In the Peninsula with a French Hussar by A.J.M. de Rocca

Author:A.J.M. de Rocca [Rocca, A.J.M. de]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, General, History, Military, Napoleonic Wars, Modern, 19th Century
ISBN: 9781473882614
Google: kOq4jwEACAAJ
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Limited
Published: 2017-01-15T22:14:15+00:00

SECOND PART

V

AS THE Spanish armies had gradually been destroyed, the communications between the provincial juntas and the supreme central Junta had been cut off; each therefore, applied all its resources to the local defence of the district under its jurisdiction. Such of the inhabitants as had till then suffered with patience, daily expecting their deliverance after every pitched battle, now began to think of seeking from themselves individually the means of shaking off the yoke which oppressed them. Every province, every town, every individual felt more strongly every day the necessity of resisting the common enemy. The national hatred which existed against the French had produced a sort of unity in the undirected efforts of the people, and to regular warfare had succeeded a system of war in detail, a species of organised disorder which suited the fierce spirit of the Spanish nation exactly, as well as the unhappy circumstances in which it was placed.

That part of Spain occupied by the French was soon filled with partisans and guerrillas, some of them regular soldiers from the broken armies, and others the inhabitants both of mountain and valley: Clergy, husbandmen, students, shepherds even had become active and enterprising leaders. These leaders, without military authority, and without permanent troops, were at first, as it were, only standards round which the inhabitants of the country rallied and fought. News of any little advantages gained by these numerous parties were eagerly received by the people and repeated with exaggeration, and they raised those hopes, which the defeat of their armies had for the moment depressed. That very liveliness of imagination and excessive spirit of independence, which had interfered with the slow and uncertain operations of the regular armies of the Junta, secured the continuance of the national war. And one might say of the Spaniards, that if at first they had been easily overcome, it was almost impossible to subdue them.

When we marched from one province to another, the partisans immediately reorganised the country we had abandoned in the name of Ferdinand VII, as if we were never to go back, and punished very severely everyone who had shewn any kind of zeal for the French. Thus the terror of our arms gave us no influence around us. As the enemy was spread over the whole country, the different points that the French occupied were all more or less threatened; their victorious troops, dispersed in order to maintain their conquests, found themselves in a state of continual blockade from Irun to Cadiz; and they were not in reality masters of more than the ground they actually trod upon.

The garrisons which they had left on the military roads to keep the country in check, were continually attacked. They were obliged to construct little citadels for their safety by repairing old ruined castles which they found on the heights, and these castles were frequently Roman or Moorish remains which, many centuries before, had served the same purpose. In the plains, the posts of communication fortified one

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