stable during this period, and the government could not afford a scandal. Equally Wellington knew that he could not afford for the Spanish to turn on his troops, as many had on the French. He knew the guerillas had made life difficult for the French and he couldn't afford for the same to happen to his army. Keeping the men in check and not alienating the locals was therefore vital.

@Zack White

But how much of this fume - is political? Is is a show to please the Spanish Allies or a sincere outrage - which I cannot believe, Wellington had enough experience of war and he must had realized by then - that a sack could happen under those circumstances anytime.

A really interesting question, thanks Hans-Karl. I think Wellington expected some plundering, but nothing on this scale. Was the anger political? I think the answer is probably not. There are too many examples of his anger being shown in general orders (obviously specifically for the army), and in his private letters. It's interesting that his despatches (which he knew were published in the newspapers) were much more clinical - essentially they are two different genres of correspondence.

Hi Hans-Karl, Badajoz was obviously a Spanish town, and the British were fighting a war of liberation, alongside Portuguese and Spanish troops. The town was occupied by a French garrison, nominally there to support Napoleon's brother Joseph Bonaparte, who had been installed as King of Spain, as was Napoleon's way when it came to making his friends/family royalty. We keep coming back to this notion of 'right'. This is a Chinese whispers situation. What was a given was that a garrison could be put to the sword if it was captured by assault after a practicable breach had been made. But that's it. The looting thing has just tagged on over the years, and become part of the myth (possibly, perhaps, because people look back and see that it happened anyway?). The documentary evidence of it being a right is slim to non-existent. Cordoba is a different situation though, as the Swiss troops were part of Napoleon's occupying army. As for executing the nun, I haven't heard about that one before. It sounds like there are all kinds of potential factors at play, so would like to read more before I comment, if you can point me in the right direction.

@Zack White

I wish I could point you in a more specific direction, I once read all what I could find in Swiss memoires about the Bailen campaign, to see what they had to say - and yes a lot of accusations against Dupont proved to be rubbish, but I cannot remember in what memoires I read the incident about the nun, it could be even before Cordoba, in case memory serves me right - it was in German, it could be Landolt (Erinnerungen des Obersten Landolt) or those of Muralt.

My good friend Steven Smith compiled once quite a few links, about Swiss memoires - which I attach here, but those are in French.

Soldats suisses au service étranger. 8 Vols. 1908-1916 :

Vol 1 (1908): http://bks9.books.google.com/books?id=NxgbAAAAYAAJ http://bks3.books.google.com/books?id=jJApAAAAYAAJ Contient: F.-J.-L. RILLIET. Journal D'un Sous-lieutenant DE CUIRASSIERS 17 F.-A. CRAMER. Souvenirs D'un Garde D'honneur 213 Introduction Par Ed.-jean Lafond 243 P.-L. MAYER. Mémoires Inédits D'un Soldat Prisonnier En Russie 249 Composition Du IVe Corps D'armée ..... 377 Etat Nominatif Des Officiers Du 35° Régiment D'infanterie De Ligne 380 Toponymie Et Chronologie Du Récit De Pierre-Louis Mayer 383

Vol 2 (1909): http://books.google.com/books?id=tClHAAAAIAAJ http://bks5.books.google.com/books?id=339KAAAAYAAJ CONTIENT: BEGOS. SOUVENIRS DE SES CAMPAGNES (PORTUGAL. 1807, RUSSIE. 1812). PAGES 111 A 234; MAILLEFER. UN VAUDOIS A L'ARMEE D'ESPAGNE (1808-1809). PAGES 235 A 298; BURNAND AUGUSTE. LE COLONEL HENRY BOUQUET, VAINQUEUR DES PEAUX-ROUGES DE L'OHIO (1764-1769). PAGES 1 A 110.

Vol 3 (1910): http://bks1.books.google.com/books?id=EIBKAAAAYAAJ Mémoires de Jean-Louis SABON 1792-1862 ou l'apprenti horloger de Genève devenu musicien et chef de musique dans le 69e Régiment d'Infanterie de Ligne de la Grande Armée de Napoléon; Mémoires de Jean-Louis RIEU (1808-1814) né en 1788; Mémoires de Frédéric RILLIET 1794-1856, les Cent-Jours en Belgique et en France.

Vols NOT yet available:

Vol 4 (1912): Mémoires de Amédée MASSE 1785-1864 lettres et journal d'un Garde d'Honneur sur la campagne d'Allemagne de 1813; Souvenirs de guerre de Chrétien GATTLEN 1777-1866.

Vol 7 (1916): Contient: Mémoires de Siméon LAMON souvenirs d'un Chasseur de Vieille Garde, Wagram-campagne, d'Espagne; Mémoires de L.RILLIET Saint-Germain 1814 et 1846; Mémoires de J.R. de STURLER lettres d'un lieutenant de la Garde prussienne à sa famille; et extraits du journal du Conseiller de Stürler.

Vol 8 (1916): Mémoires de Pictet et de Dubois-Cattin.

Of possible interest:

Guillon, Edouard Louis Maxime. Napoléon et la Suisse, 1803-1815: d'après les documents inédits des affaires étrangerès. 1910. 370pages:

http://books.google.com/books?id=oOsNAAAAYAAJ

For those who may/can download

Soldats suisses au service étranger

Volume 3

http://books.google.fr/books?id=EIBKAAAAYAAJ

Volume 4

http://books.google.fr/books?id=eYRKAAAAYAAJ

Hi Thomas, thanks for this. This is part of what Gavin Lewis is writing about, and I don't want to steal his thunder, but there are a couple of things to mention here: 1) the basis of that convention is pretty shaky 2) the situation is different given the town belonged to Britain's allies Equally, if this was all to be expected, and was the troops' right, why the fury from Wellington over it, and the disgust in soldiers memoirs? The two don't quite add up, and I think the convention argument has been used all too often as a convenient way of explaining things, without looking at the inconsistencies.

I'd agree with much of what you say here. Many had been in the country for a while, but to be honest, they filled their pockets as they went. There is an interesting parallel with Vittoria, where some who plundered the baggage had their bags searched and loot confiscated - much to their fury. Plunder as reward was definitely a phenomenon, but it inevitably led to a blurring of lines.

Thanks Rob - glad you liked it!