Battle of El Pla
Part ofPeninsular War
Date 15 January 1811 Location El Pla de Santa Maria,Catalonia,Spain 41°22′N1°17′E / 41.367°N 1.283°E /41.367; 1.283 Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
First French Empire Napoleonic Italy	Kingdom of Spain
Commanders and leaders
Jacques MacDonald Francesco Eugenio † Giuseppe Palombini	Marquis Campoverde Pedro Sarsfield
Units involved
VII Corps	Army of Catalonia
Strength
6,000	3,800
Casualties and losses
600	160

Peninsular War: Aragón Catalonia

220km
137miles

21

20

Castalla

19

18

Valencia

17

Saguntum

16

15

14

13

12

El Pla

11

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

María

3

2

1

   

  current battle

TheBattle of El Pla was a battle on 15 January 1811 between anImperial French column made up of two Italian brigades on one side and aSpanish division, under the command ofPedro Sarsfield on the other. The Spanish troops held steady and repulsed the attack of the first brigade, then counterattacked and defeated both brigades. The combat occurred during thePeninsular War, part of theNapoleonic Wars. The action was fought nearEl Pla de Santa Maria, north ofValls,Catalonia,Spain.^[1]

TheSiege of Tortosa ended on 2 January 1811 when the Spanish garrison surrendered toLouis Gabriel Suchet'sIII Corps. During the siege,MarshalJacques MacDonald'sVII Corps blocked the Catalan army ofLuis González Torres de Navarra, Marquess of Campoverde from interfering with Suchet's operations.^[1]

With the siege finished, MacDonald moved towardLleida (Lérida) with 12,000 troops. After reaching Valls, his vanguard commander Francesco Orsatelli (called Eugenio) heard that an enemy force was nearby and determined to attack it. Eugenio was mortally wounded and his brigade driven back by Sarsfeld's men. AfterGiuseppe Federico Palombini's brigade joined Eugenio's survivors, Sarsfield attacked again and defeated both Italian units. Only the intervention of a handful of French cavalry led byJacques-Antoine-Adrien Delort prevented a complete disaster. After the day's action, MacDonald found that Campoverde's main force was coming up behind him. During the night, the French marshal force-marched his troops north toMontblanc on the road to Llieda, conceding the battlefield to the Spanish.^[2][3]

The Imperial forces included two battalions each of the 1st and 2nd Italian Light Infantry Regiments, two battalions each of the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Italian Line Infantry Regiments, and one battalion of the 8th Italian Line Infantry Regiment. There were also 30 cavalrymen from the Italian RoyalChasseurs à Cheval.^[3] Two squadrons of the French 24th Dragoon Regiment became engaged at the end of the battle.^[4]

TheFrench conquest of Aragon proceeded with theSiege of Figueras.^[2]

• Oman, Sir Charles William Chadwick (1902d).A History of the Peninsular War. Vol. IV. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Retrieved24 May 2021.
• Smith, Digby (1998).The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill.ISBN 1-85367-276-9.

• Gates, David (2002).The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War. London: Pimlico.ISBN 0-7126-9730-6.

• Media related toBattle of El Pla at Wikimedia Commons

• Battles of the Peninsular War involving Spain
• Battles involving the Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)
• Catalonia in the Peninsular War
• Alt Camp
• Conflicts in 1811
• 1811 in Spain
• January 1811

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