Battle of Altafulla
Part ofPeninsular War
Castle of Altafulla
Date 24 January 1812[1][2][3] Location Altafulla,Spain 41°9′N1°23′E / 41.150°N 1.383°E /41.150; 1.383 Result French victory[1]
Belligerents
First French Empire	Kingdom of Spain
Commanders and leaders
Maurice Mathieu	Baron de Eroles
Units involved
VII Corps	Army of Catalonia
Strength
8,000[1]	10,000[1]
Casualties and losses
200[1]	1,200[1]

Peninsular War: Aragón Catalonia

220km
137miles

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Castalla

19

Altafulla

18

Valencia

17

Saguntum

16

15

14

13

12

11

10

9

8

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María

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2

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  current battle

At theBattle of Altafulla (24 January 1812), aSpanish division led byJoaquín Ibáñez Cuevas y de Valonga, Baron de Eroles clashed with anImperial French division under the command ofDavid-Maurice-Joseph Mathieu de La Redorte. Believing he faced only a single battalion, Eroles attacked in a heavy fog and was beaten by 8,000 French soldiers. The action occurred during thePeninsular War, part of theNapoleonic Wars. The battle was fought nearAltafulla, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) northeast ofTarragona,Catalonia,Spain.

Only a few days earlier, on 18 January 1812, Eroles' 4,250-man force had wiped out an 850-strong French battalion of the 121st Line Infantry Regiment at the Col de Balaguer, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) southwest of Tarragona. Only the French commander, Jacques Mathurin Lafosse, and 22 dragoons escaped the debacle. Emboldened by his victory, Eroles decided to engage a French force six days later at Altafulla and suffered the loss of between 600 and 2,000 men. Uncowed by his defeat, Eroles repulsed Jean Raymond Charles Bourke's French force when it attacked him atRoda de Isábena on 5 March.^[2][4]

Mathieu's Imperial forces included three battalions of the French 3rd Light Infantry Regiment, one battalion each of the French 18th Light, 23rd Line, and 115th Line Infantry Regiments, two battalions of theDuchy of Nassau Infantry Regiment, and two companies of partisans. Baron de Eroles led 4,000 foot soldiers, 250 cavalry, and two artillery pieces.Digby Smith asserted that Spanish losses came to 2,000 killed, wounded, and both guns, while the french losses were described as light.^[2]Charles Oman stated that Spanish losses amounted to 600 men and two guns.^[4]

• Bodart, Gaston (1908).Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905). Retrieved24 May 2021.
• Oman, Charles (1914).A History of the Peninsular War Volume V. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Smith, Digby (1998).The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill.ISBN 1-85367-276-9.

• Media related toBattle of Altafulla at Wikimedia Commons

• Military history of Spain
• Battles of the Peninsular War
• Battles of the Peninsular War involving Spain
• Province of Tarragona
• 1812 in Spain
• Catalonia in the Peninsular War
• Conflicts in 1812
• January 1812

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