Siege of Tarragona (1811)
Part ofPeninsular War
Capture of Tarragona, 28 June 1811 byJean-Charles-Joseph Rémond, 1836
Date 5 May – 29 June 1811[1] Location Tarragona,Catalonia,Spain 41°06′56″N1°14′58″E / 41.1156°N 1.2494°E /41.1156; 1.2494 Result French victory[1]
Belligerents
French Empire	Spain  United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Marshal Suchet	Juan de Contreras Edward Codrington
Strength
18,000[1]	18,000[1]
Casualties and losses
4,300[1]	18,000[1]

Peninsular War: Aragón Catalonia

220km
137miles

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Castalla

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18

Valencia

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Saguntum

16

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Tarragona

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María

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  current battle

In thesiege of Tarragona, from 5 May to 29 June 1811,Louis Gabriel Suchet'sFrench Army of Aragon laid siege to a Spanish garrison led byLieutenant GeneralJuan Senen de Contreras. A British naval squadron commanded by AdmiralEdward Codrington harassed the French besiegers with cannon fire and transported large numbers of reinforcements into the city by sea. Nevertheless, Suchet's troops stormed into the defenses and killed or captured almost all the defenders. The action took place at the port ofTarragona,Catalonia, on the east coast ofSpain during thePeninsular War, part of theNapoleonic Wars.^[2]

TheFrench conquest of Aragon had started with theSiege of Tortosa.

Emperor Napoleon offered Suchet amarshal's baton if he could capture Tarragona, so the French general pursued his goal vigorously. He methodically overran the city's outer works as he drove his siege parallels forward. The French general easily fended off weak attempts to relieve the city by land. Near the end of the siege, the French troops captured the lower city in a surprise attack and the garrison's survivors retreated to the upper city. At the end, Suchet's men stormed into the upper city amid scenes of horrific slaughter, including the murder of civilians. The loss of this major base and so many Spanish troops crippled the Army of Catalonia. Napoleon duly awarded Suchet the coveted rank of marshal.

One authority gave French losses as 4,300 killed and wounded out of an army of 21,635 men, includingGeneral of DivisionJean-Baptiste Salme killed. Total Spanish losses numbered between 14,000 and 15,000. Of these, 8,000 were captured and the rest were killed, wounded, or died of disease. During the butchery attending the final assault, the French attackers massacred numerous civilians including 450 women and children.^[3] A second authority asserted that total Spanish losses were 15,000, of whom 7,000 were killed outright. French losses were given as 1,000 killed and 3,000 wounded or sick.^[4]

TheFrench conquest of Aragon proceeded with theSiege of Valencia.

• (in German)Juan Senen Contreras
• (in French)Jean-Baptiste Salme

• Bodart, Gaston (1908).Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618-1905). Retrieved24 May 2021.
• Esdaile, Charles J. (2003).The Peninsular War. Palgrave MacMillan.ISBN 9781403962317. Retrieved24 May 2021.
• Gates, David (2002).The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War. London: Pimlico.ISBN 0-7126-9730-6.
• Smith, Digby (1998).The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill.ISBN 1-85367-276-9.

• Ojala, Jeanne A. (1987).Chandler, David (ed.).Suchet: The Peninsular Marshal. New York: Macmillan.ISBN 0-02-905930-5.

• North, Jonathan (2020)."Taking Tarragona". Summer 2009 issue of Military History Quarterly. Archived fromthe original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved24 May 2021.
• Media related toSiege of Tarragona (1811) at Wikimedia Commons

• Sieges of the Peninsular War involving Spain
• Sieges of the Anglo-French wars
• Catalonia in the Peninsular War
• Battles of the Peninsular War involving the United Kingdom
• Conflicts in 1811
• 1811 in Spain
• May 1811
• June 1811
• Battles inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe
• Massacres committed by France
• French war crimes in Spain
• Massacres in Spain
• Massacres in the 1810s
• Tarragona
• 19th-century mass murder in Spain
• Mass murder in Catalonia
• Attacks on naval bases
• Attacks on military installations in Spain
• Naval bombing operations and battles

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