Published: 2021-11-171

The involvement of the Polish Division in the Battle of Almonacid de Toledo on 11 August 1809

Dawid Madziar
Echa Przeszłości
Section: ARTICLES
https://doi.org/10.31648/ep.7206

Abstract

This article discusses the participation of the Polish Division [of the Duchy of Warsaw] in the Talavera Campaign which culminated in the battle of Almonacid de Toledo on 11 August 1809. The Polish Division was composed of three infantry regiments: the 4th regimen commanded by Colonel Feliks Potocki, the 7th regimen commanded by Colonel Maciej Sobolewski), and the 9th regimen commanded by Colonel Antoni Paweł Sulkowski. Under the Bayonne Agreement signed in May 1808, Polish soldiers were paid by France and were to be relocated to serve on the Rhine. However, in the autumn of 1808, the Polish Division marched to Spain, where an uprising broke out against King Joseph Bonaparte who had been placed on the Spanish throne by Napoleon. The conflict quickly escalated into a war, and regular Spanish forces were backed by British units. The Polish Division suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Almonacid which was the bloodiest military conflict fought by the division in Spain. The Polish Division’s involvement in the battle has never been analyzed in detail in the literature. The article aims to fill this knowledge gap in Polish historiography.

Keywords:

Peninsular War, Polish Division, Duchy of Warsaw, battle of Almonacid de Toledo, Napoleonic wars

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Citation rules

Madziar, D. (2021). The involvement of the Polish Division in the Battle of Almonacid de Toledo on 11 August 1809. Echa Przeszłości, (XXII/2), 123–146. https://doi.org/10.31648/ep.7206

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