Battle of Burgos

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Battle of Burgos

Date	November 7, 1808
Location	Near Burgos, Spain
Result	French victory

Combatants

Image:Flag of France.svg First French Empire

Image:Flag of Spain (1785-1873 and 1875-1931).svg Kingdom of Spain

Commanders

Jean-Baptiste Bessières

Conde de Belveder

Strength

20,000 infantry,
4,000 cavalry

9,000 infantry

Casualties

Unknown

2,000 dead, wounded, or captured

v • d • e Peninsular War Napoleon's Campaign, 1808–1809
Pancorbo – Valmaseda – Burgos – Rosas – Espinosa – Tudela – Somosierra – Cardadeu – Sahagún – Saragossa – Castellón – Corunna

The Battle of Burgos was fought on November 7, 1808, during the Peninsular War. A powerful French army under Marshal Bessières overwhelmed and destroyed the outnumbered Spanish under General Belveder, opening central Spain to invasion.

Spanish history remembers this battle for the vain gallantry of the Guard and Walloon regiments under Don Vicente Genaro de Quesada. Forming a rearguard for the shattered Spanish lines, these troops absorbed repeated charges by General Lasalle's French cavalry without yielding an inch of ground. The cost was a massacre of both French and Spaniards: of the 307 men in the rearguard only 74 survived, caked with blood; uniforms in tatters; bayonets bent and blunted.

It is said that Bessières personally returned Quesada's sword and had his wounds treated in the French field hospital. These acts of chivalry became increasingly rare as the Peninsular War dragged on.