Fourrier Soleil on the battle of Ocaña …

Jean-Claude Soleil, conscript of the year 1806 in the 88th Line Regiment, served from Poland to Spain and eventually Waterloo.

It is one of many underrated French soldier’s accounts, free to consult. Highly recommended!

… We were soon informed that several divisions of Spanish troops had assembled and were planning to attack us in the hope of defeating us, and that these divisions had gathered near the town of Ocaña in La Mancha. Between the town of Ocaña and Aranjuez, there lay a plain large enough for two hundred thousand men to manoeuvre and engage in battle. Our generals, having been informed early enough of the intention of the Spanish forces, immediately gave orders to march and meet the enemy.

We set out from Talavera in silence during the night, and at daybreak we were at Toledo. As we passed through the streets of this city, the inhabitants, who stood at their windows, spat on our heads, threatened and insulted us, telling us that we would soon be their prisoners and that the Toledo prisons were already prepared to house us. We continued on our way without halting and at midnight … of the following night we arrived at the Royal Castle of Aranjuez where the 1st Army Corps commanded by Marshal Victor, Duke of Belluno, had already arrived. As soon as we reached the castle, this corps began to march towards the town of Ocaña.

At daybreak we were ordered to move off and followed the same direction as I Corps, and on reaching a cluster of olive trees and holm oaks, we observed that this corps was already fighting near Ocaña (1). The shooting and cannonade were incessant and the smoke prevented us from discerning the movements of the armies. When we reached the plateau where the group of trees I mentioned earlier, which lay at the end of the plain, was located, we were ordered to remain in that position until further notice. We therefore stood there from the morning until four o’clock in the evening, weapons at the ready. In front of us there were guns hidden by the mound on the road leading to Ocaña. These cannons were firing at us and the cannonballs were killing men in our ranks. The soldier was therefore impatient to measure himself against the enemy, and asked to rush at them with the bayonet.

(1) I Corps did not take part in the battle of Ocaña, although it was located close to the action, but it is possible that the soldiers of V Corps were made to believe it in order to encourage them.

Anyway, we were still there, with weapons shouldered, waiting for orders which did not come, when we all of a sudden heard noise on our right. It was King Joseph with his staff. ‘Marshal’, he said to the Duke of Treviso, ‘I believe it is wise for us to retreat.’ – ‘Sire’, replied Mortier respectfully, ‘ever since I have had the honour of leading troops, I have never withdrawn from any enemy, and I would not like to commence this act of cowardice today in front of this enemy, even though they are much more numerous than we are.’ (2) He then immediately gave the order to beat the charge and to march towards the enemy at the double quick and with bayonets forward.

(2) Marshal Soult was in fact in command, and it did not occur to him for a moment to retreat. The cavalry was charged with forcing the Spanish cavalry on the left while Sénarmont’s artillery ‘prepared’ the enemy centre for the frontal attack of Mortier’s infantry, planned as soon as the victorious cavalrymen broke through the back of the Spanish centre. Everything proceeded flawlessly and the Spanish army was routed.

All the drums beat the charge and our army corps rushed forward as one with extraordinary fervour. The frightened enemy became disunited and in less than a quarter of an hour the Spanish army, which thought itself victorious, was driven in and completely routed. Then the light cavalry, which stood on our left in observation, galloped and charged the Spaniards who were retreating in the greatest disorder. The infantry enveloped them on one side, the cavalry surrounded them on the other, and in a single blow we took eighty to ninety thousand prisoners (3).

(3) About 30,000 French, Germans and Poles, at the cost of 1,700 killed or wounded, defeated around 60,000 Spaniards, inflicting 5,000 killed or wounded while capturing 20,000. Overwhelmed by the number of the latter, the French, after disarming them, let many of them go, telling them to return to their homes and leave behind the profession (of soldier) for which they were unfit. Obviously, this approach did not bear the expected fruit and the same soldiers were later found on other battlefields. In any case, and examples abound, the French had no proper concept how to guard their prisoners and most, indeed all of them who wanted to, escaped.

The vanquished immediately laid down their arms. They all wore fine and new greatcoats: our soldiers exchanged theirs with them because the ones they owned were old and shabby. This exchange, as one can well imagine, was effected without difficulty and above all without increasing value. These Spaniards were very happy to regret only their coats; they considered themselves fortunate not to be mistreated. They did not know that the French took advantage of their victory, nor that they treated prisoners or the inhabitants of conquered countries with inhumanity.

A few days later we returned to the outskirts of Toledo and took up billets in the villages on the road leading to Andalusia; this road crosses the Sierra Morena (Black Mountain) (4). We found out that the peasants were a little less proud and a lot more decent than they had been before the battle of Ocaña, the result of which had greatly humiliated and discouraged them, for they believed that their army ought to have been victorious. They witnessed with sorrow that it had instead been beaten and captured …

(4) Sierra Morena means Brown Mountain, not Black Mountain which would be Sierra Négra.

Source : Mané, Diégo, Souvenirs du Fourrier Soleil, 88e de ligne, PDF website Planète Napoléon, part 4-5-6, 2011, pp. 33-35.